The opening round of the 2026 NFL Draft is in the books, and the Kansas City Chiefs certainly made their presence felt early on in Pittsburgh on Thursday night.
While many expected the Arizona Cardinals to be the first team to make a trade, that turned out not to be the case, as they stayed put at No. 3 overall to select Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love. As such, the Chiefs ended up being the first, striking a deal with the Cleveland Browns to move up three slots from No. 9 to No. 6, where they selected LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane, who will now step in and attempt to shore up a secondary that lost Trent McDuffie, Jaylen Watson, and Bryan Cook.
While many believe Delane would have still been on the board at No. 9, what's done is done, and Kansas City is undoubtedly getting a solid player. There were rumblings that the Chiefs might make a trade before they went on the clock again at No. 29, which is the selection they received from the Los Angeles Rams in the McDuffie deal, but they held on to it to make a second defensive selection, taking Clemson defensive tackle Peter Woods.
As Kansas City gave up its third-round selection at No. 74 overall (and a fifth-rounder at No. 148), Brett Veach now has only pick with which to work on Day 2, that being the No. 40 overall selection in Round 2.
In looking at a few Day 2 mock drafts, most seem to think the Chiefs will lean toward an edge rusher. But we also ran into one that has them taking a wide receiver and another that has them not making that pick at all, as they're predicted to engage in another trade.
Consensus of Day 2 mocks is that the Chiefs will select an edge rusher
Daniel Flick of our friends over at SI has the Chiefs using the No. 40 pick on Texas A&M edge rusher Cashius Howell, who was the 29th-ranked player overall on FanSided's 2026 NFL Draft Big Board. Here's what Flick had to say:
"The Chiefs traded up to select cornerback Mansoor Delane with their first pick and added defensive tackle Peter Woods with their second. To cap a stronghold on the top 40, they get Howell, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, who’s one of the draft’s best pure speed rushers."
CBS Sports: Cashius Howell, EDGE, Texas A&M
Josh Edwards of CBS Sports also has Kansas City taking Howell:
"Dropping Howell into a pass rush operation is like dynamite. He is quick and explosive, but a historical outlier in terms of length. It took the Bowling Green transfer some time to adapt to the SEC, but he took his game to another level in 2025 with 11.5 sacks."
ESPN: T.J. Parker, EDGE, Clemson
Matt Miller of ESPN also has the Chiefs focusing on the edge, but he opted to roll with Clemson's T.J. Parker, who posted 21.5 sacks in his three seasons with the Tigers and ranked 35th on the FanSided Big Board. Here's what Miller had to say:
"After addressing cornerback and defensive tackle in Round 1, the Chiefs stick with defense and add the long-armed, powerful strongside defensive end in Parker. Wide receiver also would be a consideration here, but the depth at receiver is good enough to wait until Round 3."
As mentioned, the Chiefs don't currently own a Round 3 pick, so that last sentence is a little strange. It'd work if he had Kansas City making a trade to move into the third round, but if you look at the rest of his picks, he doesn't do that. Kinda weird, but everybody gets frazzled during draft week, so we'll give him a pass.
The Athletic: Denzel Boston, WR, Washington
Nick Baumgardner of The Athletic does have the Chiefs going with a wide receiver, as he's calling for Washington's Denzel Boston, who caught 125 passes for 1,715 yards and 20 touchdowns for the Huskies over the last two years, to fall into their laps at No. 40:
"This would be an absolute steal. Boston was good enough to go in the first round — he’s a big receiver who moves like a small one."
PFF: Trade with Miami Dolphins — Cashius Howell, EDGE, Texas A&M (No. 43 overall)
And finally, we've got Bradley Locker of Pro Football Focus calling for the Chiefs to make a trade with the Miami Dolphins to move out of the No. 40 slot. Oddly enough, he's got Miami taking T.J. Parker and then has the Chiefs grabbing Howell at No. 43.
"The Chiefs nabbed Peter Woods with the 29thoverall pick, but they still require more pass-rushing from their secondary edge rusher next to George Karlaftis. Selecting edge defenders with shorter arms hasn’t been an issue for Brett Veach before, which makes Howell’s 19.9% pass-rush win rate an outstanding fit."
This could very well work, as the Dolphins do have some draft capital to play with. In addition to simply swapping second-rounders, which, as you saw above, would only drop the Chiefs down three slots to No. 43, and depending on how desperate Miami is, Veach may be able to get the Dolphins to part with one of their three third-rounders at No. 75, No. 87, or No. 94.