The 2025 season has been one to forget for the Kansas City Chiefs, with long-simmering issues related to the coaching staff and roster construction finally boiling over. While Brett Veach has made countless great moves during his 8.5-year tenure as GM, one of his more controversial decisions was signing tackle Jawaan Taylor to a four-year, $80M contract in March 2023.
Due to the structure of the contract, the Chiefs will not be able to get out of it until this upcoming offseason. According to Over the Cap, Taylor carries a $27.39M cap hit for 2026, contributing to Kansas City currently being $48M over the cap (no pun intended). Releasing Taylor would free up $20M in cap space while leaving just $7.39M in dead money, making it one of the more logical moves to address their cap situation.
Many Chiefs fans will welcome Taylor’s departure, primarily due to his penalty problems. Despite missing four games this season, he’s tied for fourth in accepted penalties. He ranked second in the 2024 regular season and led the league by a mile in 2023. While he’s a slightly above-average pass protector, he’s virtually a net negative in the run game. He may be somewhat over-hated, but he’s nowhere near good enough to justify a roughly $28M cap hit. The team would benefit more from the $20M in cap savings.
So who replaces Taylor at right tackle? The likely answer is Jaylon Moore. While not official, the math makes it clear: the Chiefs would save only $8M by releasing Moore versus $20M by releasing Taylor. Taylor simply isn’t worth $12M more than Moore. The team pretty much telegraphed this move by starting Moore at right tackle in Weeks 14 and 15 before a knee injury sidelined him for the final three games—most notably keeping him out even after left tackle Josh Simmons was placed on season-ending injured reserve in late November, despite Moore having exclusively played left tackle before joining Kansas City.
There’s another factor making this decision easier: an under-the-radar developmental tackle who has quietly held his own over the last three games. Chukwuebuka “Chu” Godrick, a Nigeria native, signed with the Chiefs in 2023 through the NFL’s International Player Pathway (IPP) program. This designation gave Kansas City an additional 17th practice squad roster slot for Godrick over the past two seasons.
Chu Godrick's performance could give the Chiefs confidence to cut Jawaan Taylor and free up crucial cap space this offseason.
Following multiple injuries to both starting tackles, Godrick was elevated to the active roster for the Week 15 matchup against the Chargers. He surrendered zero pressures across 29 pass-blocking snaps at right tackle, though he was called for a holding penalty. Over three games and 88 pass-blocking snaps, he’s allowed just three pressures and zero sacks, according to Pro Football Focus. While the sample size is limited and young players are notoriously inconsistent, his play has been highly encouraging.
Obviously, Simmons and Moore will be the presumptive starting tackles in 2026, but Godrick is making a serious case to stick on the active roster as depth. His limited service time means he remains under team control for multiple more seasons, with cap hits under $1M. If the Chiefs believe in his development, keeping him as a depth tackle in 2026 makes sense, with the potential to become the permanent right tackle in 2027 and beyond.
Both Godrick and Esa Pole deserve credit for exceeding expectations after being thrown into the fire, as does offensive line coach Andy Heck. With Simmons, Moore, and Wanya Morris all under contract for 2026, moving on from Taylor to save $20M in cap space makes clear sense. Chu Godrick’s surprising performance through three career games could make that decision even easier.