KC Chiefs show interest in Toledo pass rusher

The Kansas City Chiefs have spent some time with Desjuan Johnson from Toledo this pre-draft season.

The Kansas City Chiefs are beginning to reveal their hand, or at least the hand they want to show publicly, when it comes to their potential interests in the 2023 NFL Draft. The same is true of each NFL team, given that each franchise is allowed 30 official pre-draft visits on site at home stadiums in order to get to know college prospects a bit more before the annual first-year player draft held in late April.

This year, the Chiefs are spending time with key players at some obvious positions, including wide receiver and edge rusher. One name to add to the list of latter prospects belongs to Desjuan Johnson, a pass rusher out of the University of Toledo.

According to Justin Melo of The Draft Network, the Chiefs have now checked in a couple of times on Johnson in the draft process. They held an informal meeting with him at the Shrine Bowl earlier this offseason and then they asked him to take up one of those 30 visits, so clearly they’re intrigued by his potential..

Sometimes these meetings can help set one player apart from another with a positive visit while others are used to cross a player off of a list. It’s hard to say about every player, but the Chiefs seem to like Johnson and for good reason—he had 29 tackles for loss and 10 sacks in the last two years at Toledo. He’s also a versatile player who can line up at multiple positions across a defensive front, although his size would likely keep him in a situational rushing role early in his career.

There’s a reason why so many teams have checked in on Johnson to spend time with him. He’s not a sure thing, but picking up a solid rotational pass rusher is a great get on Day 3 of the draft (think Mike Danna) and Johnson looks the part.