Jawaan Taylor deserves some credit. Matt Nagy made sure to give him some on Thursday.
As the Kansas City Chiefs prepare to visit Highmark Stadium for a game against the Buffalo Bills, reporters got a chance to ask questions of the team's coordinators in advance of Week 9. Nagy, who is K.C.'s offensive coordinator, was asked about the performance of Jawaan Taylor in the last few weeks and specifically his ability to clean up mistakes.
"That’s a credit to him," said Nagy. "He’s done a good job with that. We had to have that happen. He was playing really well. He’s continuing to play well. But the penalties were what the black eye was for all of us to see in him.
"He’s such a great kid," he continued. "He cares. He’s a professional, and he took it to heart, and that’s a credit to him to being able to be a true professional in that moment and make us better by eliminating something. That’s a credit to him."
The Chiefs right tackle deserves credit for his execution these days, and Matt Nagy served some up in Thursday's media session.
The Chiefs got off on the wrong foot in just about every way to start the season by losing their first two games and three of their first five. A significant part of the frustration was the stagnant offense, one limited by Rashee Rice's suspension and Xavier Worthy's shoulder injury. Without their top weapons, the Chiefs had little margin for error to begin with—and that's before the team often shot itself in the foot.
In that scenario, Taylor's perpetual struggles with penalties (he led the league in penalties in 2023 and was first overall again for the first few weeks of 2025) were infuriating for fans and coaches. In response to early-season mistakes, Nagy called out Taylor in remarks to the media. ”That can’t happen. So that’s where we’re at; we’ve made it loud and clear," said Nagy.
Recently, however, with the Chiefs' offense having flipped the switch to "elite", Taylor's execution has been just as effective. In Week 8, Taylor was flagged for holding but the penalty was offset by another call against Washington. That was his only penalty in three games. After getting called for 7 penalties through Week 3, Taylor has only two more in the last five contests.
The good news is that Taylor's pass blocking was always very good to great, even with the penalties. Now that he's made a concerted effort to clean up the mistakes, Taylor is turning into the sort of bookend the Chiefs brought him in to be with a lucrative free-agent deal in 2023. For all the criticism he received early in the season, Taylor now deserves credit for turning things around.