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Adam Teicher, ESPN Staff Writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Offensive tackles Donovan Smith and Jawaan Taylor are joining the Kansas City Chiefs at different points of their respective careers, Smith as an established veteran and Taylor as a younger player headed into his prime.
But both players are essentially with the Chiefs for the same reason. Each is looking for a fresh start, Smith after what statistically was the worst season of his eight-year career and Taylor for a life away from the only state he’s ever called home.
“New beginnings, new journey,” said Smith, who played his whole career for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before signing with the Chiefs in May. “I’m healthy. I’m fresh. I’m feeling real good.
“I know who I am as a player. I know what I can accomplish. I’ve been accomplishing a lot of things. That’s what I’m going to continue to do.”
Taylor is just 25, four years younger than Smith. But after growing up and attending college in Florida and then playing his first four seasons for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Taylor was also ready for something new.
“I just wanted to embrace change,” Taylor said. “I never lived outside of Florida ever in my life. To have the opportunity to come and try something new and be [in] a great organization, I was all for it.”
The Chiefs were looking for something of a fresh start at tackle, as well. They were unwilling to meet the contract demands of either of their starting tackles from the past two seasons, most notably Orlando Brown Jr. The Chiefs traded for Brown two years ago hoping he would be their long-term solution at left tackle.
They could never work out details of a contract satisfactory to both sides and Brown this year instead joined the Cincinnati Bengals.
Right tackle Andrew Wylie also left as a free agent, signing with the Washington Commanders.
The Chiefs jumped right in on Taylor, making him their big free-agent acquisition this year shortly after the market opened. Smith signed shortly after the draft.
They couldn’t get a great read on the two players during offseason practice, which is conducted without pads and precludes physical play. A better test for both will come in training camp.
“They’re smart guys,” coach Andy Reid said. “They’re taking good sets and doing the things that they’re supposed to do and you can tell that they’ve played before by how they’re handling themselves and digging in on the new protections and the snap counting itself and all those things. They’re making sure they’re ready once we get up to training camp.”
The Chiefs signed Taylor initially thinking he might replace Brown on the left side. He was almost exclusively on the right side for the Jaguars.
But Smith is a veteran on the left side and when he signed, they decided to leave Taylor in what for him is a familiar spot. Taylor said his focus in offseason practice was on doing things as offensive line coach Andy Heck wants.
“I’m really just soaking in everything I can soak in from coach Heck, just tweaking and adjusting different things with my game to make me better,” Taylor said. “Anything I can do to do that, I can soak it in. Just taking notes in meetings, but also just learning the system, learning how they like things done around here and just doing my part.”
Smith had the lowest pass-block and run-block win rates of his career last season, at 78.4% and 64.9% respectively. He missed four games with an elbow injury and played through it in the other 13 with the results not being what he hoped for.
“It was a little frustrating,” Smith said. “I played with injuries a lot more than I probably should have.”
The Chiefs weren’t put off, having played against Smith and the Bucs three times in the previous three seasons, including Super Bowl LV.
“He’s been a left tackle at a high level,” Reid said. “If you look at last year, he was hurt and then the year before that he was one of the top-rated left tackles in the league. We’ve had a chance to play against him a couple times, so I know from seeing him firsthand that he’s a good football player.”
Before signing Smith, the Chiefs talked to new backup quarterback Blaine Gabbert, who played the last three seasons with Tampa Bay and gave a glowing report on Smith.
“He’s extremely gifted, one of the most athletic, physically gifted left tackles that I’ve seen going on 13 years now and I told Patrick [Mahomes] when we all got here, ‘He’s going to help this team a lot,’” Gabbert said.
“Injuries are a part of the game and sometimes they’re hard to play through and Donnie’s an extremely tough player. He’s been one of the most durable offensive linemen through the first eight years of his career and he got nicked up last year, so it was a down year and I know he’s going to want to play well this year and he’s going to play well.”
Smith signed with the Chiefs for one season, so if he bounces back he should get a longer-term deal next year when he’s 30, whether that’s with the Chiefs or another team.
For now, though, he indicated he’s just enjoying his fresh start.
“I’ve accomplished a lot of my goals from initially coming into the league — how long I’ve played, winning a championship, making a name for yourself,” he said. “I have a lot of expectations for myself.
“Now it’s just, keep building on that.”