{"id":787080,"date":"2026-03-02T17:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T17:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/787080\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T17:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T17:03:14","slug":"chiefs-releasing-80m-jawaan-taylor-as-crucial-offseason-takes-shape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/787080\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs releasing $80M Jawaan Taylor as crucial offseason takes shape"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jawaan Taylor will be looking for a new home.<\/p>\n<p>The Kansas City Chiefs will likely be releasing Taylor, their starting right tackle, before the start of the new league year, ESPN\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AdamSchefter\/status\/2028450734576996684\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Adam Schefter reported<\/a> Monday.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38646053\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2180159872.jpg\" alt=\"Patrick Mahomes embraces teammate after touchdown.\" class=\"wp-image-38646053\"  \/>Jawaan Taylor has protected Patrick Mahomes at right tackle for the last three seasons. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Taylor\u2019s release would free up $20 million of cap space for the Chiefs, as he had a cap hit of $27.4 million for the 2026 season. The Chiefs already <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/18\/sports\/chiefs-make-massive-change-to-patrick-mahomes-contract-before-critical-offseason\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">restructured Patrick Mahomes\u2019 contract<\/a> to free up $43 million in cap room.<\/p>\n<p>Though Taylor <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/02\/12\/chiefs-beat-eagles-in-super-bowl-2023-thriller\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">won the Super Bowl<\/a> with Kansas City in 2023, he\u2019s been trending downward ever since. He\u2019s been criticized for constant penalties and subpar play.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor started his career with the Jaguars after being a 2019 second-round pick. He spent four years with Jacksonville, playing and starting every possible game until he hit free agency and joined the Chiefs, the reigning Super Bowl champions, on a four-year, $80 million deal in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>He started 17 and 16 games in 2023 and 2024, respectively, then 12 this past campaign due to a season-ending elbow injury. It was his first time missing an extended period in his seven-year NFL career.<\/p>\n<p>The Chiefs have to address needs across the board this offseason after their worst season since 2012, and Taylor\u2019s cap hit was holding them back.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38646057\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BLU_A112459026.jpg\" alt=\"Kansas City Chiefs player number 74 in a red jersey and white pants in a crouched stance on a football field.\" class=\"wp-image-38646057\"  \/>Prior to last season\u2019s elbow injury, Jawaan Taylor hadn\u2019t missed more than one game in a season in his career. David Smith\/CSM \/ Shutterstock<\/p>\n<p>With star quarterback Patrick Mahomes <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/12\/14\/sports\/chiefs-patrick-mahomes-left-devastated-by-torn-acl-to-end-his-season\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">tearing his ACL<\/a> late in the season, Kansas City went 6-11. The team <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/12\/08\/sports\/the-chiefs-dynasty-is-over-and-it-didnt-end-pretty\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">failed to make the playoffs<\/a> for the first time since 2014.<\/p>\n<p>With Taylor\u2019s departure, Kansas City is left with Josh Simmons, Kingsley Suamataia, Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith on its offensive line. All four are under contract for the 2026 season, so Taylor\u2019s spot is the only starter it\u2019ll need to replace next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, players like <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/24\/sports\/chiefs-gm-gives-travis-kelce-update-as-questions-linger-about-tight-ends-future\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">tight end Travis Kelce<\/a>, receiver Marquise Brown and edge rusher Charles Omenihu are set to hit the open market as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jawaan Taylor will be looking for a new home. The Kansas City Chiefs will likely be releasing Taylor,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,11587,110,6,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-787080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-jawaan-taylor","10":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116160667577234753","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787080","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=787080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}