For years, the Kansas City Chiefs had trotted out largely the same unit on the backend of the defense. The 2022 draft had a lot to do with that, as Trent McDuffie, Jaylen Watson, and Bryan Cook all became every-down starters for four years, and Justin Reid was signed that same offseason, and he played nearly 100% of snaps. It was a unit full of talent, chemistry, and years of learning Steve Spagnuolo's complicated defense together.
But as we enter the 2026 season, the Chiefs' secondary has taken a complete 180-degree turn in terms of personnel and features a bevy of players, but at this point, largely unproven. The safety position is a little clearer than cornerback, but it will still rely on new and old guys stepping into roles they haven't fully been expected to excel in.
Free agent addition Alohi Gilman signed a three-year, $24 million contract as part of the typical high-intelligence, lead veteran safety that Spags loves to enforce. Gilman should be a day one starter and has been a quality player for years. But behind him is where things get murky, as is the case at cornerback, where GM Brett Veach, either knowingly or not, has created a bottleneck, and not everyone is going to make it through.
Chiefs have a bottleneck in the secondary and not everyone is going to make it through
Chamarri Conner, Jaden Hicks, and Chris Roland-Wallace make up the rest of the safety room. All have been on the team for a few years and will be fighting for the starting safety spot opposite Gilman. Conner seems the most likely to be given the role in training camp. And I know that many Chiefs fans loathe Conner for his continued struggles playing in the slot. But that's not his main strong suit, and finally, KC seems to have figured that out. When he does play as more of a ball hawk, Conner can really shine.
Expecting a third-year jump from Hicks when he has seemed to all but lose the trust of the coaches seems unlikely. The fact that he's still on a rookie deal and possesses near-elite athleticism at 200 lbs should be enough for Hicks to etch out a solid role. As for CRW, I've always been impressed when he's on the field. His potentially playing more slot corner as Conner did could certainly be in the cards.
As for cornerback, sixth-overall pick in this past draft, Mansoor Delane is a day one starter and was a slightly better prospect than McDuffie coming out of college. The Chiefs are betting big on him playing at a Pro-Bowl level right out of the gate. Second-year man Nohl Williams boasted a 74.5 overall PFF grade last season, which ranked 15th out of 114 qualified CBs. His taking a jump in year two is one of the few things that fans should be certain of as he gets more comfortable in the scheme.
After that, the Chiefs have a lot of ifs and question marks at corner. Can free agent additions Kader Kohou and Kaiir Elam revive their careers after years of mediocre to downright bad play? Can Kristian Fulton finally live up to his $10 million per year price tag? Are young guys Kevin Knowles and Jadon Canady up to the task of playing extended time in the big league? And how much do the Chiefs plan on using L'Jarius Sneed, who is hoping for a Cinderella homecoming to KC, but his knees might just be cooked?
As I said, the Chiefs have a lot of bodies entering training camp, and you'd hope that after a few weeks, a couple of guys begin to distance themselves from the pack. That's what the Chiefs are banking on, but sometimes plans A, B, and C all fail, and you're back to having a porous secondary on a defense that has had immense trouble pressuring the quarterback. The disparity between best and worst-case scenarios for this unit may be the largest on the entire 2026 team.
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