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As usual, you should always watch the magician's hands, not listen to his mouth.
The Chiefs really, really valued Jawaan Taylor, it now looks like, because they believe he's really good at both positions, and it gives them all kinds of flexibility. We know he can play the RT position at a high level, and there's little doubt in my mind that he'd be a better left tackle than Donovan Smith.
The problem, that this move shows us: there's no other tackle on the roster that they trust. This team does not like Niang anymore at all, and Morris/Wanogho are not ready. Hell, I don't even think the Chiefs are confident they have a swing tackle; they may just put Thuney at LT if Smith goes down at some point. That's what this signing tells me.
The draft came and went, the Chiefs didn't move up to get Anton Harrison, and I'm not going to get a bunch of the manchildren on this board upset again as to why I suspect that to be the case.
But now they have no answer, and went out to get the best tackle left on the market.
Should Smith last the whole season, he's going to be better in December than he's going to be in September. But it's going to be a rough ride with him at left tackle for almost the entire season until December comes and Andy Reid has a final-form gameplan for how to manage Smith's side.
You're not going to get a great tackle for $5m-ish in May. You're not even going to get a particularly good tackle for $5m-ish in May.
What you're going to get is a placeholder who is going to get beat a lot.
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