The Kansas City Chiefs walked out of the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft with two new defensive additions, and team owner Clark Hunt made it clear on Friday that he liked everything he saw from his general manager in the process.
Speaking to the media following the draft's opening night, Hunt was effusive in his praise of Brett Veach and the rest of the front office, crediting them for both their impressive preparation and execution that led to the Chiefs landing LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane at No. 6 overall and Clemson defensive tackle Peter Woods at No. 29.
"I want to compliment the job that Brett Veach and his staff have done in both preparing for this draft and then executing on the plan last night," . "Just watching it unfold last night, it was clear that Brett had done his homework, had a really good feel for how the picks would come off the board."
Kansas City moved up three spots from No. 9 to No. 6, sending picks No. 74 and No. 148 to the Cleveland Browns, to secure the selection of Delane. According to Hunt, that trade had been in the works in Veach's mind for weeks.
Clark Hunt spoke highly about Brett Veach's work on the opening of the 2026 NFL Draft.
"I probably heard from Brett about a month ago that Mansoor was somebody who would be a priority for us," Hunt said. "When we had our pre-draft meeting about a week ago, that had really crystallized, and he was starting to think about whether a trade would be necessary in order to get him, because he was worried about another team being interested in the position. Then yesterday, in our final prep meeting before the draft, he shared the plan with me and thought that Cleveland would be willing to trade with us."
Woods, meanwhile, has been on Veach's radar for a while. "He was able to engineer a trade and trade up to get a cornerback that he thought would really help the franchise in Mansoor Delane," Hunt said, "and then come back later at the end of round one with a defensive tackle in Peter Woods, who he's been excited about now for a couple of years."
Together, Delane and Woods will help form a new defensive foundation for the Chiefs going forward as they move on from McDuffie and as Chris Jones gets older. Hunt's words are a good reminder that the ability to establish a strong future is built on several years of work before such plans are even announced.