The Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive line crumbled in their Super Bowl match against the Philadelphia Eagles, but it isn’t as if they hadn’t been trying to address that area of the offense. They have multiple players on their offensive line who are among the highest-paid at their position.
They spent their first-round pick this year on Josh Simmons, and despite trading Joe Thuney to the Chicago Bears, their offensive line got better. Before that, though, they spent a second-round pick in the 2024 draft on Kingsley Suamataia.
Suamataia played like a second-round pick in his rookie year, but he’s looking for a more prominent role in 2025. He’ll have to step up and use his frame to protect Patrick Mahomes, as without his development, the Chiefs are no different this year than they were last year.
He’s still behind Mike Caliendo on the depth chart, but through his offseason development and progression, he can earn the trust of Andy Reid and the rest of the coaching staff to get the starting position.
Ryan Smith is a sports writer for Pro Football Focus, and he released an article going over the top ten players who are looking for a bigger role in 2025. Suamataia made the list for the Chiefs, as his progression will be an important indicator of how successful this offensive line will be in the future.
“A second-round pick out of BYU, Suamataia was thrust into action to open the 2024 season as Patrick Mahomes’ blindside protector. Things didn’t go well for the rookie early on, as he finished his second game as a pro with a 26.4 PFF pass-blocking grade against the Bengals.
He allowed two sacks in the contest and was benched the following week. Suamataia played sparingly the rest of the year but did get an opportunity at left guard later in the season against Denver, impressing in run blocking (75.2).
He will enter camp this year as the favorite to start at left guard, but it will be a battle to watch with Mike Caliendo leading up to the season”.
If Suamataia can hold down the left side of the Chiefs’ offensive line, it’ll make their offense flow smoothly and give Mahomes more time in the pocket. As great as Mahomes is, he can’t do everything by himself.
