The Kansas City Chiefs' 2025 season has mercifully come to an end. After a disappointing season that saw the team finish with a losing record for the first time in the Andy Reid era, Brett Veach will have his work cut out for him this offseason in trying to get this team back to being a Super Bowl contender. One decision that will be a relatively easy one for him will be parting ways with offensive tackle Jawaan Taylor.
The Chiefs signed Taylor to a four-year deal worth $80 million in the 2023 offseason with the hopes that he'd help them shore up their offensive line. While Taylor wasn't awful by any means, he became an easy target for everyone to gang up on after Cris Collinsworth made an example out of him for penalties on a Sunday Night Football game early in his Chiefs tenure.
The penalties were a problem for sure and that issue, paired with his bloated contract, makes Taylor's departure this offseason feel all too obvious. It all felt a bit suspect from the start if we're being honest though, as Taylor played right tackle in Jacksonville but Kansas City gave him that contract to play left tackle even though that wasn't his preferred position.
After Donovan Smith joined the Chiefs later on, Taylor was moved to right tackle and there's where he remained. The play wasn't disastrous but it wasn't good enough to merit the contract given to him and the Chiefs will likely eat the roughly $7 million they'd have in dead money by cutting him.
Jawaan Taylor's time with the Chiefs is likely over
As for what the plan is at right tackle with Taylor likely on his way out, K.C. signed Jaylon Moore last offseason with the original plan to play him at left tackle. After spending a late first-round pick on Josh Simmons, however, Moore became a swing tackle but eventually did have to start due to injuries to Simmons and Taylor. He'll likely be the plan at right tackle for 2026.
Teams take chances on players in free agency that don't pan out all the time and this is no different. It's unfortunate that Taylor was a bit of a letdown and that the Chiefs shelled out all of that money but it'll force them to look at what went wrong so they hopefully don't make that same mistake again.