For two months (or longer), a bevy of predictions was made regarding the future of Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Will he retire? Will he return for his 14th NFL season? When will he and Taylor Swift get married?
Kelce put two of those questions to bed by officially signing his new contract with the Chiefs last week, so Chiefs Kingdom can be rid of that hypothetical — just in time for a flurry of 2026 NFL Draft projections.
After stumbling to a 6-11 record in 2025, the Chiefs hold the No. 9 overall pick. By trading All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie to the Rams earlier this month, the Chiefs also netted the No. 29 overall pick (and three other picks).
As we inch closer to the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft on April 23 in Pittsburgh, the same prediction for the Chiefs’ No. 9 overall pick keeps surfacing.
On Tuesday, ESPN’s Matt Bowen circled former LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane as his favorite team fit for the Chiefs.
“The Chiefs have some spots to fill at cornerback after trading Trent McDuffie and losing Jaylen Watson to the Rams,” Bowen wrote. “So, let’s give them Delane, who has the traits to fit in coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s system.
“Kansas City played man coverage on 52.3% of opponent dropbacks in 2025, the fourth-highest rate in the league. Delane would thrive in those coverages (mainly Cover 1, Cover 0, and Cover 2 Man) as a press corner with the speed to match vertically. Plus, he can jam and sink in Cover 2. This is an easy fit for who I think is the top cornerback in the class.”
Before Bowen linked Delane, an All-American last year, to the Chiefs, ESPN’s Mina Kimes called Delane “a dream fit” for the Chiefs and Spagnuolo for many of the same reasons as Bowen.
And before that, Todd McShay projected Delane to land with the Chiefs at No. 9 in his mock draft for The Ringer.
Sports Illustrated has said repeatedly on KC Sports Network’s “That Football Show” that he’s begun diving deep into Delane’s tape and increasingly believes
Chiefs senior team reporter Matt McMullen rounded up several mock drafts from NFL experts across the media landscape and found that NFL.com’s Eric Edholm also penciled in Delane to the Chiefs at No. 9 overall.
The Chiefs have been linked to several other players, too — such as edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr., wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, or offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa — but Delane has become a darling in recent days.
So, what does it mean?
Well, in the literal sense, it means nothing, considering nobody actually knows who the Chiefs will draft other than general manager Brett Veach and the rest of the Chiefs brass.
But it does mean that NFL analysts and reporters view the absence of McDuffie as a more glaring hole than the Chiefs’ lack of any pass rush outside of All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones in 2025. That, or picking Delane would be a best-player-available pick that the Chiefs might not be able to pass up.
The Chiefs having two first-round picks makes this all the more interesting. While the No. 9 overall pick is by far the highest draft pick Kansas City has had since three-time Super Bowl MVP and two-time NFL MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes took over in 2018, the Chiefs also have the No. 29 pick to play with. Anything could happen on April 23.