Sportsnaut
The Kansas City Chiefs offensive line cost them dearly in the Super Bowl loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, prompting a significant overhaul this offseason. However, real changes on the Chiefs offensive line might not come for another year.
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated wrote in this week’s mailbag that he doesn’t expect first-round pick Josh Simmons to start this season at left tackle. With Simmons recovering from surgery to repair the ruptured patellar tendon he suffered last October, it’s viewed as a ‘more challenging’ injury to return from than an ACL tear and even more so for linemen.
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Breer expects free-agent signing Jaylon Moore to be the Chiefs’ left tackle this season with Jawaan Taylor sticking at right tackle. However, after this season, the NFL reporter expects Taylor to be released with Moore transitioning over to right tackle and Simmons taking over at left tackle.
Not only could it potentially be an upgrade for the Chiefs’ offensive line, but it’s also a great move financially. When Taylor is released next offseason, Kansas City will create $20 million in cap space and carry just a $7.391 million dead cap. In that scenario, per OverTheCap.com, the Chiefs would then be just $16.217 million over the projected NFL salary cap in 2026.
The Chiefs’ interior offensive line is expected to remain the same. Kansas City is likely to sign guard Trey Smith to a contract extension this summer, ensuring he and center Creed Humphrey are under contract long-term. As for the left guard spot, the coaching staff remains confident that Kingsley Suamataia will handle the transition well from tackle to guard this summer and take the starting spot from Mike Caliendo.
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