Since the Chiefs signed offensive tackle Jawaan Taylor in 2023 free agency, he’s been among the NFL’s most penalized players.
Taylor, a former Jacksonville Jaguar that’s started at right tackle for Kansas City for two seasons, has consistently struggled with penalties, even being benched for a brief period in 2023 because of the influx of flags he was bringing in.
Otherwise, the 27-year-old has lived up to his Chiefs free-agency deal as a strong tackle. Taylor even cut down on his penalty total in 2024 compared to 2023 but still ranked among the league leaders in total flags.
Here’s what to know about the penalty issues that have followed Taylor from his time in Jacksonville to Kansas City.
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Jawaan Taylor penalties, explained
Taylor’s penalty problems aren’t exclusive to his time in Kansas City. After being drafted in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Jaguars, he immediately jumped to the top of the league leaderboard in penalties.
Per The Football Database, here’s the year-by-year breakdown of Taylor’s total penalties in the regular season and where his total has ranked among all NFL players:
| Season | Team | Total penalties | League penalty ranking | Penalty yards | Declined penalties |
| 2019 | Jaguars | 15 | T-1st | 120 | 0 |
| 2020 | Jaguars | 6 | T-42nd | 40 | 1 |
| 2021 | Jaguars | 11 | T-4th | 95 | 3 |
| 2022 | Jaguars | 6 | T-51st | 35 | 1 |
| 2023 | Chiefs | 17 | 1st | 115 | 3 |
| 2024 | Chiefs | 14 | T-2nd | 100 | 2 |
| Totals: | 73 | — | 535 | 10 |
Offensive lineman are often the league leaders in penalties due to false start and holding calls being common, but Taylor has consistently been at the top of the list of most penalized lineman. He did have two years — 2020 and 2022 — where he cleaned up his penalty issues, but especially since joining the Chiefs, they’ve resurfaced.
Of Taylor’s 14 regular season flags in 2024, six were for false starts, six were for offensive holding and two were for illegal formation, per The Football Database. He also drew a false start flag in the divisional round vs. Houston.
In 2023, when Taylor led the league in flags, he particularly had some early issues in Kansas City with illegal formation calls. He was being called for more illegal formation penalties than the average NFL tackle, especially in Week 1 of the season against the Lions:
NBC’s Terry McAulay on Chiefs’ RT Jawaan Taylor: “He’s really not remotely close, and it’s really putting the defensive end at a tremendous disadvantage when you can be that far back.”
Taylor appeared well behind the LOS and appeared to start early throughout the game. pic.twitter.com/2UrkTH8bTo
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 8, 2023
At the time, Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes both backed Taylor up. Reid said that the officials “got an eye on him” and “it’s to the point of being ridiculous,” per The Athletic. Taylor, meanwhile, said he thought there was more attention being paid to his blocking in Kansas City than in Jacksonville.
“If you watch back the past four years, I did it in Jacksonville,” Taylor said, per ESPN. “But it definitely is being seen more, so I’ve definitely got to fix it.”
Reid took Taylor out for some snaps early in the 2023 season as an opportunity to reset. While his penalty total has declined since then, the issues were still present in 2024. While Taylor is known for his quick release off the line, its resulted in plenty of false starts.
“Just getting off early, that’s all it was,” Taylor said about his two false start calls against the Chargers in Week 4, per SB Nation. “Just keep honing in on it. … Locking in on it and making sure I’m on time and not early.”
Reid has continued to emphasize Taylor cleaning up his flags, particularly with false starts.
“He’s got to fix it; that’s the bottom line,” Reid said in October. “He’s very quick off the ball and takes a lot of pride in that, but you’ve got to make sure you’re not offsides. He’s got to take care of that part, and he will.”
“He’s definitely moving before the snap. So, good for him. If he can get away with it, it gives him an extra step. And that little lean back and he’s able to get it done.”
Cris Collinsworth on Chiefs RT Jawaan Taylor. pic.twitter.com/BBgUmRHEqo
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 9, 2024
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Jawaan Taylor contract
Taylor’s penalties haven’t held the Chiefs back from success, as they won last season’s Super Bowl with him starting at right tackle. He’s in the second season of a four-year, $80 million deal he signed with Kansas City in 2023.
Here’s a breakdown of Taylor’s remaining contract in Kansas City, per Spotrac:
| Year | Base salary | Bonuses | Cap hit | Dead cap |
| 2024 | $11,500,000 | $7,891,666 | $19,391,666 | $55,550,001 |
| 2025 | $19,500,000 | $7,891,666 | $27,391,666 | $34,783,334 |
| 2026 | $19,500,000 | $7,891,666 | $27,391,667 | $7,391,667 |