Brett Veach Talks Wanya Morris, Chiefs' Potential Draft Strategy at OT
Veach echoed some sentiments similar to Andy Reid on Wanya Morris, also hinting at how KC could attack the offensive tackle position in the draft.
With the 2024 NFL Draft approaching, the Kansas City Chiefs will have opportunities to address remaining needs for the rest of the offseason. A position in question is left tackle, which is a possible selection with one of the team's three top 100 picks.
At the beginning of Kansas City's offseason program, head coach Andy Reid spoke about current projected starter Wanya Morris. Reid tipped his cap to the 2023 third-round pick for the job he's done, although he also alluded to a need for improvement. Reid stated there "will be competition," allowing the draft scenario to come into play again.
Speaking to the media in his annual pre-draft call, general manager Brett Veach did little to deviate from that path or messaging.
“I think we were really happy with Wanya’s development last year and think he showed some signs early on in OTAs that we were really excited about," Veach said. "He continued that growth and maturation process during training camp. Middle of the season he got an opportunity there, some good, some bad. I think Wanya would tell you this, I think if you look at his body of work last year, 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 is a good foundation to build and grow on.
"He has to come in here with the mindset that we’re going to look to bring in competition and he’s got to come in here and win that position, and I think it’s his job to come in and be prepared to win that position. I think it’s our job to go out there and find competition for that left tackle spot. Again, I think that there’s a lot of promise in there and there’s a lot of ability, but certainly I think it’s our job to bring in some competition there and make him earn that and work for it.”
As far as the draft is concerned, Veach mentioned the 35-40 pick range as a cutoff for possibly landing a premier prospect. It's safe to assume that barring a trade-up, the Chiefs won't be in play for top-tier tackles such as Joe Alt, Olu Fashanu, Troy Fautanu or Taliese Fuaga. J.C. Latham is less of a lock, albeit still a highly doubtful candidate to be available at the end of round one.
This is where the aforementioned range comes in. If Kansas City stands pat, it could be hoping for a slide for someone like Amarius Mims of Georgia. Additionally, the path may be there for one or more of Tyler Guyton, Jordan Morgan, Patrick Paul or Kingsley Suamataia to be on the board. Other players have solid cases for being selected in the draft's first couple of rounds, but this is the prime group for the Chiefs.
The timing of a hypothetical selection, in theory, represents a sliding scale of sorts for how to interpret potential competition for Morris. A first- or second-round pick should be viewed as a direct competitor for the 2024-25 starting left tackle job. Anything later leaves the door wide open for Morris to pick back up where he left off in Weeks 13-16 of last season.
To cap things off, Veach referenced Kansas City putting "a lot of stock" in positional versatility along the line. Morris, having played right tackle a lot in college before moving over for the Chiefs, is a great example. After an up-and-down first season in the league, the Oklahoma product's job is to stave off any challengers and earn the outright gig during OTAs, training camp and the preseason.
How big of a challenge will he face, though? That will be determined very soon.
