Several NFL analysts have criticized the Kansas City Chiefs and praised the Cincinnati Bengals for the signings of Jawaan Taylor and Orlando Brown Jr. at left tackle.
Of course, the Chiefs chose Taylor in this exchange — allowing Brown to walk — and in doing so, he elected to join a major AFC rival. Not everyone was crazy about the Bengals new addition on the blindside, however.
“I give them credit for not [franchise] tagging Orlando Brown and not spending dollars on him,” an unnamed executive told The Athletic’s Mike Sando during an insider article built on free agency reactions. “He was probably the weakest link on their line last year. It seems like they figured out as long as you protect [Patrick] Mahomes, nothing else matters. It is probably true.”
Sando added his own opinion too, noting that while there have been “significant” changes in KC this offseason, there has not been anything as “dramatic” as the Tyreek Hill trade last March.
Comparing Bengals’ Orlando Brown Jr. & Chiefs’ Jawaan Taylor
If you combine the regular season and the playoffs, no offensive tackle played more snaps than Brown in 2022 according to Pro Football Focus — so the former Baltimore Ravens third rounder was durable for KC. Ironically, Taylor was just behind him, inside 100 snaps of Brown at 1,230 compared to 1,324.
Brown was also the better run blocker, and it wasn’t particularly close. The former Chiefs LT earned a 68.8 grade in the run game, while Taylor was credited with a very poor 39.7.
As Sando and his source illustrated, however, Kansas City signed Taylor for his ability to protect Mahomes. The ex-Jacksonville Jaguar only allowed 21 quarterback pressures on Trevor Lawrence in 2022 — although, that was exclusively at right tackle. His PFF pass blocking efficiency rating was also a 98.2.
Brown, on the other hand, was charged with a whopping 58 quarterback pressures last year, which yielded a 96.3 efficiency rating. The two allowed a similar amount of sacks in 2022.
In the end, it’s hard to argue that Taylor is a significant upgrade on Brown. The Chiefs are betting that he’ll fit the scheme better, display more of a willingness to start at either bookend in the event a left tackle is drafted, and provide Mahomes with more time in the pocket — but the transition to left tackle could impact the former second-round pick as it did his predecessor.
At the same time, there’s no guarantee Brown will ever live up to his new contract in Cincy. All that’s clear at this moment is that you must overpay to land a starting left tackle on the open market.
Mike Sando, Execs Believe Chiefs Will Dominate the AFC West in 2023 Once Again
In the same article with The Athletic, Sando provided another quote from an unnamed executive. This one concerned the entire AFC West, and NFL minds still love KC in this regard.
“They are in great shape, especially when you look at the rest of their division,” Sando relayed, via another exec. He also revealed that this source compared “the Mahomes-era AFC West to the [Tom] Brady-era AFC East.”
“The Mahomes-era Chiefs’ AFC West opponents have won 47.5 percent of non-division games,” Sando continued, “nearly matching the 47.4 percent rate for the Brady-era [New England] Patriots’ AFC East opponents.”
Sando also quoted one more NFL executive, who stated: “I think Denver is loading up in terms of they are going to be given every opportunity to improve, but between the [Los Angeles] Chargers and Vegas, it can get ugly. If [those two] are not competitive the first half of the season, those are potential in-season moves.”
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