Several Kansas City Chiefs players were sweating out the team’s NFL draft decisions, but cornerback Nohl Williams had to be at the top of the list. After being used sparingly during his rookie season, Williams had been promoted to the starting lineup following several offseason departures. A single draft pick could have brought that opportunity crashing back to reality before it ever had an opportunity to get off the ground.
The Chiefs took two cornerbacks, trading up for LSU’s Mansoor Delane and selecting Oregon’s Jadon Canady in the fourth round. But neither appears to threaten Williams’s status as a starter, leaving him in a new place as he approaches his second season in Kansas City.
Nohl Williams Could Finally Claim Starting Role After NFL Draft
Williams’s rookie season wasn’t terrible, but it took him a while to get an opportunity. According to Pro Football Focus, he averaged just 17 snaps per game over his first nine appearances, and that number drops to 12.3 snaps per game if you take out a 44-snap performance in a Week 9 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
But Chiefs fans likely argued that Williams deserved better. He allowed 19 catches for 223 yards and a touchdown with four pass breakups on 35 targets. While he had six penalties (two declined) that were cause for concern, he found his way onto the field, averaging 60.6 snaps over the final five games.
Things kept coming up in Williams’s favor this offseason when Trent McDuffie was traded to the Los Angeles Rams and Jaylen Watson followed him to the West Coast in free agency. Joshua Williams’s departure to the Tennessee Titans was another move that pushed Nohl Williams into the starting lineup, and all he had to do was survive the Chiefs’ draft plans to keep his role.
The addition of Delane is a speed bump, as the Chiefs moved up to No. 6 to draft the former Tiger. While he will likely claim one starting spot on the outside, Canady is more of a candidate to move into the slot, which leads Williams to battle with Kristian Fulton for the starting job.
Fulton may have a slight advantage as a veteran in the final year of a two-year, $20 million contract. But he wasn’t able to stay on the field in the first season of that deal, as he was limited to eight games and just two starts due to an ankle injury. Even if he earns the starting job, there’s no guarantee he keeps it, after going on injured reserve four times since entering the league in 2020.
With that in mind, Williams is in a great spot. If he performs well during training camp, he could open the year as a starter on a team that is focused on developing its young cornerbacks. If he plays well, he could be part of the Chiefs’ plans for at least the next three seasons and potentially more if Kansas City deems him worthy of an extension.
The Chiefs’ recent history suggests that could be a hard sell. Despite that, Williams at least will have the opportunity to change their mind after what went down at the NFL Draft.
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