Chiefs Holding Right Tackle Competition

The Chiefs will have a new right tackle in 2026. Penalty maven Jawaan Taylor is now with the Falcons, as the Chiefs made a predictable salary trim amid a cap crunch. Taylor did not live up to his $20MM-per-year contract, and a 2025 signing looked to telegraph Kansas City’s plans at the position.

Taylor’s free agency standing in 2023 led to a player-friendly contract, one that brought a guarantee on his $19.5MM 2025 salary by March 2024. The Broncos used a similar structure with Mike McGlinchey. PFR ranked both RTs as top-three free agents in that class, and each cashed in. Denver’s move worked out better than Kansas City’s, as McGlinchey is heading into a fourth season as the Broncos’ right tackle while Taylor ended up taking a significant pay cut — via a one-year, $5MM deal with no guarantees — with the Falcons.

Now free of Taylor’s four-year, $80MM contract, the Chiefs look to have Jaylon Moore stationed as their RT replacement. The team gave the ex-49ers swing tackle a two-year, $30MM pact — one that even surprised John Lynch — only to use him as a backup for much of last season.

Moore did see time as the campaign progressed, with first-round pick Josh Simmons missing time due to injury and a midseason hiatus light on details (both Simmons and Taylor ended the season on IR). With Simmons back, Taylor gone and the Chiefs not making a draft investment at tackle, the job certainly looks to be Moore’s to lose. But the ex-49ers draftee is in a position battle.

Moore has not yet seized the job, according to The Athletic’s Jesse Newell, who notes Esa Pole and rookie UDFA Kahlil Benson are in the mix as well. Admitting he anticipated Moore would be the clear Taylor successor, Newell has seen Pole and Benson receive long looks at the gig. Moore not winning the job would be surprising, based on the long-odds statuses of Pole and Benson.

Whereas Moore is a sixth-year veteran with 18 career starts — including six as a Chief last season — Pole and Benson are UDFAs. Benson technically checks in as a rookie UDFA, but he joined the Chiefs after a successful tryout at their rookie minicamp last month. Neither Pole, who caught on with the Chiefs as a 2025 UDFA, nor Benson has any guaranteed money on their contracts. Pole did not make the Chiefs’ roster out of training camp last year but worked his way up from the practice squad, eventually seeing time (four starts) due to Simmons’ attendance issues.

Moore, 28, is tied to a $7MM guarantee (on a $14.24MM base salary) this season. It would represent another miss at RT if the Chiefs deem the veteran unworthy of the job, though Benson — an Indiana recruit who transferred to Colorado in 2024 before returning for the Hoosiers’ national championship season last year — being involved here could bring an unlikely success story.

Benson, who blocked for Shedeur Sanders in 2024, was Indiana’s RT starter in 12 games last season. Benson started every Hoosiers game at RT in 2023, after making five starts in 2022, before being a part-time RG starter at Colorado.

ESPN’s Scouts Inc. did not have Benson graded as a top-400 prospect in this year’s class — like Hoosiers teammate-turned-49ers draftee Kaelon Black, Benson was not a Combine participant — but it appears he will have a chance to make either the Chiefs’ 53-man roster or secure a practice squad slot out of training camp. Pole operated as Washington State’s starting left tackle during most of his final two college seasons; Scouts Inc. ranked him 301st in last year’s class.

Taylor struggled with penalties (and was regularly scrutinized for uncalled false starts) during a three-year run in K.C., but he did give the team stability after Andrew Wylie‘s free agency exit. The Chiefs have been unable to count on a left tackle since Orlando Brown Jr.‘s 2023 FA departure; they are hoping Simmons solves that issue. As the team aims for Simmons to begin a long-term LT stay in earnest this year, observing its RT competition — as it is a bit difficult to declare favorites in O-line battles before pads come on — will be important as Patrick Mahomes makes his return from ACL and LCL tears.