Kingsley Suamataia can succeed as Joe Thuney’s replacement, says former Chiefs player
%20copy.jpg "Kansas City Chiefs tackle Kingsley Suamataia (No. 76) blocks during a Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024 game against the Denver Broncos at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.")
While not happy with the result of the Chiefs’ 38-0 loss to the Broncos in the regular-season finale, coach Andy Reid was pleased with what he saw from rookie Kingsley Suamataia.
After starting the season as the Chiefs’ left tackle, Suamataia moved to guard for the game at Denver.
“We’ll see. I’ll look at it and see how he did.” Reid told reporters after the game against the Broncos. “Nothing jumped out at me that said negative on it, but I’ve got to look at the tape, and I’ll get with (offensive-line) coach (Andy) Heck on that. It’s good to get him in there, though he’s one of the guys who’s good to get the experience for him, for sure.”
That experience should come in handy next season. The Chiefs on Wednesday agreed to trade left guard Joe Thuney to the Chicago Bears. Suamataia, who was the Chiefs’ second-round pick in last year’s draft, should be in the mix to fill the opening on the offensive line.
Former Chiefs tight end Jason Dunn talked about Suamataia’s potential as a guard while on the Chief Concerns podcast in January.
At the time, it seemed that Suamataia could be viewed as a replacement for right guard Trey Smith, but the Chiefs put the franchise tag on Smith in hopes of agreeing to a long-term deal.
Dunn liked what he saw from Suamataia in the guard position.
“Kingsley Suamataia does have the ability to go to right guard,” Dunn said on the podcast. “I could trust them guys playing that position. And Wanya Morris both. The thing is a guard man, you’ve got to be (an) absolute monster. You got to be violent with everything that you do. Because the big boys are in there, they’re strong, powerful, and they push all the time.
“And so we’ve just got to understand that those guys (have) got to be ready. Can they handle that? And it had to be up to the coaches to be able to do (it). Do I think he could do it as far as King-Su? Sure, I think he could absolutely.”
Right guard is not in Suamataia’s future right now, but he could be the Chiefs’ choice to play left guard starting next season following the Thuney trade.
Here is a clip of Suamataia at left guard from the Chiefs’ game at Denver.
Former Chiefs offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz, who is now with SiriusXM, thinks Suamataia will open offseason workouts as KC’s left guard.
“The reason they benched him (as a left tackle), because they’re in a championship mode, it clearly wasn’t working, and they just didn’t have time to get him ready to play,” Schwartz said. “If you play on a .500 team, he probably just plays all season, because why not? Right? But in this specific situation, they needed to get someone in there at left tackle who they trusted. So what they did with Kingsley is they moved him to guard in the middle of season.
“He played left guard when he came back in against Denver in Week 18, and the natural reaction here is he’s your left guard. Got to play him somewhere. Maybe it’s not at tackle. Maybe he is your left tackle. You find a left guard. But the way the Chiefs have handled this is they put him at left guard during the middle of the season, I would guess he starts OTAs at left guard.”
This story was originally published March 5, 2025 at 11:15 AM.
