While many thought the first team to make a trade in the 2026 NFL Draft would be the Arizona Cardinals, that turned out not to be the way things went down this past Thursday night in Pittsburgh, as they ultimately held on to the No. 3 overall selection to take Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, who is the early favorite to win Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Instead, the first team to make a move was none other than the Kansas City Chiefs, who were originally slated to pick ninth overall but instead struck a deal with the Cleveland Browns to move up three spots to No. 6, where they selected LSU superstar cornerback Mansoor Delane. In addition to the first-round pick swap, Kansas City also sent Cleveland a third-rounder (No. 74 overall) and a fifth-rounder (No. 148 overall), both of which the Browns traded away in separate deals later in the draft.
Now, many believe Delane, who earned First-Team All-SEC and unanimous All-American honors for the Tigers this past year, would have still been on the board at No. 9, but there's obviously nothing that can be done about that now, and the Chiefs now simply have to hope Delane can lead a secondary that recently lost Trent McDuffie to a trade and Jaylen Watson and Bryan Cook to free agency.
The team as a whole is obviously the most important thing, but it'll certainly be interesting to see how Delane fares from an individual standpoint. We mentioned earlier how Jeremiyah Love is the favorite to win Offensive Rookie of the Year, but Delane is not even among the top five in the early odds for Defensive Rookie of the Year, finishing just outside in the sixth slot at +1000.
Mansoor Delane has the sixth-best odds to win NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year
Unsurprisingly, the leader in the way-too-early DROY odds is edge rusher David Bailey (+450), who was the first defensive player off the board in the draft, going No. 2 overall to the New York Jets.
Next up is another edge defender, Rueben Bain Jr. (+550), who was linked to the Chiefs in a plethora of mock drafts over the past few months but ultimately fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at No. 15.
The trio of Ohio State stars taken in the top 11 take up the next three spots, with New York Giants edge Arvell Reese in third at +650 and Washington Commanders linebacker Sonny Styles and Dallas Cowboys safety Caleb Downs in a tie for fourth at +750.
And then, as mentioned, there's Delane in sixth at +1000. Now, the 22-year-old is at a bit of a disadvantage, as cornerbacks don't often win Defensive Rookie of the Year, with only three such players doing so since the turn of the century.
That said, though, all three have come in the last 11 years. The most recent to do so was Sauce Gardner in 2022 with the Jets, and before him, there was Marshon Lattimore of the New Orleans Saints in 2017. And before that? Well, Chiefs fans should remember this one, as the 2015 honor went to none other than Marcus Peters, who tallied a league-high eight interceptions that year, returning two for touchdowns.
Delane, who spent three years at Virginia Tech before transferring to LSU, isn't the ballhawk that Peters was, as he's much more like Gardner in that opposing quarterbacks simply stay away from him whenever possible. When he did have passes thrown in his direction in 2025, Delane only allowed a 31.3 passer rating, the second-lowest among qualified corners, and his 90.7 PFF coverage grade ranked fourth among 908 qualified players at his position.
Gardner had just two interceptions when he won the award a few years back but led the league with 20 passes defended. Perhaps Delane can take the same sort of path for the Chiefs in 2026.
All betting odds courtesy of DraftKings. Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change. The content in this article should not be considered betting advice. Gambling involves risk, and one should only gamble with funds that one can comfortably afford to lose. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.
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