2 Chiefs assistants keep Kingsley Suamataia’s Sunday status a mystery

A major question ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs ' Week 3 matchup with the Atlanta Falcons is who will start at the ever-important left tackle position.

Kansas City entered the season with rookie second-round pick Kingsley Suamataia protecting the blindside of quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Suamataia rewarded the Chiefs' faith with a solid — if unspectacular — first outing against the Baltimore Ravens on opening night.

Against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2, however, Suamataia looked every bit a rookie who might be better learning from the sideline than in the trenches. The BYU product was continually beaten by three-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Trey Hendrickson — and called for multiple holding penalties. Second-year pro Wanya Morris took over for Suamataia in the fourth quarter and finished the game.

In three media appearances since the Chiefs narrowly defeated the Bengals, head coach Andy Reid has not revealed whether Suamataia or Morris will start on NBC's "Sunday Night Football" against the Falcons. Speaking before Thursday's practice, both offensive coordinator Matt Nagy and offensive line coach Andy Heck were similarly noncommittal, other than noting that Reid will make the final call.

"We talk through all that," said Nagy, "and coach [Reid], in the end, will go ahead and make that decision. For us right now, it's just the biggest thing is making sure that whoever it is that they're ready and that these guys are able to really just continue to stay positive and be great teammates and leaders. I think that's the, the beauty of this game, throughout."

Heck believes that although the second half got away from the rookie, signs have been positive since then.

"In the second half," he explained, "he had a couple of breakdowns in technique. He had one or two mental errors there. I think it was early earlier in the game that those occurred. But stuff that he was able to look at, we were able to make corrections in our meeting and stuff he's working on this week."

Both coaches praised Suamataia for how he has handled the situation in this week's practices.

"He's been great," Nagy declared. "When you go through that or something like that in that game, it's all about your attitude and how you handle it. How do you handle it? The next day, it can be tough, but even though he's a young kid, he's a mature kid. He's a fighter.

"So, when you're a fighter, you want to try to get better each and every day — and that's what he's done all week."

Heck had a similar assessment.

"I thought he had a good day of work yesterday," the longtime Reid assistant recalled. "[He] came out [and] addressed some of those coaching points that we had in our meeting. I thought he worked his tail off."

Even with working his tail off, the Chiefs' coaching staff understands that Suamataia will have obvious rookie moments.

"Absolutely," said Heck, "I think every rookie will go through those ups and downs. Let's not forget, he was playing against an elite pass rusher there. It's a good lesson — a good opportunity to learn and grow. By no means, am I down on Kingsley. I've got a lot of faith in him."

Nagy also took a chance to note the correlation between Hendrickson's outstanding individual play on Sunday and Suamataia's struggles. While the plan in place to help him with the pass rusher appeared ineffective, they will keep trying as he faces top competition through the rest of the season.

"Trey Hendrickson is a dominant defensive end," Nagy stated. "We knew that going into it, and we had different things to try to help us out with that. So every week, regardless of who it is, we want to make sure that Pat is protected and the quarterback in general.

"We'll have a good plan for it, and then we've got to be able to adjust too because they're going to do different things defensively each week. That's our job as coaches to put the guys in the best position."

While it is unknown whether Suamataia will return to the starting lineup a week after leaving it, Heck has seen offensive linemen respond well from time on the sideline to reset. He cited two of the five eventual starters on Kansas City's Super Bowl LIV winning squad as examples.

"I would say, generally speaking, that is an effective tool that you can use with guys," remarked Heck. "We've done that in the past with other guys. Whether you talk about [center] Austin Reiter, even [guard] Larry Duvernay Tardif, that can be an effective technique."

Although Morris — with only 16 career game appearances — is hardly the most experienced tackle, Heck trusts him to step into the lineup if needed.

"I thought Wanya did a nice job," Heck recalled. "He also was a young player. He got a penalty with the hands to the face there, but I like that he went in competed. We've got two really talented up and coming left tackles to work with there, which excites me."