The Kansas City Chiefs are expected to host Georgia State wide receiver Ted Hurst in the coming days, as one of the reported top-30 visits ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, next month.
What is a top 30 visit?
NFL teams are allowed to bring in up to 30 players for “top-30 visits”. It’s essentially a way
for teams to get to know a player better. To toss some game film at them and see how they process it, and to give the team doctors a chance to take a look at any lingering questions regarding past or present injuries.
Players from schools within a 50-mile radius of the team facilities do not count against top-30 visits. It’s important to note that on-field work is strictly prohibited during these visits. Players can tour facilities and locker rooms, but that’s it.
Background
Hurst has the kind of story you want to root for. An unranked prospect coming out of Sol C. Johnson High School in Savannah, Ga, in 2022, Valdosta State of NCAA Division II was the only team that offered him a scholarship.
Hurst was a multi-sport athlete in high school, winning the 3A state title in both the 400-meter run and the long jump, as well as playing basketball for the Atom Smashers. He averaged 16.6 points per game as a senior.
Hurst is a bit of a late bloomer as far as football goes. He only had 561 yards receiving and six touchdowns in his senior high school season, then things didn’t really take off for him at Valdosta State either, compiling 1,027 yards and 10 touchdowns over two seasons while playing for the Blaze.
It wasn’t until he entered the transfer portal and made the jump to Georgia State in 2024 that Hurst began to emerge as an eye-catching talent for NFL scouts. In his first season with the Panthers, Hurst nearly doubled his production over the last two seasons, jumping up to 961 yards receiving and nine touchdowns during his Junior year.
He repeated this production in 2025, finally topping the millennial mark, catching 71 passes for 1004 yards and six touchdowns as a senior.
Despite playing for a small program, Hurst’s abilities drew enough attention to earn him an invitation to both the Senior Bowl and the NFL Scouting Combine, where he ran a 4.42 40-yard dash. That’s pretty eye-popping when you consider he is 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 206 pounds.
My analysis
At his size and speed, Hurst is a really interesting athlete who still has a lot of growing to do if he wants to succeed in the NFL. He has a nice burst off the line, but needs to refine his release packages and learn to use leverage and his physique better against defenders. He is a guy who is going to either make or lose his living on winning contested catches in the NFL.
My biggest concern with Hurst is that, even on the reps he won during one-on-one drills at the Senior Bowl, he struggled to create separation.
One-on-one drills benefit the WR by default, since the defensive back is on an island and in a reactionary position. So if Hurst cannot get separation, it’s tough to expect him to once he is playing against established NFL talent.
Hurst plays with a good motor and has abilities after the catch. He has a wide catch radius and showcases good body control and concentration at the catch point. The caveat about Hurst is the level of competition he was playing against, and although he was clearly better than most of the players he faced, he did not look like he was out of anyone’s league.
Hurst also has a pretty limited route tree at the moment, with a lot of his yards coming on either fly or post patterns — or receiver screens.
In space, Hurst has a good feel and understanding of the soft spots in the defense. He gets his head around and tracks the ball well, displaying sudden hands at the catch point. It’s hard to tell how he will fare against being pressed at the line of scrimmage because, due to his lower-level opponents, he doesn’t have experience being effectively jammed at the snap.
This will not be the case in the NFL.
Hurst is going to be selected in the top 100 of this draft, and while I do like him as a prospect, his top-100 rating is mostly due to this being a pretty weak class at the receiver position.
Fit with the Chiefs
Fit: Moderate
Round grade: Fourth round
While Hurst has the size and speed to play the X-receiver role on Sundays, I don’t think he is refined enough to be more than an occasional deep ball specialist who also has some value in the redzone, and the issue is, the Chiefs already have a guy who is fullfilling this role in Tyquan Thornton.
It’s not clear that Hurst gives you anything that Thornton can’t already do. So at the end of the day, I’m not sure what drafting Hurst gives you that you don’t already have.
