Just in case there was any question about whether or not the Kansas City Chiefs were interested in attacking wide receiver with their first top-ten draft choice in almost a decade, the latest updates about the team's pre-draft visits clarified the picture. According to our friend Ryan Fowler, the Chiefs are hosting two of the draft's top two wide receivers for visits: Ohio State's Carnell Tate and USC's Makai Lemon.
The Chiefs hold the No. 9 overall selection in the 2026 NFL Draft, along with No. 29 in the first round and seven others in rounds two through seven. The two positions within view for the Chiefs, if going by greatest roster needs and mock drafts, are wide receiver and edge rusher, which is why Lemon and Tate are spending time at Arrowhead.
It makes sense that Kansas City is doing its homework on both players. Other than Jordyn Tyson, whose draft stock seems to have taken a dip with a persistent hamstring injury, Tate and Lemon are the only other wideouts clearly ranked as the top available receivers in the draft. Given the state of the wide receiver room, either Tate or Lemon makes sense at No. 9 overall.
Tate caught 51 passes for 875 yards and 9 touchdowns as a junior in 2025 despite missing three games with a calf injury, averaging 17.2 yards per reception. Over the course of his three-year Ohio State career, he amassed 121 receptions for 1,872 yards and 14 scores. He provides perhaps the highest floor of any receiver in the draft, and our own draft profile from Price Carter compares him to George Pickens of the Dallas Cowboys.
Lemon had 79 receptions for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns as a junior in 2025, winning the Biletnikoff Award as the nation's top receiver. He also played three seasons at USC and racked up career totals of 137 catches for 2,008 yards and 14 touchdowns. Our draft profile compared him to Puka Nacua of the L.A. Rams.
The Chiefs re-signed Tyquan Thornton to a two-year contract in free agency to help bolster the wide receiver room, but he's a tertiary target. The good news is that he's around beyond 2026, because Rashee Rice is finished after this season. JuJu Smith-Schuster and Hollywood Brown hit free agency as well, with the latter already finding a new home with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Next season, the Chiefs will have Rice, Thornton, Xavier Worthy, and Jalen Royals forming the WR corps before making any additions. There's a clear need for a new volume target to enter the picture in a player like Lemon, while Tate would add something new to the room and give Patrick Mahomes an elite target for the next half-decade.
Then again, it's possible both players are gone and/or that the Chiefs end up going in another direction on draft day to meet another roster concern like defensive end. But these visits are part of an essential path for the front office to figure out the contingencies on a night where anything feels possible.