One Chiefs rookie heads to the bench, but two others could see more opportunities in Week 3 vs. Falcons
The Kansas City Chiefs will have some changes to their lineup for Week 3 against the Atlanta Falcons on "Sunday Night Football." Some of those changes are related to performance, while others will be related to injuries. For better or worse, the Chiefs will be rolling out some different looks and personnel compared to what we've seen […]
The Kansas City Chiefs will have some changes to their lineup for Week 3 against the Atlanta Falcons on "Sunday Night Football."
Some of those changes are related to performance, while others will be related to injuries. For better or worse, the Chiefs will be rolling out some different looks and personnel compared to what we've seen in the first few weeks of the 2024 NFL season. The hope is that the changes will help them maintain the high level of play that has helped them to a 2-0 start.
Wanya Morris to start in place of Chiefs rookie LT Kingsley Suamataia per report
NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reports that second-year LT Wanya Morris will start at left tackle in place of rookie LT Kingsley Suamataia on Sunday night. This is a bit of a surprise after Chiefs HC Andy Reid told reporters on Friday that both Morris and Suamataia would play in Week 3 against the Falcons. The thought was that Suamataia would be given a chance to retain his starting role and be replaced if he struggled. That's not the case. Morris will get the first crack and start the game on Sunday night.
What's clear is that the Chiefs believe Morris is the better player right now from a technique and execution standpoint. Look no further than what he did as an eligible receiver in Week 2 against the Bengals, scoring a touchdown and knowing he'd be wide open to do so in the process. He had starting experience last season, where he was thrown into the fire as a rookie. It was apparent in the few snaps he played in place of Suamataia, that he won't have the same lapses in technique that Suamataia will naturally have as a rookie.
From a long-term perspective, the Chiefs hope to be able to clean up some of those technique issues from Suamataia in practice. They're hopeful that this is just a minor setback for a player who can be a fixture for the franchise for years to come.
Chiefs coaches working to get Jaden Hicks on the field more frequently
The Chiefs could gradually begin to see more of one rookie defender against the Falcons in Week 3 of the 2024 NFL season. Kansas City got a taste of S Jaden Hicks in Week 2 against the Cincinnati Bengals. The rookie played just five snaps in injury relief last week, but that was enough to convince the coaching staff he needs more opportunities on defense.
"Yeah, when (Justin) Reid had his little boo-boo on his finger the other day, Jaden (Hicks) went right in and ended up showing up on a couple of plays for us," Chiefs DB coach Dave Merritt said on Thursday. "And so he's developing exactly the way that we thought he would, but as far as his role going forward, I think we can end up seeing him a little more. Spags (Steve Spagnuolo) and I have talked about that. So, hopefully, that's going to be coming soon, but a heck of a football player. We would like to continue to get him in there if we can."
Look for there to potentially be one sub-package that features Hicks this week on the defensive side of the ball. The rookie will also continue to play a vital role on special teams as a multiphase player and leader of that unit.
"He's in a lot of key spots for us right now," Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub said on Thursday. "You know, he's our PP on punt, which means he's making all the calls, and he's also the MIKE on punt return. So he's, he's responsible if a team ran a fake, and you know, to be able to stop that, just like we used (Daniel) Sorenson in the past. So, he's in a lot of key roles for us, and it's going to help him develop as a safety, learning football instincts and the speed of the game. And he gets better and better each week. He doesn't make the same mistake twice. But I'm really happy about having him."
Carson Steele expected to get the nod in place of Isiah Pacheco
With Chiefs' starting RB Isiah Pacheco on injured reserve for the foreseeable future, the team will turn to rookie RB/FB Carson Steele as the leader in their backfield. Asked about his level of confidence that Steele would be able to handle a full workload in the absence of Pacheco, Chiefs HC Andy Reid said it'd be up to the rookie to step up to the challenge.
“He’s (Carson Steele) going to have to step it up there in that role," Reid said on Wednesday. "I think he’s – he likes to be challenged and I think this will be a good challenge for him. He obviously has to keep the ball high and tight. He had the fumble yesterday and he hasn’t been – he doesn’t have a history of that, so he’s got to make sure he learns from that.”
Make no mistake, there will also be a healthy dose of Samaje Perine and potentially even some Keaontay Ingram on Sunday against the Falcons. They'll eventually work in Kareem Hunt, but not this week. Steele, however, will get a chance to be the bell-cow type for Kansas City.
“Carson (Steele) is going in just being confident," Chiefs RB coach Todd Pinkston said on Thursday. "You can see his work ethic and (the) things that he’s doing are very impressive.”
Word coming out of practice this week was encouraging, but he'll have to be able to carry that over into Sunday's game and play mistake-free football. That said, if you didn't know Coach Reid was talking about Steele, you'd probably guess he was speaking about Isiah Pacheco.
“Carson (Steele) doesn’t say much," Reid said on Friday. "He just kind of goes in and does his thing and goes 100 miles an hour every play so that’s what he did this week and he did a nice job with it.”
Chiefs have no game status designations for the first time this season on final injury report vs. Falcons
The final injury reports of the week for the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons.
