At this point in the NFL offseason, it's safe to say that most teams know what they'll have heading into the 2026 campaign. Sure, there are still a few high-profile free agents on the market, and we'll see some lower-level signings as well.
And once June 1 passes, we're also likely to see a few more trades, with the seemingly pending deal between the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles for wideout A.J. Brown topping the list. Again, though, for the most part, we know what teams are working with
The Kansas City Chiefs' roster certainly looks a little different than what it did a few months back, as Andy Reid & Co. have had quite the interesting offseason, what with the Trent McDuffie trade, all the different additions and subtractions in free agency, and a draft that saw them get very aggressive to trade up for Mansoor Delane.
Brent Sobleski of Bleacher Report recently put out a piece grading the offseasons of each of the 32 teams, and, simply put, he wasn't a fan of how the Chiefs have handled the last few months, giving them a C+ for their efforts.
B/R didn't seem to care for the cornerback swap the Chiefs made
While Sobleski liked the Chiefs adding reigning Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III in free agency to lead a revamped running backs room that will also include rookie Emmett Johnson, he clearly didn't like them trading McDuffie and then turning around and drafting Delane.
Here was his overall argument on why he gave the grade he did:
"The Kansas City Chiefs' decision to immediately sign running back Kenneth Walker III at the onset of free agency signals a shift away from the team's overreliance on Patrick Mahomes, particularly after the quarterback suffered a torn ACL to end his 2025 campaign.
"Walker and fifth-round rookie Emmett Johnson can change the Chiefs' offensive approach, with a heavier emphasis on the run game. Kansas City should snap its eight-season streak without a 1,000-yard rusher.
"Conversely, the Chiefs' approach at cornerback is counterintuitive. The team traded a former first-team All-Pro in Trent McDuffie to the Los Angeles Rams for a first-round pick, then used its earlier first-round pick, plus a trade-up, to select the incoming class' best corner, Mansoor Delane.
"Kansas City's second-round selection of R Mason Thomas could produce a greater impact by providing much-needed juice to the defense's pass rush."
I'm in agreement that Walker will become Kansas City's first 1,000-yard rusher since Kareem Hunt racked up 1,317 as a rookie back in 2017, but I can't say I agree with his assessment of the McDuffie/Delane situation.
Will the loss of McDuffie hurt? Of course. That's just what happens when you give up a guy who's already got a pair of All-Pro nods (one First Team, one Second Team) in his first four seasons. But was he worth the four-year, $124 million contract he got from the Rams, which made him the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history? In this writer's humble opinion, no, he's not.
Now, there's naturally no guarantee that Delane, who was a First-Team All-SEC selection and a unanimous All-American last year at LSU, can come in and be what McDuffie was. His talent is undeniable, but first-round picks fizzle out all the time.
But if he can come even close to matching McDuffie's production, Delane will be an absolute steal over the next four years, as being the No. 6 overall pick entitles him to just under $42 million. So, you can see why the Chiefs did what they did.
And with the first-round pick they got from the Rams in the trade, they selected Clemson defensive tackle Peter Woods, who could prove to be a valuable piece of the Kansas City defense as well. So, it wasn't simply a player-for-player swap with McDuffie and Delane, as Sobieski somewhat suggests.
Only time will tell how all of these offseason moves work out, but we're betting that things will go much better than only a little above average.
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