The Kansas City Chiefs built depth at cornerback over the past few years through hitting on several NFL draft picks and making selective free agent signings. With several of those corners preparing to hit the open market in 2026, the Chiefs should take a serious look at the top coverage options in the 2026 NFL draft.  

Iowa State’s Jontez Williams is one of this summer’s more overlooked cornerback prospects. He didn’t even appear in Dane Brugler’s summer positional rankings, which provided a look at 40 of the top cornerbacks in the class ahead of the 2025 season. Williams isn’t the same level of freaky athlete as former teammate Darien Porter, but he’s a more refined and technically sound prospect. 

Williams lacks prototypical height for an outside corner, but he’s densely built with arms that appear to meet the league’s thresholds. Iowa State unofficially lists him at 5’11”, 200 lbs. Williams fails to maximize his mass and power when taking on stalk blocks but doesn’t fear triggering downhill to fit the run or toss down receivers after short catches. 

Williams primarily played zone coverage in Cover 2 and Cover 3 this past season but also got healthy doses of man coverage in Cover 3 and Cover 1. He’s one of the few corners in this class who appear versatile enough to project comfortably to multiple schemes in the NFL.    

Williams doesn’t have much experience jamming receivers at the line of scrimmage, but he still lines up tight to the receivers in press. His quick footwork helps him overcome some early mistakes. Williams easily ran down speedy UCF running back RJ Harvey last year. That speed also shows up in his ability to stay on the hips of receivers working vertically. 

Williams suffers from some issues with his hips. There’s a slight delay in his transitions, and he opens his hips too early in press coverage. This contributes to him falling into trail positioning early on some routes. Williams might run fast in a straight line, but he lacks twitch and could run into some matchup-specific issues against the NFL’s better route runners. 

Williams excels at using leverage in both man and zone coverage. He sinks underneath the receiver to prey on underthrows and puts himself in the middle of throwing lanes. Williams successfully baits quarterbacks into throwing contested passes his way, and he possesses the ball skills, strong hands and vertical to beat receivers to the football. 

Williams lacks elite burst to undercut out-breaking routes from inside leverage, but he’s fast enough to work underneath posts and digs without fearing losing over the top. He occasionally gets caught drifting in zone, but that’s mostly because he’s attempting to read the quarterback’s body language and cheat toward where he thinks the ball is headed. 

Williams is good but not elite across the board. His natural feel for leverage, versatility and aggression at the catch point make him an appealing third round pick who could rise or slip a round based on his performance in 2026.