{"id":265425,"date":"2025-08-06T04:12:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T04:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/265425\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T04:12:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T04:12:12","slug":"chiefs-giving-jaylon-moore-guard-reps-rt-jawaan-taylor-underwent-knee-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/265425\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs Giving Jaylon Moore Guard Reps; RT Jawaan Taylor Underwent Knee Surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chiefs cycled through four left tackle starters last season, seeing their final O-line form \u2014 one with Joe Thuney<\/a> kicking out to LT \u2014 shredded in Super Bowl LIX. Big changes came on the left side of Kansas City\u2019s front this offseason, with two LT options added and Thuney traded to Chicago.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kansas City first added Jaylon Moore<\/a> on a two-year, $30MM deal<\/a> and then drafted Josh Simmons<\/a> in Round 1. The Chiefs had not drafted an O-lineman in Round 1 since Andy Reid\u2018s first draft, when Eric Fisher<\/a> \u2014 as part of an underwhelming 2013 prospect pool \u2014 was drafted first overall. The Chiefs have not been able to find a long-term replacement for Fisher, whose tenure wrapped in 2020, but Simmons is moving toward locking down the job despite entering the offseason with injury concerns.<\/p>\n

Coming back from a patellar tendon tear that affected his draft stock (along with character concerns<\/a>), Simmons is taking regular first-team snaps at left tackle and looking likely to open the season there. That would leave Moore in limbo. Moore would be an overpriced backup, at $15MM per year, but Jawaan Taylor<\/a>\u2018s 2025 salary guarantee would place him as such as well. Taylor is due a fully guaranteed $19.5MM this season. The Chiefs are experimenting with a \u201cbest five\u201d scenario that could keep Moore among the top quintet.<\/p>\n

Moore has seen reps at left guard, according to ESPN.com\u2019s Nate Taylor<\/a>. Mike Caliendo<\/a> and 2024 second-round pick Kingsley Suamataia<\/a>, converted from tackle after an early-season benching last year, had been viewed as the LG competitors in St. Joseph, Mo. (the Chiefs\u2019 training camp home), but Moore\u2019s presence would change the equation. Nate Taylor notes Moore and Suamataia look to represent the primary competition here.<\/p>\n

This presents an interesting competition since both players have not logged notable reps at guard. Moore has logged 827 career offensive snaps; all have come at either left or right tackle. Suamataia played 31 guard snaps as a rookie. Moore established a nice market by filling in for Trent Williams<\/a> last year. Though advanced metrics did not view him favorably, the Chiefs pounced. It would be odd if Moore became a backup, but with Simmons taking all the first-team LT reps (per Taylor), that is a realistic outcome here.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Chiefs handed Suamataia their Week 1 LT job last year, but after a poor showing against Trey Hendrickson<\/a> in Week 2, the BYU product did not receive another chance. The Thuney trade, however, led to the Chiefs trying him at guard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Taylor could be released with modest dead money in 2026, as no guarantees remain on his deal after this year. The penalty maven has underwhelmed on a $20MM-AAV contract, not justifying his contract, but he did play through a knee injury last season. Taylor underwent arthroscopic surgery to address a knee ailment sustained in Week 5 last season, Nate Taylor adds<\/a>. Jawaan Taylor said he did not consider surgery in-season on what he called a partially torn meniscus; the ex-Jaguar did not miss any games due to injury last year.<\/p>\n

Taylor began Chiefs camp on the active\/PUP list, giving Moore some work at a more familiar position. But Taylor is expected to keep the RT gig. A 2026 Chiefs O-line configuration housing Simmons at LT and Moore at RT, after a Jawaan Taylor release, has surfaced as a potential outcome<\/a>. For now, Taylor \u2014 Pro Football Focus\u2019 No. 61 tackle last season \u2014 will be positioned for a third season as the Chiefs\u2019 RT starter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chiefs cycled through four left tackle starters last season, seeing their final O-line form \u2014 one with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2063],"tags":[346,7,11587,8399,8400,118,110,2438,2437,1730,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-265425","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kansas-city-chiefs","8":"tag-chiefs","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-jawaan-taylor","11":"tag-jaylon-moore-ol","12":"tag-josh-simmons-ohio-state","13":"tag-kansas-city","14":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","15":"tag-kansascity","16":"tag-kansascitychiefs","17":"tag-kingsley-suamataia","18":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114979874089947217","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}