Approximately 10 minutes into the start of the NFL’s legal tampering period, the Kansas City Chiefs already have an agreement in place to sign former San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Jaylon Moore.
Sports Illustrated NFL insider Albert Breer reported the news on March 10, informing: “The Chiefs are signing 49ers OT Jaylon Moore to a two-year, $30 million deal, per sources. Moore will be their new left tackle.”
Baltimore Ravens left tackle Ronnie Stanley appeared to be the Chiefs’ top target after they elected to trade All-Pro left guard Joe Thuney, but the AFC rival blocked KC by re-signing Stanley ahead of free agency. Now, Chiefs general manager Brett Veach pivots in order to secure one of the next best offensive tackles on the market as new protection for quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
As is the case with all impending free agents, this move will only become official on Wednesday, March 12.
Chiefs Reward 49ers’ Jaylon Moore With Massive Opportunity After Brief Starting Audition
Moore was considered to be one of the more appealing LT options available, but he comes with a lot of risk.
The former fifth-round selection has mostly served as the backup to future Hall of Famer Trent Williams in San Francisco, but he had a prolonged starting opportunity in 2024 while Williams was injured. Over that span of games, Moore showed enough potential as a pass protector at age 27 to catch the attention of several teams.
Clearly, the Chiefs were one of them.
According to Pro Football Focus, Moore started every game from Week 12 through Week 16 last season. During that time, his pass protection grade only dropped under 75.0 once — which is extremely impressive.
His worst performance was his last one, in Week 16 against the Miami Dolphins, allowing one sack. That was the only sack Moore was charged with in 2024. He allowed a total of 10 quarterback pressures over his 5 starts, and his pass-blocking efficiency percentage ranked 45th for all NFL offensive tackles that played a minimum of 20% snaps.
Moore appeared to perform very solidly in the run game as well, with an accumulative 2024 grade of 70.1 on PFF. He was not penalized a single time over his 259 offensive snaps at left tackle.
Needless to say, this is a massive opportunity for Moore, who goes from career backup to integral starter protecting the face of the NFL. It remains to be seen if he’ll be ready for such a promotion, or if the Chiefs took too big of a chance on too unproven of a free agent.
Chiefs Offensive Line Is Taking Shape After Jaylon Moore Agreement
Assuming Moore signs this reported deal on Wednesday, the Chiefs’ new starting five on the offensive line could all theoretically be under contract.
You have Moore at left tackle, some sort of in-house promotion at left guard, Creed Humphrey at center, Trey Smith at right guard and Jawaan Taylor at right tackle.
The big question mark is obviously left guard, but the assumption is that Mike Caliendo and 2024 draft picks Kingsley Suamataia, Hunter Nourzad and C.J. Hanson will all be given the opportunity to compete for the job in camp. At that point, may the best blocker win.
In other news, Smith did sign his franchise tag on March 9, just before the start of NFL free agency. This officially keeps him in Kansas City for the 2025 season as Veach and the front office look to hammer out a long-term contract extension.
