Homework or smokescreen. That's the biggest point of discussion for the Kansas City Chiefs with the 2026 NFL Draft one week away.
Specifically, the questions surrounding the Chiefs concern their approach to offensive tackle, which is centered on the in-house assessment of their starting bookends for the season ahead. What was once an ignored position in the months before the draft given the obvious concerns at other position has become a major talking point due to the team's recent activities.
The Chiefs are spending plenty of time with the draft class's best available tackles with some of their allotted 30 visits with prospects. That's an interesting turn (and a concerning one for some fans), which has brought the question of whether or not K.C. would really use one of their earliest picks—of which they have two in the first round—on the position.
The fact that the Chiefs are spending time with the likes of Georgia's Monroe Freeling, who is, in fact, the latest reported visit, isn't a slight to the talent of the young tackle. (Alabama's Kadyn Proctor has also visited the team's facilities, by the way.) Rather, it's a frustrating turn for a team that looked like it already made enough investments up front just one year ago.
The Chiefs are meeting with some of the 2026 NFL Draft's top tackle prospects and it's hard to suss out what's real or a smokescreen.
Is last year's first-round selection, Josh Simmons, ready and able to settle in as the full-time franchise left tackle? Are injury concerns (or more) going to make that position more tenuous than Andy Reid would like? If there are serious questions about Simmons, it creates a real hurdle in the way of shoring up other needy positions and undercuts the expected progress made on the left side.
Jaylon Moore is either the team's starting right tackle or the most expensive swing tackle in the league. Therein lies a big difference. Jawaan Taylor's penalties were frustrating, but he was largely an asset up front, especially in pass protection, and if the drop on the right side is so steep that he can't hold down the right side, that is, again, a serious issue.
The notion of the Chiefs taking a first-round tackle is much more palatable at No. 29 than No. 9, but even so, it's far more comforting to imagine the team shoring up talent issues at edge rusher and wide receiver, for example, than it is making another heavy investment outside knowing that there's already so much being spent on the team's offensive interior.
Are these visits with offensive tackles who are clearly going in the top half of the first round just a smokescreen by Brett Veach? Or are prospects like Freeling and Proctor in serious consideration for that No. 9 overall selection? There's no way of knowing until the Chiefs are on the clock.
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