The Kansas City Chiefs took plenty of heat on draft night when they moved up from No. 9 to No. 6 and used that pick on Mansoor Delane. A cornerback, and that high? The reaction was immediate, especially after the Chiefs also sent away pick No. 74 and pick No. 148 to get the deal done.
A lot of the pushback wasn’t even about Delane as a player so much as the way Kansas City chose to spend its premium draft capital. Plenty of fans figured the Chiefs would attack a tougher-to-fill spot and circle back to corner later, trusting Steve Spagnuolo to turn a lesser-known defensive back into a quality starter. Instead, they used their only top-ten pick in more than a decade on a corner and paid extra to do it.
Through four games, though, Delane has made that gamble look a whole lot smarter.
He has been excellent by the eye test and the numbers back it up. According to Pro Football Focus, Delane has allowed only 9 completions on 99 coverage snaps, and opposing quarterbacks have posted a 46.5 rating when targeting him.
He’s also chipped in a couple of pass breakups, an interception and 8 run stops. PFF has him ranked as its No. 5 highest-graded corner overall and No. 5 best corner in coverage through four games.
That kind of start has changed the tone fast. Delane has already shown the coverage ability the Chiefs clearly believed in, and he’s been even more physical against the run than many expected. There have been a couple of mistakes, but the early returns are hard to argue with.
There’s still a long way to go, and tougher matchups are waiting. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Puka Nacua and Ja’Marr Chase are all still on the schedule, so Delane will have to keep proving himself against elite receivers. But right now, he’s helped Kansas City get out to a 4-0 start, and he looks like he has real star potential.
For anyone who questioned the pick, the first four weeks have been a reality check. And for the Chiefs, Delane is already looking like the kind of sixth-overall swing they were willing to trust.
In Other News...
Chiefs Have An Unexpected Offensive Centerpiece Entering The Bye
Patrick Mahomes has opened the season with numbers that look a lot like the ones from his MVP runs, which would normally make the conversation about Kansas Citys offense a pretty familiar one. Instead, as the Chiefs head into the bye, the surprise centerpiece has been Kenneth Walker III, whose early impact has been impossible to ignore and whose versatility has given the offense a different kind of rhythm.
Chiefs reporters were unanimous in naming Walker the teams MVP and top offensive player through the first quarter of the season, a notable nod for a back who has done damage both on the ground and as a receiver. He leads the NFL in rushing yards over the first four games, and his production has helped shape the way Kansas City has played on offense, even with Mahomes doing Mahomes things in the background. [Read more 🡒]
Chiefs Are Getting Late Heroics While A Bigger Mahomes Concern Grows
The Chiefs have spent the first month leaning on late-game finishes, and Kenneth Walker III has been a big reason why. He has found the end zone late in games often enough to stand out across the league, including two touchdowns in the closing minutes against the Raiders, a stretch that has helped Kansas City keep rolling to a 4-0 start despite some offensive line injuries and the looming early bye week.
It has been the kind of production that masks a larger question about how sustainable this offense looks as the schedule wears on. While the Chiefs are still winning and getting enough from their playmakers when it matters most, the growing concern is whether those late heroics can keep covering for the issues up front before the pressure on Patrick Mahomes becomes harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Chiefs Stadium Vote Could Cost Wyandotte County More Control
Wyandotte County officials are set to vote on an amended ordinance tied to the Chiefs' new stadium financing, a move that would revisit some of the guardrails put in place when local leaders agreed to help underwrite the project. The stadium plan leans on local sales tax revenue and state-issued STAR bonds for a facility in Kansas City, Kansas, and the ordinance change comes as the county weighs how much control it wants to keep over the deal as it moves forward.
The amended language would loosen several protections that were originally intended to give Wyandotte County a say in how the money is used and how the project evolves. It would also reshape local oversight of the stadium process in ways county officials have previously treated as important, leaving one of the biggest questions in the financing arrangement centered on how much influence the county will still have once the vote is complete. [Read more 🡒]