Chiefs LT Wanya Morris playing through an apparent right knee injury in Week 5 vs. Saints

One of the Kansas City Chiefs' key starters on offense is gutting out an injury that he's seemingly dealt with since training camp.

In the second quarter against the New Orleans Saints, Chiefs LT Wanya Morris went down, grasping his knee in pain after a four-yard run to the left from RB Kareem Hunt. He eventually was able to limp off the field, walking very gingerly over to the training table where they checked the stability of his knee on the sideline.

Morris is on his third start of the 2024 NFL season after rookie LT Kingsley Suamataia started the first two weeks of the season. Suamataia lost the starting job to Morris after surrendering some key pressures in the first two weeks of the season. Morris, however, was the first left tackle to lose his starting job to Suamataia during training camp and the preseason, due to a knee injury .

Suamataia replaced Morris for a couple of plays as he dealt with his knee injury on the sidelines. It appears the training staff did not find a significant injury for Morris and he was allowed to return to the game in Week 5. On the first play with Suamataia in the game, Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes was pressured and flushed out of the pocket from the left side of the offensive line. He was forced to throw the ball away.

Morris would later return to the game and finish out the drive for Kansas City. He surrendered a sack to Saints DE Chase Young in the red zone. That failure would eventually lead to a Harrison Butker field goal to make the score 13-7. He didn't seem to be 100% at the end of the first half, but he's out there and battling. The team would help reinforce the left side of the offensive line with RB, TE, and WRs helping with some of the blocking.

What is rather telling about the situation is that they'd put a less than 100% Morris back out there rather than risk putting the rookie, Suamataia, in the game. The fact that the Chiefs have the bye week coming up might have something to do with it.

Related: Chiefs RB Kareem Hunt's first game back at Arrowhead Stadium starts off with a bang