When the Raiders and Chiefs line up in Week 4 of the 2026 NFL season, plenty of the usual names will be waiting on the Kansas City side. Andy Reid.
Steve Spagnuolo. Patrick Mahomes.
Travis Kelce. Chris Jones.
Nick Bolton. Same faces, same heavy dose of respect.
But this Chiefs defense has also been reshaped, and one of the biggest reasons it has stayed sturdy is the emergence of a cornerback who doesn’t come with the kind of name recognition that usually gets the headlines. Nohl Williams has been one of the early drivers of Kansas City’s success, and that makes him the kind of player Klint Kubiak has to have front and center on the game plan.
Kansas City took a major swing this offseason by moving on from Trent McDuffie and letting Jaylen Watson walk in free agency, which meant two of its top corners were suddenly gone. Instead of cracking, though, the secondary has held together behind Kristian Fulton, Williams and rookie Mansoor Delane.
Williams, in particular, has turned into a problem.
Among Chiefs fans, he’s well known. Outside that circle, he’s still not the kind of defender that jumps out on a promotional graphic.
But the tape says plenty. He’s a big boundary corner with real physicality and strong ball skills, and the Chiefs trust him in man coverage at a high rate.
That trust has paid off.
Through three games, Williams has been targeted 14 times and allowed only six catches, while also breaking up three passes. Quarterbacks have posted a 64.3 passer rating when throwing at receivers covered by him, and he has been on the field for almost every snap in 2026. He’s not just holding up; he’s dictating what offenses can and can’t do.
That matters in Steve Spagnuolo’s system, where defensive backs have to do more than cover. They have to help against the run and they have to blitz.
Williams has handled both, shedding blocks well for his size and logging one surprise blitz in each game. He’s also quick enough to stay attached to twitchy receivers.
There’s still room for growth, but he’s already looking like a complete corner at the NFL level.
The Raiders have already seen flashes of this. Williams was only a rotational player the first time he faced Las Vegas last year, but he was flat-out dominant in the Week 18 meeting. That’s the version of him Kubiak needs to be ready for now.
The matchup gets even more interesting because of what Las Vegas is trying to do through Brock Bowers. The source of the problem for opposing defenses is simple: nobody really stops Bowers.
The best hope is to slow him down and force someone else to beat you. But if there’s a Chiefs defender built to make life difficult for him, Williams is the one.
At 6-foot-1, Williams has the size and length to deal with Bowers in theory, and he brings the quickness and physicality to make the assignment uncomfortable in practice. Rookie Mansoor Delane and Kristian Fulton have both been strong in man coverage too, but neither brings quite the same blend of size and force. Linebackers, as the source notes, are no longer a real answer for Bowers, so somebody in the secondary is going to have to take on that job.
That somebody may be Williams.
The Chiefs are also getting safety Chamarri Conner back this week, which should give them more help over the top than they’ve had through the first three games. Even so, the concern around Bowers remains real, and it’s not hard to see why. If Kansas City has one defender who can at least slow him down, or force Kirk Cousins to hesitate on a throw his way, it’s Williams.
That’s why he belongs on Kubiak’s radar. Williams has become one of the most important pieces in a secondary that was supposed to be vulnerable, and he looks like a matchup the Raiders can’t afford to ignore.
In Other News...
Raiders Head Into Chiefs Test With One Big Availability Problem
The week leading into a trip to Kansas City has already turned into an availability check for Las Vegas, with Klint Kubiak navigating a long list of injured and limited players before a matchup that will demand as close to full strength as possible. Brock Bowers, Darien Porter, Treydan Stukes, Ashton Jeanty, Jack Bech and Jackson Powers-Johnson have all been part of the conversation, leaving the Raiders trying to sort through who can actually be counted on in a game that rarely leaves much margin for error.
The timing makes the contrast even sharper because the Chiefs enter the week in far better shape, with only Josh Simmons potentially sidelined and L'Jarius Sneed limited in practice. For a Raiders team trying to steady itself early in the season, the concern is not just the names on the injury report but how thin the margin gets if more than one of them cannot go against a division rival that is usually ready to pounce on any weakness. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders Need More From Their New Receiver Than Hidden Contributions
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For a team looking for more reliability in the passing game, those hidden contributions are useful, but they can only carry a receiver so far. The bigger question now is whether Nailors role starts to grow as the season unfolds, with game planning and his own production likely deciding how much more of the offense comes his way. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders Face A Familiar Threat In AFC West Test
The Raiders head into Week 4 facing the kind of AFC West test that can expose every crack in a defense, and the biggest concern is Kansas Citys ground game. Las Vegas has had trouble stopping the run, and the Chiefs have built a rushing attack that can tilt a game early if it is not checked at the line of scrimmage. For a Raiders team trying to settle in under Klint Kubiak, that makes this matchup about more than divisional bragging rights.
Kenneth Walker III only sharpens the challenge. The former Raider is now part of a Chiefs offense that already has a clear identity on the ground, and his familiarity gives this game an extra layer of intrigue for Las Vegas. The Raiders know what is coming, but knowing and stopping it are different things, especially in a division game where one sustained run drive can change the feel of the afternoon. [Read more 🡒]