With Chiefs ‘open to suggestions’ on Jawaan Taylor’s penalties, one looms large
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Jawaan Taylor leads NFL with seven penalties in three games, frustrating Chiefs.
- Coaches emphasize correction must come from Taylor, not outside intervention.
- Despite repeated infractions, experience keeps Taylor in starting role.
Say this for the Chiefs: They’ve become increasingly transparent about acknowledging a problem.
Jawaan Taylor’s penalty spree as their starting right tackle extends his reign as the most flagged man in the NFL into a third straight season.
Trouble is, what’s normally considered the most important step in solving an issue instead has become something of a loop of sound and fury signifying ... what, exactly?
We’ve already seen Travis Kelce screaming at and headbutting Taylor after one of his four penalties in the opener against Los Angeles. And heard offensive coordinator Matt Nagy two weeks ago saying “we’ve made it loud and clear” that the penalties have “got to stop.”
On Thursday, it was offensive line coach Andy Heck’s turn to reiterate the obvious.
As talented a pass protector as Taylor is, Heck said, “as he knows, as we know, as everybody in the world knows, penalties, going backwards, is not good for the football team.
“So, hey, the only guy who can fix that is him right there.”
If it sounds like the Chiefs are stranded between their wit’s end and fresh approaches, here’s what Heck said when I asked about the various approaches they might have been taking with Taylor — who led the NFL in penalties assessed with 23 in 2023, tied for the lead with 19 last season and is back atop the leaderboard at a record pace this season with seven through three games.
“I’m open to suggestions there,” Heck said, smiling. “I mean, ‘Don’t jump offsides. Don’t line up too deep. This is offsides.’ ”
More seriously, he added, “No, we’ve had good communication on that. We’ve had heart-to-hearts. And Jawaan is a smart guy; he knows what he’s got to do.”
No doubt he does.
And has for some time: “Like coaches always say, ‘Nobody is worth a penalty. Nobody is too big to be worth the penalty.’ So (I’ll) make sure I’m fixing that and doing my job.”
That was Taylor … in September 2023.
And here we are again. Or is it still?
For a team that has less margin for error than it’s ever had in the Patrick Mahomes Era.
Against the Giants, Taylor’s illegal-formation penalty sabotaged a Mahomes first-down scramble to the 21-yard line and contributed to the Chiefs settling for a field goal instead of a potential touchdown. He also appeared to get away with jumping early on what became a 52-yard penalty on the Giants.
So you’re left to wonder at what point this is like that definition of insanity — doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results — and why the Chiefs don’t give free-agent signee Jaylon Moore a chance.
Even if it’s just for a brief reset jolt with a start or a prime early series or two for Moore, the former 49er who in the offseason was signed to a two-year, $30 million contract.
Seems to me that time came — and went — during the Giants game.
But Heck, who conceded frustration with what he called “repeat offenses,” seemed to dismiss that notion Thursday when he was asked whether playing Moore at left tackle late in the 22-9 win over the Giants was simply to get him some reps … or intended to motivate Taylor.
“Not the second (point)” he said. “Jaylon’s been doing a lot of good things for us. We’ve got a lot of confidence in him. Good big body in there. Did a nice job in there.”
So something else is not being said so bluntly about the situation, which includes the Chiefs paying Taylor about $20 million this season.
Most of all, you can only surmise that the Chiefs believe the overall talent gap and grasp of the offense between Taylor and Moore is significant enough to make Taylor’s penalties more exasperating than disqualifying.
That would seem at least in part because Taylor has started 102 career games and Moore just 12, and because of how Chiefs coach Andy Reid sees Taylor overall: a fine pass blocker even as he’s allowed five pressures in three games.
“When he doesn’t have the penalties,” Reid said Wednesday, “the percentages have been good.”
Even as a coach known for second chances and patience, though, the penalties are ever–looming over the tackle who’s also not a great run blocker.
But while the Chiefs are publicly saying it’s all on Taylor to fix, perhaps some of their leeway for him is because it’s also evident they believe he’s suffered from excessive scrutiny.
That goes back to his first game as a Chief, when NBC broadcaster Cris Collinsworth and rules analyst Terry McAulay were all over Taylor in the NFL season opener against the Lions.
(As it happens, NBC on Sunday had an illegal-formation graphic handy for instant deployment when Taylor was called for it against the Giants.)
Next thing you know in 2023, Taylor was called for five penalties the next week at Jacksonville — the team for which he was flagged just eight times in the entire 2022 season. That represented the most penalties by one player in an NFL game since 2016, and Reid benched him for a couple plays after he was called for holding twice in three plays.
The idea, Reid said, was to help him “step back” — which would hover as an unintended pun when Taylor then against the Bears was called for two illegal-procedure penalties for lining up off the line of scrimmage.
By then, Reid’s frustration had shifted to the perception that Taylor was being picked on for calls that others were getting away with.
Most of all, that seemed apparent — then and now — on the numerous false starts around the league that go uncited every week.
“They’ve got an eye on him, and they better keep an eye on everybody else, too,” Reid said after that Bears game. “Because it’s to the point of being ridiculous.”
While Heck on Thursday stressed that this is on Taylor to fix, he took only slight exception to the idea that Taylor is a marked man by officials.
He wouldn’t use that term, he said. But, harkening to Reid’s words a few years ago, he said referees have “an eye on him.” To the point, he added, where they’ll speak with Taylor pre-game and tell him what they’re going to be watching out for and that he’ll need to move up.
Never mind that when the Chiefs look around the league, Heck said, “You can see there are upwards of 20 tackles that line up as deep or deeper than him.”
The flags against him, Heck said, still are “good calls.”
Besides, as Nagy put it the other week, there’s going to be subjectivity week to week among different officiating crews.
“What matters is whoever the ref is that game, whatever they’re calling,” he said, “we’ve got to adjust to them.”
Disproportionately as it might have gone down at times, Taylor has yet to properly make the right adjustments as he clings to spacing and timing he feels are worth the risk of gaining an advantage.
If he can’t adjust imminently, maybe he’s finally going to compel the Chiefs to make an adjustment of their own.
No matter how reluctant they are to do it, that’s a suggestion they’d best be open to.
This story was originally published September 26, 2025 at 5:00 AM.