Jawaan Taylor Must Fix this Fatal Flaw for Falcons to be Successful in 2026

The Atlanta Falcons signed Jawaan Taylor to replace Kaleb McGary at right tackle. McGary retired after missing all of last season as well.

The Atlanta Falcons signed former Kansas City Chiefs starting tackle Jawaan Taylor as a free agent. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Jawaan Taylor has been part of some elite offensive lines, notably helping the Kansas City Chiefs end the 2023 NFL season as Super Bowl champions.

But the projected Atlanta Falcons starting right tackle has a critical deficiency that could hamper him on his new team.

Taylor came in at No. 1 in Pro Football Focus’ top penalized NFL players since 2021, which includes his time with the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2019 to 2022 and the Chiefs from 2023 to 2025. 

PFF’s Bradley Locker noted that the eight-year veteran leads the league with 74 flags in the five years, with holding and pre-snap penalties being the main culprits. Fifty-six have come from 2023 to 2025 alone, where he lost Kansas City a lot of real estate on the gridiron, around 300 penalty yards.

The new Falcons signee’s 74 flags since 2021 is a ways ahead of the No. 2 spot holder, with Buffalo Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins being penalized 56 times.

Taylor has the second-most 10 illegal formation infractions behind Houston Texans’ offensive tackle Braden Smith. Additionally, the 6-foot-5, 312-pounder and former second-round NFL draft pick out of the University of Florida has a league-high 35 holding calls since 2021.

Signing a one-year contract worth $5 million to play for Atlanta, Taylor is the favorite to replace former right tackle Kaleb McGary, who announced his retirement at age 31 this April after sustaining a severe knee injury that sidelined him for the entirety of his seventh and final NFL season. 

Taylor himself is coming off a season riddled by tricep and elbow injuries, missing the Chiefs’ final five games of 2025. He was limited in the Falcons’ summertime mandatory training camp due to an undisclosed injury, head coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters.

Taylor is joining a franchise that has been the second-least penalized team since 2021. So, attracting yellow hankies from referees won’t be ideal for his job security on a team that has grown accustomed to playing penalty-free football.

A good sign is that Atlanta has NFL coaching veteran Bill Callahan as the offensive line coach, who can take corrective actions to fix Taylor’s penalty problem.

Taylor reports to training camp with the Falcons’ veteran players on Tuesday, July 28, before practice starts on Wednesday, July 29. Preseason opens hosting the Denver Broncos on Aug. 14, and then the regular season starts on the road at the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 13.

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