3 Chiefs on Thin Ice After Catastrophic Loss to Raiders in Week 16
By Joe Summers
2. Jawaan Taylor
Through 16 weeks, Taylor looks like the worst signing of Brett Veach's tenure as general manager of the Chiefs.
The most penalized man in the NFL signed a four-year, $80 million contract this offseason and has been an absolute mess at right tackle. He's graded well when he doesn't commit penalties. Unfortunately though, he always commits penalties.
With 18 penalties on the year, Taylor's ill-timed mistakes almost feel like a joke at this point. The offensive line as a whole has struggled this year, especially considering the high expectations, and Taylor is the face of the trouble.
Mack Wilson Sr, who will speak to media around 2:45 ET, has excelled as an edge defender and pass rusher lately
— Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) December 18, 2023
Yesterday he shut down a shovel option to Travis Kelce and was in on a pair of sacks, beating Jawaan Taylor quickly around the edge on the second pic.twitter.com/4bSFsQG6Zb
That's not what a $20 million per year player is supposed to look like.
By any measure, Taylor has been bad. His problems outweigh his positive contributions. The Chiefs are stuck with him moving forward, but Kansas City desperately needs its highest paid offensive lineman to figure it out.
If Taylor doesn't improve, the outlook next year will be far from rosy and there's a clear ceiling on how far this team can go.