Vahe Gregorian: How Chiefs' most pivotal variable took a 'little step in the right direction'

Vahe Gregorian, The Kansas City Star on Aug 26, 2025

Published in Football

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — First, do no harm might as well be Andy Reid’s mantra for preseason games — particularly when it comes to megastar Patrick Mahomes.

For everything else the Chiefs might seek to establish or learn about their roster, shrewdly minimizing exposure to injury for Mahomes (among others) is the prime directive.

Which is why Mahomes played all of 48 seconds in the first two irrelevant games as Reid deviated from his customary inclination to play him most in the second-to-last rehearsal.

Just the same, Reid also knows optimizing protection of Mahomes when it counts requires something more than controlled practice situations.

Especially because that dynamic includes the most profound change, and perhaps biggest variable, on this team: the revamped left side of the offensive line.

“The preseason is the preseason; we understand it,” Mahomes said Friday after the Chiefs lost 29-27 to the Chicago Bears at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. “We want everybody to stay safe and have your health and stuff like that.

“But at the end of the day, you’re a football player. You’ve got to play football, and there’s risks that are involved with that.”

So play Mahomes did on Friday behind rookie left tackle Josh Simmons and second-year man Kingsley Suamataia at left guard — a year after Suamataia was so overwhelmed and flustered in the role Simmons now occupies that he was benched as of the second game.

And their tandem performance within the broader play of the line sure lent some encouragement to various visions of the regular season, which the team begins against the Chargers on Sept. 5 in Brazil.

While their play with Mahomes was a mere sliver of a sample size, it still was reassuring for a team that was humbled in the Super Bowl for many reasons but most jarringly because of the left side of the line.

That was most notable in the case of Suamataia, who still has been adjusting to the position even as Simmons (thus far) has adeptly adapted to the NFL itself.

In the three drives they played with Mahomes, the Chiefs drove 69 yards for a touchdown, 81 yards for a field goal and 81 yards for another TD.

But what stood out most was the recently rare sensation of seeing Mahomes have actual time to throw. Remember what that looks like?

Presto, he completed 8 of 13 passes for 143 yards and a touchdown and would have had another TD pass if Kareem Hunt hadn’t dropped a ball in the end zone.

“A smooth operation,” Reid called it.

And it was enabled in no small part by the help of what Mahomes called “the young guys” fending off some accomplished rushers and even navigating a few defensive stunts.

Asked about the significance of getting quality game time with those two — joining the line of returning center Creed Humphrey, right guard Trey Smith and right tackle Jawaan Taylor — Mahomes said it would help develop trust and a feel for the pocket.

“This is a little step,” he said. “But it’s a little step in the right direction.”

Both points are true.

As was the double meaning in something Suamataia said after the game.

“Going to have to show the world what we can do with that left side,” he said, smiling.

As in they will show the world, he meant.

Meanwhile, Simmons was reiterating his faith in Suamataia and predicting a “big narrative change” ahead from all the skepticism.

Actually showing the world that remains to be seen, of course.

But at least Friday was part of any such process toward progress.

Not just more preseason reps but reps with Mahomes, who noted how they’d grown through camp against Steve Spagnuolo’s defense but recognized the increased intensity and significance of this.

“They stepped up and did a lot of great things,” he said.

He added: “There’ll be mistakes every once in a while. That’s part of it. That’s part of playing in the NFL. But it’s how you respond. And I’m excited for these guys to be challenged and to go out there and show who they are.”

Ultimately, we’ll only be able to know that in the regular season.

As, alas, the case of Suamataia demonstrated last year.

But that’s not lost on the Chiefs, either.

It’s just that they believe he’s poised to come into his own in his second season while working between the best center in the game and a rookie with phenomenal talent — who might well have been a top-10 pick if he hadn’t suffered a season-ending knee injury last year from which he’s made a rapid recovery.

And even if preseason is the preseason, Friday at least felt and looked like a small step in the right direction. That’s no guarantee of what’s ahead, but it sure beat the alternative.

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