To nobody’s surprise, Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach was aggressive during the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
He didn’t stay put with the No. 9 overall pick. Instead, he traded up three spots with the Cleveland Browns for sixth overall selection, taking LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane. The Browns fell back to the ninth pick, and also received Nos. 74 and 148 from Kansas City.
Kansas City Chiefs Got out Ahead of New Orleans Saints for Mansoor Delane
While breaking down each team’s first-round draft picks on X, NFL insider James Palmer revealed that it was the Saints who the Chiefs were jumping ahead of to secure Delane, as there was a strong sense that New Orleans would take him at No. 8.
Veach also confirmed that suspicion while talking to media following the first round late Thursday night.
“We just relied on our data analytics and thought the Saints would be likely to take Delane just there because [they lost] two corners the last two years,” Veach said. “So we went up there and got our guy. It’s funny because three or four weeks ago when we were going through the (top) 30 visits, I bumped Steve (defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) and I said we’re going to bring our corner (Delane) in. He said don’t bring him in. Just don’t bring him in. Let’s just Zoom him. Let’s keep it quite. I think we did a good job.”
Veach acknowledged that the Chiefs could have waited until later to address cornerback like they have in the past, but Delane was too good to pass up.
“I think a lot of people thought we might go offensive line there,” Veach continued. “But, this was our guy (Delane) the whole time. It’s hard to find good corners. I know we that we’ve done well over the years of addressing corners late, but when you’re in reach of a top corner, we did that a couple of years ago, trading a three and a four to get (Trent) McDuffie. We traded a three and a five to get Mansoor Delane, so we’re extremely excited.”
The Chiefs don’t often get a premium draft pick like they had this year, so they made sure to make it count. If Delane is as good as they hope he will be, nobody will care about the other picks they had to give up to acquire him, as was the case with McDuffie. Delane was widely considered the best cornerback in this year’s draft class.
Chiefs Have Jumped Over Saints to Acquire Elite Player in the Past
GettyChiefs QB Patrick Mahomes
New Orleans has experienced this from Kansas City before. During the 2017 NFL Draft, the Saints were confident that quarterback Patrick Mahomes would fall to them at No. 11. However, the Chiefs traded up all the way from No. 27 to 10 and snagged him.
The Saints ended up with a solid player in cornerback Marshon Lattimore, but obviously Mahomes would have been a much better selection. Of course, Mahomes went on to make the Chiefs a dynasty, winning three Super Bowls and two NFL MVPs.
Reason Why Chiefs Traded up to Draft Mansoor Delane Revealed by NFL Insider