The major action of NFL free agency has passed, and football fans are now officially in countdown mode towards the 2026 draft, which begins on Thursday, April 23rd.
The Kansas City Chiefs have become one of the mock-draft universe’s favorite teams with an arsenal of picks towards the top of the order. In Daniel Jeremiah’s “mock draft 3.0” for NFL.com, the team uses picks No. 9 and No. 29 to go in a different direction than the status quo.
Pick 9
Kansas City Chiefs
Spencer Fano — Utah, OL, JuniorFano
can start immediately at right tackle and eventually kick inside to guard if necessary. The Chiefs will have excellent information on him because of Andy Reid’s relationship with former Utah head coach (and former BYU teammate) Kyle Whittingham.
Pick 29
Kansas City Chiefs (via LAR)
Colton Hood — Tennessee, CB, Sophomore (RS)The Chiefs land one of the most complete cornerbacks in the draft. Hood can cover and play the run, filling a big void in a secondary that is being rebuilt.
My analysis
Jeremiah predicts the Chiefs finding a way to immediately boost the offense without the luxury of Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love or Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate on the board; heck, even after Miami right tackle Francis Mauigoa is taken at pick No. 3 as the first offensive lineman selected.
Even with the draft’s top two defensive backs available — Ohio State safety Caleb Downs and LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane — Kansas City picks an immediate starter at right tackle, in Jeremiah’s eyes.
Fano was the Utes’ starting right tackle for the last two seasons following a year as the primary left tackle in 2023. According to Pro Football Focus premium stats, Fano enters the NFL with 1,616 collegiate snaps at right tackle and 543 at left tackle.
Fano is coming off one of the cleanest pass-blocking seasons of any lineman in college football. Over 382 pass-blocking snaps, he did not allow a sack or quarterback hit by PFF’s evaluation. The five total pressures Fano allowed in 2025 were the least of any FBS offensive tackle with at least 300 pass-blocking snaps.
In the previous season, he was docked for just allowing one sack and 13 other pressures. He was penalized nine times over those two years.
Despite standing at nearly 6 feet 5-1/2 inches tall, Fano registered arm length (32 1/8 inches) shorter than the deal-breaking threshold the Chiefs have seemingly held the roster-building strategy to under head coach Andy Reid. These are the pre-draft measurements of the notable starting tackles in recent franchise history:
- Starting left tackle Josh Simmons: 33-inch arms
- Right tackle Jawaan Taylor: 35-1/8 inch arms
- Left tackle Donovan Smith: 34-3/8 inch arms
- Left tackle Orlando Brown Jr.: 35-inch arms
- Right tackle Mitchell Schwartz: 33-1/2 inch arms
- Left tackle Eric Fisher: 34-1/2 inch arms
It’s hard to imagine the organization taking the risk of selecting an outlier with such a high pick, especially considering Fano is already being considered for a move to guard, as Jeremiah points out.
As for Kansas City’s selection at pick 29, Colton Hood is one of the youngest prospects in the class after turning 21 years old on February 23. Still, Jeremiah looks at him as an all-around cornerback despite just two years of real playing time in college over three years and three different schools.
He finished at Tennessee, where he proved his importance in coverage. For the Volunteers’ defense, Hood was exclusive to covering routes on pass plays; he recorded just one pass-rush snap in 2025, despite recording the second-most defensive snaps on the team (774).
That being said, Hood never appeared to shy away from being the point of contact for a ballcarrier. He finished with 20 “Stops” — a tackle PFF categorizes to cause a failure for the offense on the given play — and had the second-most of the non-linebackers for Tennessee.
Over 52 passes thrown to his coverage responsibility, only 28 were completed (54% catch rate). Quarterbacks registered a 70.8 passer rating when targeting Hood, and he allowed just one touchdown over 12 games.
Measuring in over 5 feet 11 1/2 inches tall and 193 pounds, Hood stood out at the NFL Scouting Combine by posting an official 40-yard dash time of 4.44 seconds, then following it up with elite results in the explosive drills: 40 1/2 inches vertical jump and 10 feet 5 inches in the broad jump.
With only one year as a full-time starter under his belt, the redshirt sophomore is clearly profiling as a high-upside pick to be worthy of consideration in the back end of Day 1. Without a deep-dive evaluation, there is a lot in his resume that points to Hood being a stylistic replacement for the departed All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie, although he manned the slot for just 13 of his 774 snaps in 2025.
