The Kansas City Chiefs made an attempt to upgrade their offensive tackle positions this offseason, moving on from veterans Orlando Brown Jr. and Andrew Wylie.
They signed both Jawaan Taylor and Donovan Smith in free agency, securing new bookends to protect star quarterback Patrick Mahomes. One of those players has been named to PFF’s 2023 offensive tackle rankings, which list the 32 best players at the position (not including rookies) heading into the 2023 NFL season.
Taylor came in at No. 24 and here’s what PFF’s Gordon McGuinness had to say about him:
Taylor’s grading profile is one of the most interesting at the position. He earned a 75.9 PFF pass-blocking grade in 2022 that tied for 30th and a 39.7 PFF run-blocking grade that was the worst among starting offensive tackles.
Now, the Chiefs believe they managed to get an upgrade in Taylor, but did they really? PFF doesn’t seem to agree as Taylor ranked lower on this list than Brown Jr., who came in at No. 14 as one of the NFL’s “high-floor” players. It’s rich that mention his overall grade over the last five seasons, but they don’t happen to mention that Brown Jr. finished the 2022 NFL season with the most pressures in the league at 58. Wylie had the second-most at 54. Taylor came in at 40th with just 21 pressures allowed all season.
Taylor is also considered the fifth-best offensive tackle in the AFC West, with Kolton Miller (8), Rashawn Slater (9), Mike McGlinchey (21) and Garrett Bolles (23) all coming in ahead of him.
It’s fairly clear that heading into the 2023 NFL season, Taylor has some doubters to prove wrong.
