April is here, and that means the NFL Draft is right around the corner. The Kansas City Chiefs have been hard at work diagnosing the best of the best in this year’s draft class, and the defensive line is a major need for the Chiefs.
With three selections inside the top 40 picks, the Chiefs will have a chance to draft as many defensive linemen as possible at premium spots.
With that in mind, Kansas City should consider Missouri defensive end Zion Young with either the 29th or 40th selection.
Young entered
his final season at Mizzou not on many teams’ radars, but with high-level play, and an outstanding blend of strength and explosion, he has climbed up draft boards and could be a legitimate target for the Chiefs late in the first or early in the second round.
Background
Starting his career at Michigan State, Young played sparingly in two seasons as a Spartan.
After transferring to Mizzou for the 2024 season, Young saw his first taste of starting action and became a mainstay in the Tigers’ defensive rotation.
As a senior in 2025, he posted his most productive season in college, with 16.5 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks and two forced fumbles.
While his production was up, his impact went beyond the box score, and he became one of the better pass rushers in the SEC. As a testament to his hard work and great year, he was named First Team All-SEC, signifying his transition from a solid role player to a focal point.
At the NFL Scouting Combine and at his Pro Day, Young didn’t post jaw-dropping numbers, but he did enough to back up the film he put up during his senior season.
With good size and length for the position, he left something to be desired with his results in the vertical leap and broad jump, but made up for it with a solid time in the 40-yard dash (4.75 seconds).
Modest athletic testing aside, the important thing to pay attention to with Young was the major jump he made during his final season at Mizzou in 2025.
His film showed a powerful and athletic player capable of playing on Sundays for a long time.
A look at the tape
The name of the game for Young at Mizzou was power.
With good explosion of his stance and sturdy hands, Young used his power to shock offensive tackles into the backfield and crush pockets. Young uses his power and a good understanding of leverage to strike offensive tackles low and uproot them, constricting the quarterback’s room to run and creating immediate pressure on the quarterback.
With advanced hands for a college pass rusher, Young often found himself the winner of hand fights at the line of scrimmage, and used this to work his way into the backfield.
Young was a technician off the edge and used his knowledge of angles and his assignment to determine how he rushed the passer and how he would help to contain the quarterback. It made up for his lack of flexibility in turning the corner against an offensive tackle.
The power and size he presents as an edge defender are his bread and butter, but an underrated aspect of his game is his quickness to redirect inside.
With offensive tackles on their toes to stop his power rush, Young often would quickly transition to an inside rush, where he could use his quickness to blow through the B-gap and flush quarterbacks from the pocket.
This quickness also helped him make an impact in the run game.
Young is a solid run defender, and his ability to penetrate and feed off of other players in twist and stunt games helps him create chaos in the backfield. It shows his versatility to play in multiple schemes and at multiple positions.
The bottom line
Young may never be a star in the NFL, but he has all the tools to be a long-time contributor. The preferred spot for the Chiefs to take a player with his capabilities is the 40th overall pick, a sweet spot for finding a starting-caliber defensive end at the right value.
Young is an excellent fit for defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s front and complements Kansas City’s existing talent well, like defensive tackle Chris Jones and defensive end George Karlaftis.
A longer, true defensive end with good power, Young is a high-floor type of player. At 22 years old, his big surge as a senior at Mizzou was not caused by an overextension of time in college due to the NIL era, but a testament to the kind of work ethic he has as a player.
An early December arrest for a DUI raises red flags for Young’s maturity as a player, and could cause his draft stock to fall, as well as a team like the Chiefs to be out on him altogether.
It will be interesting to see if Kansas City has Young in for any kind of formal interview in the coming weeks, but he has not been linked to the Chiefs in that way so far; he did not attend the Chiefs’ local pro day.
A high-floor player, Young also has some high-ceiling skills, and Kansas City could be the place where those are most likely realized.
