New Orleans Saints<\/a> offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier \u2014 was widely expected to hear his name in the draft\u2019s first 100 picks. Entering his final season in Baton Rouge, he was considered one of the class\u2019s best quarterbacks and had first-round buzz.<\/p>\nIt was not meant to be. Nussmeier\u2019s play fell off badly in 2025 as he battled abdominal pain. During the NFL Scouting Combine in March, doctors identified a cyst on Nussmeier\u2019s spine as the root cause of the ailment. He appeared set to slip out of the draft over concerns from teams before Kansas City stopped the slide.<\/p>\n
Nussmeier spoke briefly with local media after being selected. While the wait was longer than expected, he was more than happy with the landing spot working with Chiefs head coach Andy Reid.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, it was difficult for me sitting there and not understanding why,\u201d he remarked. \u201cI have belief in myself and where I believe I should have been valued. But at the end of the day, I\u2019m just grateful for the opportunity. I\u2019ve said throughout this process\u2014it\u2019s not when, it\u2019s where. I couldn\u2019t be more blessed to go to such a great team and such a great organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the draft neared its conclusion, Nussmeier confirmed that he was speaking with interested teams about signing as an undrafted free agent before being delighted to see the Kansas City area code on his draft call. The Chiefs \u2014 who boast star quarterback Patrick Mahomes \u2014 unsurprisingly had little contact with Nussmeier\u2019s camp throughout the draft process.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty minimal,\u201d Nussmeier recalled. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of crazy how some teams do their work and like to hide who they like, and some like to show it. It\u2019s a big chess match. I\u2019m just so excited. It\u2019s a great opportunity for me to learn and develop and be under a great coach and behind one of the best quarterbacks of all time.\u201c<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so excited to be in a room with those guys,\u201d exclaimed Nussmeier. \u201cCoach Reid with his unbelievable offensive mind, and sitting behind Patrick, learning from him, hopefully picking up things and seeing the game through his eyes. It\u2019s going to be an incredible experience, and I\u2019m really grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nussmeier can attest to the wisdom of the move.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got the best corner in the league\u2014that\u2019s all I know,\u201d he declared of his now college and professional teammate. \u201cY\u2019all are about to see.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the scrolling ticker at the bottom of the television broadcast transitioned to \u201cThe Pick Is In,\u201d there…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":876138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,923,922,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-876137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs-draft","10":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs-news","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116477283733643267","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}