Chiefs’ Wanya Morris gets another vote of confidence — and promise of competition

Kansas City’s second-year tackle remains in the running to grab a starting job — but he’ll have to earn it.

After the 2023 season — when the Kansas City Chiefs signed free-agent offensive Donovan Smith to be their left tackle but started third-round rookie Wanya Morris for four games when Smith was injured late in the season — we didn’t really know how the team had evaluated the performance of either player.

We still don’t know much about the team’s confidence in Smith, who hasn’t yet been re-signed for 2024. But it’s important to remember that Kansas City didn’t sign him until May 3 — after the NFL Draft. This implied that the team might have been angling to take an offensive tackle in the draft’s first round but couldn’t make it work. So Smith appeared to have been the backup plan — and could still end up in the same role in 2024.

But on Monday, head coach Andy Reid made it pretty clear that Morris is still in the running to be the team’s starting left tackle this season.

“He was able to get in that mix and work with those guys,” Reid told reporters. “So it looks like he’s in pretty good shape right now. And I think he understands what it takes to be an every-down guy at that spot.”

But Reid also emphasized that it’s not yet a done deal for Morris.

“There’ll be competition,” added Reid. “He’s got to make sure that he takes care of business here.”

On Friday, general manager Brett Veach provided additional clarity about Morris’ situation.

“We were really happy with Wanya’s development last year,” said the GM. “I think he showed some signs early on in the OTAs that we were really excited about; [he] continued that growth and maturation process during the training camp. And then [in the] middle of the season there, he got an opportunity — [with] some good [and] some bad. And I think Wanya would tell you this.

“If you look at his body of work last year, I think on one end, you’re happy that he was able to come in at the pro level and be competitive. It wasn’t perfect. But it also was solid play that I think [was] a good foundation to build and grow on.”

Then Veach echoed Reid’s thoughts from Monday.

“He has to come in here with the mindset that we’re gonna look to bring in competition; he’s got to come in here and win that position,” continued Veach. “I think it’s our job to go out there and find competition for that left tackle spot. So I think that there’s a lot of promise in there — and there’s a lot of ability. But certainly, it’s our job to bring in some competition there and make him earn that.”

But will that competition come from Smith, a tackle selected in the draft or yet another veteran tackle? We should know the answer to that question sometime during the next two weeks.