The Kansas City Chiefs weren’t particularly busy in free agency, but one of their marquee additions already looks destined to be a disappointment for the team.

The Chiefs signed former 49ers tackle Jaylon Moore to a two-year, $30 million deal, taking a chance on a player who had mostly been a backup in San Francisco. It was a risky move for a team in need of help at left tackle, arguably the most important position along the offensive line.

And now, just a few months later, it already looks like a move that’s going to go down as a disappointing one for Chiefs fans, as a rookie was getting first-team reps in OTAs.

Jaylon Moore has already been replaced in the Chiefs lineup

Kansas City used its first-round pick on Josh Simmons, an offensive tackle out of Ohio State who tore his patellar tendon last season. It sounds like Simmons is ahead of schedule and that Kansas City expects him to be the team’s Week 1 starter.

There are some obvious issues with expecting a rookie coming off an injury to be your left tackle. I wrote earlier this week about why the Chiefs are making the same mistake that they made in 2024 with rookie Kingsley Suamataia, the Week 1 starter at left tackle who was benched after two games and has now been moved inside.

Simmons is likely the future for the Chiefs, though, so taking an aggressive approach with him makes some sense, I suppose. But if that’s the path Kansas City goes down, where does it leave Moore?

Look, the process here is okay — not great, but at least “fine.” As Chiefs reporter Kent Swanson said back in April, “paying Jaylon Moore and using a first round pick at tackle is 100% worth it if it solves the left tackle position.”

If the Chiefs can better protect Patrick Mahomes after he took a career high in sacks in 2024, great! But as it looks more and more likely that Simmons is going to be the answer to that question, overpaying for Moore is going to end up looking like a mistake. Again, I don’t think the process of overpaying Moore is that bad, but if Simmons starts 17 games and Moore just ends up in the same swing tackle role he had in 2024, Chiefs fans aren’t going to wind up being particularly happy with the deal.

So while the move itself was fine in a vacuum, the fact that Moore as a player looks unable to beat out an injured rookie for reps is going to leave the Chiefs disappointed. It was a move they probably had to make, but that doesn’t mean the front office, coaches and fans are going to be happy to have a $30 million player coming off the bench.