The 2026 Kansas City Chiefs feature a largely retooled defense after multiple key contributors departed in free agency last offseason.
The unit currently ranks seventh in the league, allowing 19.3 points per game. Much of that falls on a secondary that features rookie cornerback Mansoor Delane — the sixth overall selection from April’s draft.
Speaking before Thursday’s practice, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo looked back on Delane’s strong game in Week 4 against the Las Vegas Raiders and lauded
the job the rookie is doing opposite second-year pro Nohl Williams.
“[Delane] is on a progression upward,” remarked the coach. “I’m a little hard on corners. I would like more. I think he would tell you that. He’s tackled really well — although there was one play against Vegas where he let it get outside. Those are the ones I remember.
“He’s coming along really good,” Spags continued. “I think him and Nohl together have been a pleasant surprise. I really didn’t know how that was going to go because you have a rookie and then you have a second-year guy. They’re playing aggressive like we want.
“There’s been some things there that we need to iron out,” Spagnuolo pointed out. “We can’t get as many penalties. There’s some leverage things. There were a couple at the end of the game that I thought Mansoor should have taken away. We talked about it. We’re going to live with some rookie mistakes and some second-year veteran mistakes. All in all, I think those guys have been pretty solid for us.”
Delane was limited in training camp due to a shoulder injury that he then aggravated in Week 1. Spagnuolo believes the rookie has the ailment out of his mind, as shown by his willingness to come up in run support.
“I think, instinctively, he wants to,” Spagnuolo observed. “He was a physical guy at LSU. We harp on that here. We guilt those guys into being physical because when they’re not, we put it on tape. And I just think that’s him, he plays that way. Whatever the shoulder and everything, I think he’s kind of put it out of his mind, which is a good thing. You want to play like that.”
Before leaving in Week 1, Delane made a spectacular interception on the play that injured his shoulder. Spagnuolo remarked on Delane’s natural ability, but the coach also had some advice for avoiding future injury.
“That was a little more of an instinctive thing,” he recalled. “The down took a little while. I think he undercut it. He has a knack for that. He undercut one at practice yesterday that he was not supposed to. So we’ve got to make sure that he does it when the coverage says that you can do that. That was a good play that he made. I told him ‘Don’t fall the ground anymore so you don’t get hurt.’”
The Chiefs have actually had two interceptions by rookie defensive backs. Undrafted safety Xavier Nwankpa — who has taken only two defensive snaps over four games — snagged a pass on the Raiders’ final drive in Week 4 to seal the win. Spagnuolo explained how a depth player, largely on the roster for special teams, made the key play.
“In that situation at the end of the game,” the coach said, “sometimes we put in a lot of DBs. He’s one of those I think seven — I forget which personnel we were in. That situation called for us putting those guys in. That’s what put him out there. If we get into that situation again, he’s part of that package. So you may see him again in there.”
As the team moves forward, Spagnuolo knows depth in the secondary matters. He is happy to have veteran Chamarri Conner back from a knee injury to round out a safety rotation with Chris Roland-Wallace, Jaden Hicks, and Alohi Gilman. He is also high on how cornerback Kristian Fulton performed in Delane’s absence and is happy to have another boundary option when needed.
“I’m glad we got back, is Chamarri,” Spagnuolo declared. “I’m sure you’ve watched the tape just like we have. Physically, I thought he played really good and had some really physical hits. Over on the sideline, he caused an incomplete pass, but I’d like to have him there more. And the guy that just seems to be a constant stabilizing guy is Chris Roland-Wallace. He’s a jack-of-all-trades for us. We can put him in at different spots.”
With Conner, a fourth-year player in the system, back in the lineup, the Chiefs will tweak the safety rotation to keep Hicks and Gilman involved.
“You can see now, so Chamarri’s back, but I think Jaden and A.G. still deserve to play. We rolled them through. I think Kristian Fulton has had some good downs. So, you see him rolling in there, and we’re going into the fifth game of the season for us. And I think the more you can do that in the first half of the season, I think the better off you’re going to be. Because somewhere along the way, we’re going to get nicked up and it’d be good for those guys to have some reps on their belt.”
