Last night was painful. After watching the Kansas City Chiefs make their second-round pick in the 2026 NFL draft, Chiefs Kingdom then had to endure the agony of watching good player after good player go off the board for the rest of the night, with no hopes of the Chiefs drafting them.
It felt like torture.
Kansas City had plenty of holes to fill on its roster heading into the draft. The team needed help at edge, cornerback, defensive tackle, wide receiver, tight end, offensive tackle, and safety. And while the Chiefs were able to address the first three of those needs with their first three picks, they then had to sit there as players who could have upgraded other spots went off the board in the third round.
The torment stemmed from general manager Brett Veach's actions on the opening night of the draft. The Chiefs moved up three spots from nine to six in the first round to grab cornerback Mansoor Delane from LSU, sending picks nine, a third-rounder (74th overall) and a fifth-rounder (148th overall) to the Cleveland Browns.
Mansoor Delane will be a great cornerback, but it was also tough to watch the fallout of the Chiefs' bold trade up to No. 6.
It was that lack of a third-round pick for Kansas City that proved so infuriating. Eight wide receivers went off the board from pick 74, which was KC’s original selection, to the end of the third round. Two tight ends went—including my personal favorite Chiefs' target Eli Raridon of Notre Dame—and so did four offensive tackles. The Chiefs couldn’t take any of them, and they chose not to trade back into the third round either. It was tough to watch it unfold.
What took place after the Chiefs drafted R Mason Thomas at pick 40 is the reason why I don’t like that they traded up to get Mansoor. Fans should have no concerns about whether or not Mansoor is going to be a great player. He was the top-ranked cornerback according to Dane Brugler’s The Beast. He should be fantastic. What's troubling is that Kansas City spent extra draft capital to bring him in—capital that could have been used to fill other positional needs that are just as pressing as corner.Â
The lack of a third- and fifth-rounder cost the Chiefs two direct selections, but by not having either of them, it also gave Kansas City less ammunition to move up or trade back into the second or the third round. It's easy to see why Kansas City made the deal, but I’m afraid the Mansoor trade will mean the Chiefs will be left too shallow at too many other positions of need down the road now.Â
Day 2 of the draft felt so frustrating because I could see the help that the Chiefs needed going off the board, but they were handcuffed from doing anything about it—handcuffs that they put on themselves by already spending their draft capital.
Of course, the Chiefs still have a chance to fill holes today. They currently have four picks remaining (109, 169, 176 and 210) and players like WRs Skyler Bell, Deion Burks, Eric McAlister, and Elijah Sarratt, TEs Justin Joly and Michael Trigg, and OT Dametrious Crownover, all from Arrowhead Addict’s top 100 Chiefs prospects list, are all still on the board.
But last night hurt because I feel like the Chiefs let other potentially better players go without any chance to take them. I know you can’t draft everybody, and not all prospects will turn out to be All-Pros, but I feel like Kansas City missed an opportunity to get better on day two of the draft.
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