When the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Los Angeles Chargers in Brazil on Friday night to kick off their 2025 regular season, all eyes will be on the offensive line. This same unit got blasted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the trenches in Super Bowl 59 and now it's time to see if the new unit is better than what we saw a year ago or much of the same.
One of the biggest changes to the o-line is that Joe Thuney is now calling Chicago home, meaning the left guard position will be played by someone else. That someone is last year's second-round pick Kingsley Suamataia.
The original plan was for Suamataia to be the future at left tackle but that didn't go the way the Chiefs had hoped. In the Chiefs' regular season finale where they rested the majority of their starters, Suamataia suited up at left guard and looked pretty good there. That put the next plan into place, which was having him be Thuney's successor at the left guard spot.
On Friday, we'll get to see the early stages of that plan and if it'll pan out or not. A poor performance from Suamataia in his new position could cause panic amongst Chiefs Kingdom even if it is just one game.
Kingsley Suamataia not playing well in Week 1 would be nightmare scenario
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Of course, more level-headed fans would point out that it'd only be one game and it'd be Suamataia's first game of the season at left guard. There'd be plenty of time for him to learn from his mistakes and grow but other fans might not see it the same way.
At that point, fans would likely be imagining the worst from this group and slapping that bust label on Suamataia after he flamed out at left tackle and struggled at his new position. The Chiefs would have given this guy another chance and he struggled in his first real outing.
Hopefully, we don't have to worry about this because Suamataia and the rest of the Chiefs' new-look o-line (well, at least on the left side) play great against the Chargers. Even if Kingsley Suamataia does struggle, however, remember that it's only one game and there's still time for the former second-round pick to figure things out.