How the Chiefs Rebuilt Their Defense In One Draft
Before last season, the Kansas City Chiefs hadn't missed the playoffs since the 2014 campaign. They had become the NFL's closest thing to a modern dynasty by winning three Super Bowls from 2019-2023, and everything looked pretty good for the 2025 season after the Chiefs lost Super Bowl LIX to the Philadelphia Eagles. If the Chiefs weren't completely in line to bag another Lombardi Trophy this time around, nobody expected things to fall off to the point that they did.
The 2025 Chiefs started off 0-2, and they never really recovered. The obvious story was the torn ACL and LCL that Patrick Mahomes suffered in Week 15, but Kansas City was already under .500 before those injuries happened, and Mahomes' absence just put the nail in what became a 6-11 season.
The offseason was even weirder for Steve Spagnuolo's defense, which finished 16th in DVOA last season - down from 12th the year before. The Chiefs traded cornerback Trent McDuffie to the Los Angeles Rams for multiple draft picks (including the Rams' first-rounder in 2026), and the Rams then signed former Chiefs cornerback Jaylen Watson to a three-year, $51 million contract with $34 million guaranteed. The defense also lost safety Bryan Cook, linebacker Leo Chenal, and defensive lineman Derek Nnadi (among others) in free agency, and while there were some interesting free-agency replacements (safety Alohi Gilman, defensive lineman Khyiris Tonga, and cornerback Kaiir Elam), it became clear that a defensive resurgence was going to come through the draft.
Which is why the Chiefs went all-out with their first four picks in the draft on that side of the ball. They traded up from the ninth to the sixth overall pick to select LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane, they used the 29th overall Rams pick given in the McDuffie trade on Clemson defensive lineman Peter Woods, they used the 40th overall pick in the second round on Oklahoma edge-rusher R Mason Thomas, and they finished that defensive foursome with the 109th overall pick in the fourth round of Oregon defensive back Jadon Canady.
"It's super-exciting," linebacker Drue Tranquill said of the reload on May 28. "They're talented players. Obviously, there's a lot of work to do and put in. Certainly, losing some of our guys this offseason, you talk about Mike Danna, J Wat [Jaylen Watson], Trent [McDuffie] - some of our defensive tackles. It was nice on draft day to see that we were reloading a little bit on the defensive side, and getting those guys in there. Those guys are hungry, high-energy guys. They did a lot of studying, obviously, on them. You can see why they brought them here in the first few days."
So, what does the tape say (and what do the Chiefs say) about the new guys, and how they will fit in Spagnuolo's defense?
CB Mansoor Delane
Like every play-caller, Spagnuolo has specific schematic concepts on which he leans, and in Spags' case, the primary idea is press coverage. Spagnuolo became the architect of the Chiefs' defense in 2019, and in every season since, no team has called more snaps in which at least one of their cornerbacks was in press coverage. Last season, for example, Kansas City had no cornerbacks in press on just 13% of their snaps. The Chicago Bears had the NFL's second-lowest rate… at 24%.
Moreover, the Chiefs played man coverage on 172 snaps last season, but the results weren't exactly perfect - in man, they allowed 95 completions on 172 attempts for 1,075 yards, 10 touchdowns, four interceptions, 19 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 83.8.
So, when the Chiefs traded up with the Cleveland Browns from the ninth overall pick to the sixth, and selected Mansoor Delane with that sixth overall pick, it made all the sense in the world. Spags needed at least one more press cornerback for his roster, and it would help if the guy could play some man as well.
Delane can play press just fine, as the tape and metrics indicate.
Steve Spagnuolo has called the NFL's highest rate of press coverage every year he's been the Chiefs' defensive coordinator.
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) April 24, 2026
Mansoor Delane in press last season: 2 catches allowed on 11 targets for 25 yards, 4 pass breakups, no TD, one INT, and an opponent passer rating of 1.7. pic.twitter.com/VN9epjPYtK
And when in man coverage last season, Delane allowed seven completions on 16 targets for 35 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of…
Zero-point-zero.
"We felt Mansoor was the best cornerback in this class," Vice President of Player Personnel Ryne Nutt said on April 27. "What he possesses is not only all the athletic traits we'd look for in terms of his feet, his speed, the bend, the transition skills, it's his extreme versatility. And when I say that, I don't mean just he can play inside and outside. I mean, he can play off-man, press-man, zone, all those abilities are very good abilities. He is somebody that when you get an injury or something happens with another player, you can move him around and it just makes it easier on a defensive coordinator and on a scheme when you have one player that can just move around and play multiple roles. Now listen, he's an elite outside corner and that's probably where he's going start, but like Trent... Trent was an elite nickel. We think this kid could do the same if he was put in that position."
This is as perfect a scheme fit as you'll find in this draft, and it puts the Chiefs on track for a defensive rebirth in the wake of those cornerback departures.
DI Peter Woods
The 2025 season was not an outstanding one for Spagnuolo's defensive tackles. Outside of Chris Jones, the marquee man for years, there wasn't much else to speak of. Jones had seven sacks and 63 total pressures in his age 31 season; no other interior defensive lineman had more than two sacks and 12 pressures; that was veteran Jerry Tillery, who is now with the Indianapolis Colts. Tonga gives Spagnuolo a nice nose tackle option, but to get the defensive line back in shape, Spags and his crew needed a potential inside bomber who can line up in multiple gaps and disrupt with consistency.
Hence, the addition of Peter Woods. Last season with Clemson, the 6-foot-2 1/2, 298-pound Woods was aligned as a nose tackle on 46% of his snaps, which was not exactly the best use of his talents. It's one reason he only had three sacks and 14 pressures in 363 pass-rushing snaps last season, but if you watch the tape, you see that there's more to come.
"It was great," Woods said of his first day at rookie minicamp on May 2. "I think the biggest part was just being able to be coached by [defensive line] Coach [Joe] Cullen for the first time. Just some of the relationships through the coaching world that I've had and heard about his coaching style and stuff like that, so I feel like we're going to have a great time together.
"It's going to be fun."
Peter Woods can do anything you want him to do on the defensive line. In 2024, he played 34% of his snaps over the tackles or on the edge. In 2025, he lined up at nose tackle 46% of the time.
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) February 17, 2026
The common denominator is block destruction. pic.twitter.com/b87px6Lljo
Edge R Mason Thomas
The Chiefs also needed edge help, and they got it with R Mason Thomas. The name comes from his mom, who liked names starting with the letter "R," but also liked "Mason" for her son, so she went both ways with it. Thomas is also a both-ways player to a certain extent. Last season, the 6-foot-2, 241 Thomas amassed six sacks and 28 total pressures in just 191 pass-rushing snaps in a campaign that was interrupted for three games with a quadriceps injury. In his more full season of 2024, Thomas had nine sacks and 35 pressures in 243 pass-rushing reps.
In 2025, Thomas also had 14 solo tackles, 19 stops, three tackles for loss, and a forced fumble. Where Thomas works as a both-ways player is that he lined up inside the tackles on 9% of his snaps last season, and when he did so, he put up some extremely impressive reps in which he would jump a couple of gaps, read the middle of the offensive line, and scald through to the ballcarrier.
"When you're explosive off the ball, and you can reduce the space between you and an interior offensive lineman or a tackle, it gives you an advantage," Nutt said of both Woods and Thomas. "Both play low, they have really good pad leverage, they're really fast off the ball, and they're explosive. So primarily they're speed-rush guys, but they have sneaky power where they can keep a tackle or guard or center off-balance. That allows them to win quickly. So, we felt like both were extremely disruptive, and both had high motors. Both of those kinds of features in a player result to just being disruptive at the NFL level."
Given Spagnuolo's creativity with both blitzes and stunts, Thomas would seem to be a perfect fit. Last season, George Karlaftis was the Chiefs' one consistent edge defender, and Karlaftis is another guy who can kick inside to great effect. Spags should have a ton of fun with this particular pairing.
Thomas can also kick inside, stunt a gap or two, and wreck shop. Such a Spags-type defender. https://t.co/09nIMPzxZhpic.twitter.com/jYUi6hOSTf
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) April 25, 2026
DB Jadon Canady
"[I like that it provides] the ability to cover, read, and react on certain plays – a pass or run. That spot allows you to play free and fast."
That's what Jadon Canady said about being a slot defender in his press conference after the Chiefs selected him. The 5-foot-10 1/2, 181-pound Canady was great in the slot for the Ducks in 2025, but he played pure slot on just 19% of his snaps in 2025. He also excelled in the box, and as an overhang defender who could, as he intimated, make things difficult for opposing offenses against the pass and the run.
In 2025, Canady allowed 17 catches on 37 targets for 104 yards, 61 yards after the catch, one touchdown, two interceptions, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 39.4. He also totaled 30 solo tackles, 12 stops, five quarterback pressures, one tackle for loss, and two forced fumbles.
Last season, the Chiefs had Chamarri Conner as the primary slot defender, and Conner has also been a deep-third defender at times. That slot/overhang/safety role is a very important one in Spagnuolo's defense - it's one way he ties things together from the front to the back - and Canady's addition could not only solidify the slot, but also free Conner to do what he does best, which may be to stick closer to the line of scrimmage. Don't be surprised if Canady turns out to be just as important as the rest of the group over time.
My buddy @FootballEJ recently told me that he has absolutely no idea why people are pushing Oregon DB Jadon Canady as far down as they are. I tend to agree. Maybe because slot/overhang guys are harder to define? Anyway, Canady can add to any NFL defense. pic.twitter.com/ZQxsP5Eijc
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 21, 2026
Defense won out, and it needs to show up
When you go this heavy on defense, and you expect the new picks to be immediate difference-makers, that can take a second, but the Chiefs clearly knew what they needed to go for in this draft, and they seem to have picked up the right guys. Now, it's about making sure everybody fits in. Spagnuolo and his coaching staffs have been wizards when it comes to those transitions, and it's time to get it going all over again.
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This story was originally published June 1, 2026 at 7:50 AM.