As the NFL offseason draws near its end, it is a good time for ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler to unveil top-10 positional rankings based on a survey of league executives, coaches and scouts, with more than 70 voters submitting ballots this year.
The Kansas City Chiefs have been featured with the following players so far:
- Kenneth Walker: No. 9 ranked running back
- Chris Jones: No. 4 ranked defensive tackle
- Travis Kelce: No. 10 ranked tight end
- Creed Humphrey: No. 3 ranked interior offensive lineman
- Trey Smith: No. 7 ranked interior offensive lineman
The interior duo’s ranking will be covered and analyzed further by the Arrowhead Pride staff soon, but there is a theme among the Chiefs players named so far: none of them play a “premium” position.
Jones’ talent transcends the “defensive tackle” label to be considered a premium pass rusher, but Kansas City struck out on players at the following positions:
- Cornerback (24 players mentioned in the ESPN article)
- Edge rusher (19 players mentioned)
- Offensive tackles (22 players mentioned)
Now with the Los Angeles Rams, former Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie ranked fifth among NFL cornerbacks in the survey, ranking as high as No. 3 for some football minds.
Kansas City is clearly hoping rookie cornerback Mansoor Delane can quickly earn a mention in this annual discussion, and the same could be said about last year’s first-round pick: left tackle Josh Simmons.
After starting only eight games in 2025, Simmons did not do enough to be considered here, but Chiefs Kingdom can see that he has the talent to be in this discussion in the future. He just needs to prove it further and more consistently.
For edge rushers, however, the Chiefs seem to be settled into investing in quantity at the position over quality. Ideally, defensive end George Karlaftis is at least mentioned in this yearly exercise, so his absence is a reminder that Ashton Gillotte and rookie R Mason Thomas are almost as important to the position’s success as Karlaftis.
With the versatility of Jones and rookie Peter Woods to consider on the edge as well, the team can piece together effective edge-rushing play, but the lack of premier players at both the cornerback and edge-rushing positions could be a fatal flaw for Kansas City in the 2026 season, if not longer.
