While Jawaan Taylor is not officially off the Chiefs' roster yet, it was announced early Monday morning that Kansas City will release him at the start of the new league year unless they can find a trade partner. The Chiefs would save $20 million in cap space by cutting Taylor.
This move marks the end of a three-year run for Taylor as Kansas City's starting right tackle after he signed a four-year, $80 million contract in March 2023. This means he will not finish out the contract he signed three years ago, as he had one season remaining on his original deal.
With Taylor on the right side of the line, the Chiefs won a Super Bowl in 2023 and reached the big game again in 2024. However, a common opinion among Chiefs fans and analysts is that Taylor did not live up to the hefty payday he received.
Hefty contract brings hefty expectations
Despite the team's accomplishments with Taylor in the starting lineup, his individual performance left plenty to be desired. As a blocker, the Florida product's performance ranged between middling and below average. In his three years in Kansas City, Taylor received Pro Football Focus overall grades of 49.8, 60.1, and 53.3 in consecutive seasons.
While he was serviceable as a pass blocker, earning marks ranging from 64.6 to 69.5, Taylor's run blocking was consistently dismal, as he received grades below 50.0 in two of his three seasons. This is worth noting, considering that the Chiefs' running game has been among the league's worst in two of the three seasons Taylor was the starting right tackle.
Flag after flag after flag
Despite all of this, Taylor's underwhelming run blocking was not the primary point of contention among the Chiefs fan base and those who cover the team. That distinction goes to the volume of drive-crippling penalties he committed over three seasons. From 2023 through 2025, Taylor was flagged an astounding 40 times. He was called for 20 holding penalties and committed 16 false starts.
Taylor's penalty woes hit an apex in the Chiefs' season-opening loss to the Chargers in Brazil. In that game, the right tackle was called for four penalties, including two on one drive in the third quarter. It reached a point early last season where Taylor's penalties were so consistent and detrimental to the offense that some Chiefs fans called for him to be replaced by 2025 free-agent signing Jaylon Moore.
Jawaan Taylor's legacy with the Chiefs is very complicated. On one hand, the team reached immense success with him as the right tackle. He started every game on the Super Bowl-winning team in the 2023 season. In 2024, Taylor once again started every game (with the exception of the Week 18 bout in Denver) on a team that lost just one meaningful contest prior to the Super Bowl. However, his individual performance left many Chiefs fans wanting more. The combination of his inconsistent blocking, generally lackluster contributions to the running game, and drive-altering penalties led to understandable frustration.
The tension of Jawaan Taylor's legacy
Ultimately, it is fair to say that Taylor's performance did not match the contract he signed three years ago. Despite this, he was a contributor to the greatest on-field stretch in Chiefs franchise history. For this reason, fans should show him adequate respect for his efforts in a Chiefs uniform, even amid the frustrations.
The Chiefs have multiple options when it comes to replacing Taylor. There have been some rumblings that the Chiefs could use the ninth overall pick to select an offensive tackle, and there are always options in free agency, such as Braden Smith of the Colts, Jonah Williams of the Cardinals, and Trey Pipkins of the rival Chargers.
While these are all interesting to ponder, the most likely and logical option to be the Chiefs' new starting right tackle is already on the roster. That, of course, would be Moore, who signed a two-year, $30 million deal last spring. When Moore was inserted into the lineup last season, he received an overall grade of 63.1 from PFF. While that is not an earth-shattering mark, Moore graded 10 points higher than Taylor. The biggest area of improvement was run blocking, as Moore received a grade of 62.9, a noticeable upgrade over Taylor's mark of 43.8 in that area.
While it's fair to have some appreciation for Jawaan Taylor's time with the Chiefs, it is highly possible that they will get improved right tackle performance in 2026.