The Kansas City Chiefs have recruited Kingsley Suamataia to strengthen their offensive tackle options after picking him up on the second day of the 2024 NFL Draft, and the highly-rated prospect explaining why he decided to join the Super Bowl champions. The BYU graduate will have his sights set on breaking into the team after his second-round selection.
Suamataia is one of the higher-upside tackles in this year’s class. He has experience starting on both sides of the line in college football, which makes him a useful option for the Chiefs. He has even indicated he would be willing to fill in as a guard, highlighting his versatility.
Head coach Andy Reid is known to be a big admirer of the BYU setup after his past as a student-athlete there. And having that familiarity helped Suamataia feel at home when he first had contact with the Chiefs boss.
“Coach Andy Reid, he loves his BYU guys,” Suamataia said. “Just being able to talk with
Coach Reid, it felt like home already. It felt like sitting at home and just chilling with one of my uncles. It was so chill, it was so fun.
How Kinglsey Suamataia reacted to being drafted
At the age of 21, he is one of the younger players to emerge from the Draft with a new team for 2024 after impressing with the BYU Cougars. And the Utah native admitted he was overwhelmed with emotion when he finally got the call from his agent.
“Shoot, a lot of emotions. A lot of crying. It’s that waiting around period. I never knew what all the boys meant by that waiting period until your phone gets called and it just feels like peace, like you can breathe again,” Suamataia said.
“I was just waiting around and my agent texted me and said, ‘Hey, the Chiefs just traded up!’ I looked at my phone and the next phone call I see, I was just like, ‘No way!’ I just felt a relief then, just crying a lot.
“Going back through memories of all the sacrifices everybody put in around the room, in this conference room. It was a lot of emotion, but [I’m] so grateful and so ready to be a Chief.”
