Jaylon Moore film review: Meet the Chiefs' new LT
I reviewed every snap of the four games Moore started at LT in SF last year. Let's talk about it.
Well, now we know the plan. At least for the next year or two.
After a great deal of smoke surrounding the Chiefs and left tackle in free agency, GM Brett Veach pulled the trigger on former 49er Jaylon Moore, giving the four-year veteran (who has spent his time in the league as Trent Williams’ backup but has seen action every season, with multiple games started last year) a two year, $30 million dollar deal with $21 million guaranteed. It’s essentially a “we like you, but let’s see what you do in our system” type deal that, when looked at compared to other free agent left tackle deals, is pretty reasonable in terms of cost (details can be found here, but the short story is the Chiefs could, in theory, move on next year and save $7 million against the cap).
And so the plan for 2025 along the offensive line is pretty clear at this point. Moore will start at LT, Kingsley Suamataia (in all likelihood) will get the first shot at starting at LG, and the rest of the OL (Humphrey, Smith, and Taylor) will be the same as last year. While we’ll see what the future holds for Suamataia, I’m cautiously optimistic that his physical traits (he’s a very good athlete with a good combination of upper and lower body power) will translate well inside.
But as we all observed last season, the left tackle position remains the premium spot along the offensive line. And if it is played poorly (or has specific weaknesses to it), it can affect an entire offense. We don’t need to go on a history lesson of all the ways 2024 went wrong at LT, but the short story is that it was part of what hindered the offense in a major way on more than one occasion. Moore is the Chiefs’ answer to that, with the idea that he’s an ascending player who is ready for a larger role.
Are they right? Well, we won’t know that until the season start. But because Moore started four games last year, we’ve got a amount of snaps to review to see what sort of player he is. Four games is not terribly large sample size, but it’s a lot better than just a game or two, especially because it allows us to see how an OL does against a variety of opponents.
And so to the film we go to see what Veach/Reid see in Moore and why they believe he’s the answer at LT. I’ve gone back and looked at every snap of all four of Moore’s starts last season, and it’s given me a pretty decent perspective on where he wins, where he needs improvement, and who he was as a player in SF’s system.
In case you’ve forgotten or are new to this site, the way I review/chart OL play is for wins, losses, and neutral plays, while also looking at pressures/hits/sacks allowed. It’s a way to isolate how the lineman performed from the rest of the offense while avoiding some of the pitfalls of gauging offensive line play.
As a refresher, keep in mind that a 10% loss percentage is my line for what I’m comfortable with from a starter. There’s some variation game-by-game depending on quality of competition and amount of “help” a tackle gets (in the form of chips, moving pockets, rollouts, play action, slides, etc), but that 10% has served me well over the years. And losses are definitely the stat to watch the closest. The problem with a loss from an offensive lineman is that it can torpedo a play or, at the very least, make it much more difficult for the play to succeed. In other words, a win by a lineman doesn’t guarantee success, but a loss goes a long way towards guaranteeing failure.
Let’s talk Moore’s tape and whether or not we can reasonably expect a sizeable upgrade at left tackle in 2025.