BREAKING: Chiefs SIGN Former 49ers Tackle Jaylon Moore to $30M Deal -This is the Move That Will Save Mahomes’ Season

Jaylon Moore might work out just fine. It’s entirely possible the young offensive tackle will blossom manning the left tackle role in front of Patrick Mahomes for the next two seasons and re-enter free agency with a much more robust body of work in 2027. That is certainly the hope for all parties involved.

Unfortunately, all of that is wishful thinking on the part of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Let’s be clear: any transaction conducted by any team can be filed under the same heading. Every draft pick is based on potential. Every free agent signing is hoping good things will come with a change of scenery. Every long-term contract extension is given with the hopes of good fortune and health for the life of the deal.

In this way, the Chiefs’ signing of Jaylon Moore to kick off free agency is no different than any other move on the surface. But given the history at the positon, and considering Moore’s qualifications for the role, the Chiefs are leaning more into hope once again at a position that’s eaten every such previous attempt.

Moore is entering an unfair situation through this lens. It’s not his fault the Chiefs tried to draft-and-develop guys like Lucas Niang (2020), Darian Kinnard (2022), Wanya Morris (2023), and Kingsley Suamataia (2024) to no avail over the last five draft classes. It’s not Moore’s doing that the Chiefs chased the likes of Trent Williams and Ronnie Stanley and came away with nothing. It’s not Moore’s responsibility that the Orlando Brown Jr. trade was the Chiefs’ best attempt to replace Eric Fisher.

Once again, the Chiefs came into an offseason needing a long-term answer at the most important position on the offensive front. And once again, they’re having to throw pasta at the wall to see what sticks.

It’s not Jaylon Moore’s fault, but he’s just the latest in a long line of uncertain plays at left tackle for the Chiefs.

The Chiefs christened Suamataia with the task of protecting Patrick Mahomes’s blindside to start the 2024 campaign, but he was given the hook with snaps to play against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2. Wanya Morris took over the job for several weeks, but a bone bruise and average play yielded the floor to D.J. Humphries, who was signed in late November only to injure his hamstring in his second game.

Chiefs Kingdom knows the rest of the story quite well. Joe Thuney slid from his home as the league’s best left guard to left tackle and held up adequately for the team’s postseason run until the team ran into the buzzsaw known as the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive front. This performance in the biggest game in particular emphasized the Chiefs’ greatest need like never before.

The frustration, however, is that this was the worst time to need a left tackle. It’s like needing toilet paper at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tackle-needy teams had iffy options at best, and the Chiefs were in the worst position of all given that they can’t even draft a top option sitting at No. 31.

Once the Chiefs lost out on Stanley, who re-signed with the Baltimore Ravens, there was nowhere else to turn but to the proverbial pasta. Whether a draft pick or Jaylon Moore, the Chiefs were going to be throwing noodles to see what sticks no matter how the dominoes fell. There simply weren’t any other paths for general manager Brett Veach to take.

One year from now, Chiefs Kingdom will certainly hope that we’re all referencing Jaylon Moore as the answer to the ongoing instability at the position. Perhaps that will happen. However, that doesn’t change the present that the Chiefs are once again experimenting in the kitchen.