Andy Reid Gives Major Update on Wanya Morris Knee Injury

Reid shared his initial thoughts on Morris, who left Thursday's preseason finale with a knee injury.

Dec 10, 2023; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs guard Joe Thuney (62) and offensive tackle Wanya Morris (64) at the line of scrimmage against the Buffalo Bills during the game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports / Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas City Chiefs wrapped up their preseason on Thursday night against the Chicago Bears, losing by double-digits but seeing plenty of depth pieces get experience along the way. The reigning Super Bowl champs also escaped in solid shape health-wise, although offensive tackle Wanya Morris was the lone player injured.

Morris suffered a knee injury in the first quarter, exiting the game and later being ruled out by the team. Following Thursday's contest, head coach Andy Reid provided his initial thoughts on the ailment.

According to Reid, it's a tweak of a preexisting injury.

"Really, there's not much on the injury front for you," Reid began. "Wanya was the primary one. He just kind of tweaked that knee a little bit but other than that, we came out pretty clean. He's going to be OK – we're just going to give him some time here to rest up and go. He was doing a nice job when he had the opportunity."

While the best-case scenario would've been avoiding injury altogether, this is far from a bad development for the Chiefs. Morris came into the preseason finale nursing a bone bruise, something Reid revealed following the club's opening game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Prior to the bone bruise, Morris left an early August training camp practice with a shoulder injury.

During camp and the preseason, Morris was competing with 2024 NFL Draft selection Kingsley Suamataia for the club's starting left tackle job. Before the Suamataia pick was even made, Reid expanded on Morris's rookie season and alluded to the Chiefs potentially bringing in someone to battle with him.

"I thought it was a good introduction for him," Reid said. "Coming in and having that experience and playing in four games. He has an even better feel now for this offseason and what's going to be expected of him when he gets back and is put in that spot. There's got to be an improvement, there's got to be an urgency there, which I know he feels.

"He's back in town here and working. When he wasn't here, he was down in Dallas working out, where a lot of players go — quite a few offensive linemen are down there doing the same thing. He was able to get in that mix and work with those guys, so it looks like he's in pretty good shape right now. I think he understands what it takes to be an every-down guy at that spot. Again, there will be competition. He's got to make sure he takes care of business there."

With Morris having missed reps this month and now dealing with that same pesky knee issue, it's hard to see anyone but Suamataia being Kansas City's Week 1 starter at left tackle. With that said, Morris played 339 regular-season snaps on offense as a rookie. He offers legitimate in-game experience the current first-year man simply doesn't have yet, making him a valuable backup at the least.

As of Thursday, the regular season is two weeks away. Morris will look to make the most of that time to rest up and get his knee as close to 100% as possible. He seems to have avoided anything too serious to close out the preseason.

Read More: Carson Steeles the Show in Chiefs' Finale vs. Bears