Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports

Chiefs rookie has bright future despite apparent struggles vs. Raiders

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Charles Goldman | Last updated 12/28/23

Kansas City Chiefs rookie OT Wanya Morris is coming off of what was perhaps the worst game of his young professional career.

Pro Football Focus graded the performance with a 43.8 overall grade, but pass-blocking is where his issues were most apparent. He struggled to block both Maxx Crosby and Malcolm Koonce, resulting in 10 total pressures, including a sack on Patrick Mahomes.

There were several occasions where he was late out of his stance, and just generally didn't look comfortable with the particular play call. It's to be expected to some extent with a rookie, who was only making his fourth career start and seventh career appearance in an NFL game. Then consider the fact that he's playing left tackle for the first time with regularity since early on in his career at Tennessee.

This performance shouldn't dissuade the Chiefs from thinking that Morris can't be their left tackle of the future. If anything it reinforces some of the thinking that kept him off the field until he needed to fill in for Donovan Smith in Week 13.

A to Z Sports Film Room - Wanya Morris Breakdown

Morris knows he has some work to do after Week 16

As the entire offense in Kansas City looks to turn the page on Week 16, Morris reflected on what went wrong for his game and what he can learn from it.

“Obviously when you’re going against someone like (Raiders DE) Maxx Crosby who is arguably one of the best players in the game, you just have to be able to adjust, you have to be able to take your mistakes and make right," Morris explained to reporters after the game. "(There’s) going to be wins and losses. If you learn from those, you’re on the right path.”

Morris managed a big block in space on Isiah Pacheco's touchdown run, which was one of the high points of the game. He'll be looking to replicate more of those types of plays, but also learn more from the low points moving forward.

“Like I said earlier, there are going to be ups and downs," Morris concluded." You have to respond to them and keep learning. Everybody is going to have those games where stuff is going to go wrong, have to keep fighting, keep fighting, keep fighting.”

That fight will continue in the final two weeks of the season, but he'll be able to make the biggest push and the biggest corrections to his game once the offseason begins.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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