@@Kansas City Chiefs

[Schefter] Former Jaguars’ OT Jawaan Taylor reached agreement on a four-year, $80 million deal, including $60M gtd, with the KC Chiefs, per sources. Deal negotiated and confirmed by Drew Rosenhaus and Robert Bailey.

  • March 13, 2023


[Schefter] Former Jaguars’ OT Jawaan Taylor reached agreement on a four-year, $80 million deal, including $60M gtd, with the KC Chiefs, per sources. Deal negotiated and confirmed by Drew Rosenhaus and Robert Bailey.

43 comments

  5. He’s here to play LT at that money right?

    I guess I’m hearing he has played RT. But 25 years old. 6’5 312. Okay. Sounds good. Honestly know nothing about him past that.

  6. Andy values right tackle play at the same level as left (see Mitch Schwartz) so I would guess he’s playing right.

    Edit: fuck me I guess?

  7. Woah that’s a lot.

    Given the moves, I think they feel confident that one of the young tackles on the roster can play next year or they have multiple draft targets. If that doesn’t materialize I’d be nervous.

    Edit: seeing the Broncos RT move i am more than fine with this. Tackle market exploded! (And Brown still not being signed says something)

  9. I like this move. Solidifies one of the OT spots and allows us to focus on the other OT position in the draft

  13. He’s moving to LT pending anything else crazy happens apparently. Also only allowed a 2.7% pressure rate compared to OBJ and Wylie who were both over 6%.

  14. This has gotta be the same situation as OBJr right? A high quality right tackle that they move to left. Maybe they think Niang will take a leap forward and step in at right? Or draft one? I don’t know. Seems like a LOT to pay a right tackle when they have such a glaring hole on the left side.

  15. Whew that’s a lot of money for a RT who has only really had one good season. But plenty of scouts think he can play on the left, so I guess we’ll see.

  16. Veach and Andy like versatility at ALL positions! I wouldn’t be shocked if this guy will eventually be interchangeable on both sides.

  19. I trust the dudes making decision, so welcome to Juwaan.

    I also trust our talent evaluators over random Redditors googling Offensive Line rankings. Taylor has played for end-times Doug Marrone, Urban Meyer and Doug Pederson in his short 4 yr NFL career. Rankings don’t take that into account.

  21. Looks like he is going to replace Orlando. If he plays well at LT, 20 mil a year for four years is pretty damn savvy. Veach wins again.

  22. Assume this was the same contract they offered to Orlando. Taylor is at the very least a good pass blocker who we know can play RT. Sounds like they are gonna move him to LT going forward, but I don’t think there is a better staff in the league to do so. Still wanna see another Tackle in the first 3 rounds personally.

  23. He’s playing left tackle. Veach seems to love getting high value right tackles and move them to LT. Saves money. Also – if there is one thing I 1000% trust Reid with its OL – he loves coaching OL.

  24. Huge overpay for one good season. Not really sure what veach was thinking although I do trust in his ass

  25. Love the move! It frees up the first round of going after an LT in the draft or going for someone else. If an LT falls to them, they could make them move.

    Even if folks are saying this is for moving Taylor to LT that’s still something good.

    IN VEACH WE TRUST.

  27. If he plays LT, this could make the Broncos’ McGlinchey purchase look even more ridiculous.

  28. Mike McGlinchey at 28 just got 5/$87.5 with $50 million guaranteed. Taylor is younger and was better in 2022. This is a good deal even if he stays at RT.

  29. Brown is better in the run game than the pass game while Taylor is the opposite. Feels like a lot of risk to have the LT be someone who’s been playing RT when you consider the only real weakness to the offense is if the oline has issues. I’m always for protecting Mahomes at all costs. Would have absolutely knocked it out of the park if it was RT.

    Hope it works out! I remember Taylor dropped a round in the draft because of the medical on his knee at the time. Anybody remember if it was one of those issues where it’ll be a problem later on a la Da’Quan Bowers. I vaguely remember that it was something like that.

  30. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m shaky in this.

    OBJ was a RT that had some time at LT with the Ravens, and came here to be our LT. While serviceable, he was not a top 5 LT.

    So we’re bringing in another RT, that I assume is going to be playing LT, on a long term, big money deal.

    Yes, we needed tackle help. But if this pans out like it did with OBJ, I’m not sure it’s the best move.

    But it didn’t cost us much capital so…guess we’ll see what happens.

  31. Reportedly Taylor could play LT. Listed as a RT but we like his athleticism per James Palmer. I think he is playing LT unless we find a gem in the draft or make a trade for a guy like Tunsil, which I doubt happens (wants a new huge deal).

  32. Jags fan here, we’ll miss Jawaan for sure, though this is a veeeery risky pickup considering he was absolute dogshit before this season came around. Hope he works out, but watch him carefully. Seems like a big overpay for a guy that’s had one good season his whole career

  33. This is why I’m so glad we didn’t pay $20M to Orlando “Turnstile” Brown, Jr.

  34. What the chiefs learned: you can win the super bowl with meh/injured receivers but you can’t win the super bowl with meh/injured linemen

  35. A risk with the move from RT to LT, but Taylor’s contract is much more palatable than the one OBJ is looking for.

  36. I’m not sure what to think about this move. Hopefully he can adjust to the left side quickly.

  37. There’s no way they’re paying this guy that kind of money to play RT. This tells me that any talks with OBJ are over and he won’t be here moving forward. Which is fine with me if this guy can learn the LT position and keep his skill set from the RT position. Honestly, this guy should help improve the offensive line.

  38. A little late, but he is a great guy. Jags fans love him as a person – he’s got a Jags tattoo even. He had a great year in ’22, though his first few years were rough. I’d personally attribute that to a mixture of things, as the team as a whole was a shit bag.

    He has a nearly perfect first move – so much so that he made Joey Bosa’s mind explode, if you remember that during the Wild Card game they had against us. He just has the perfect timing for when the ball is snapped, and it really contributed to his improvement this past season.

    With our cap situation, and already having paid Cam last off season, the Jags just couldn’t compete with that LT price tag ya’ll threw at him. Hope the best for him for you guys!

  40. Jags fan here, hate seeing JT leave us. He’s a universally liked player. I hope he has a successful season with yall. Very happy the Chiefs were able to pay him 🙏 Hope to see yall in the playoffs again

  41. I don’t know what to do with my hands!! Is this dude good? I have no idea. Time to do some research.

  42. Alright I’m prepared to get the downvotes. I think this is a really bad transaction (but I’m praying it works out).

    Jawaan Taylor throughout his career has been mostly a **below average** right tackle. It’s well stated that he’s terrible at run blocking (but who cares right?) so lets focus on his pass blocking since thats what we care most about.

    Per PFF (I’ll give more data than if you don’t like them) he’s graded in pass blocking 75.9 (2022), 72.0 (2021), 51.8 (2020), 69 (2019). To give more contexts that is 32nd, 35th, 79th, and 44th. What’s worse? When they evaluate him in just “true pass” sets, those grades and rankings decrease to 72.5 (2022), 60.8 (2021), 53.0 (2020), and 60.9 (2019).

    If you don’t like PFF that’s fine. He’s an excerpt from ESPN that uses player tracking data. *”Per next gen stat tracking – His 89% pass block win rate for Jacksonville last season ranked 37th out of 64 qualifying tackles last season, and his 69% run block win rate was sixth-worst among tackles.”*

    This is interesting and confusing becuase his pressure rate was SO low last season, which has been one of the reasons and a complete outlier from the rest of his career. Why is that? Well the biggest indicator of pressure is actually the QB throwing the ball. Trevor Lawrence last year ranked tied for 4th out of 41 qualified QBs in time-to-throw at 2.50 seconds which was BY FAR the lowest for a QB that Taylor played with in his career. Mahomes, who generally avoids sacks, actually does have one of higher TTT yearly.

    The last data point I typically refer to when evlauating offensive linemen is Brandon Thorn. He had this to write up about Taylor – *Taylor is coming off of the best year of his career in Jacksonville after a fresh start under line coach Phil Rauscher. Taylor has always been durable (66 career starters with zero missed games) but finally shored up some technique issues in pass-protection to* ***put him firmly in the middle-of-the-pack range of starters at right tackle****. At just 25-years old with ideal size (6’5” 315 lbs. with 35+ inch arms) and good play strength, there is a reasonable case to be made that his best football is still ahead of him.*

    There is some reason for optimism here. He’s young, athletic, has a draft pedigree, and improved from his clearly bad previous seasons. However, as Thorn mentions, he simply has improved to average. Not elite. Not great. But average.

    I just have a hard time getting behind a top of the market type deal for a player who you are hoping can make the transition to LT.

  43. Air on the side of caution my KC fans. I’m a jaguar fan, I hope you guys get 2022 JT and not the first 3 years. Last season he was very good at pass blocking, and terrible as a run blocker. The prior 3 years he was really bad in both and is a holding flag machine.

    ​

    Hope for the best for him, he always seemed like a good guy but I’m always weary of players who suddenly show up during their contract year… and that contract is absurd for his talent level.

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