The Kansas City Chiefs offense improved during the offseason but the defense lost some key pieces, so the team will need young players to step up.
The Kansas City Chiefs will need their defense to step up in a major way after losing multiple key players.
The Chiefs lost one of their starting cornerbacks, Jaylen Watson, to the Los Angeles Rams when he signed a three-year deal with them in free agency. After that, the Chiefs parted ways with his All-Pro counterpart.
Before the 2026 National Football League draft, the Chiefs traded star cornerback Trent McDuffie to the Rams for premium draft compensation in a move that allowed Kansas City to draft defensive tackle Peter Woods.
Part of Kansas City’s struggles in 2025 stemmed from the defense, but it wasn’t because of their dynamic cornerback duo. Yet, the Chiefs had to replace them. Longtime Chiefs CB L’Jarius Sneed returned after two injury-shortened seasons with the Tennessee Titans and standout LSU CB Mansoor Delane was drafted sixth overall in the draft.
Delane was impressive when he was active during training camp and preseason while Sneed is an experienced veteran who will be a great mentor to the rookie. But with Sneed experiencing health concerns over the last two seasons and is currently listed as questionable after nursing a lingering knee issue, that could open the door for bigger opportunities for second-year CB Nohl Williams.
Williams is Sneed’s backup on the depth chart and was great in coverage over a small sample size during his rookie season. ESPN’s Ben Solak listed Williams as his X-factor going into this year.
“Next Gen Stats tracking had him with a tight window forced on 34.3% of his targets (seventh among all corners) and an average separation on targets of only 2.3 yards (10th among all corners),” Solak wrote Friday.
“Williams isn't just tight in coverage, but he also creates on the ball. Exactly 20% of his targets ended in a pass defensed or interception, well above the league average for outside corners (14.3%). Again, we're operating on a small sample here -- only 257 coverage snaps. But there's compelling evidence that Williams isn't just a sufficient corner, but an impactful one.”
Williams certainly has big shoes to fill, but based on his production last season, he will be up for the challenge. Considering how inefficient Kansas City was at getting to the quarterback despite being among the top blitzing teams year after year, Solak noted that the secondary stepping up in coverage would alleviate pressure on the defensive line.
Cutting down the penalties, which Solak mentioned that he was fifth among all CBs in penalties per coverage snap (3.3 percent), will be a large factor in Williams’ success in 2026.
This year is a huge opportunity for Williams to prove he should be elevated to being a starter in the future.
