A Second-Year Corner Is Poised to Make a Big Impact for the Chiefs in 2026
The Kansas City Chiefs have earned a reputation for finding late-round gems in the draft when it comes to cornerbacks. In the fourth and seventh rounds, the Chiefs selected L’Jarius Sneed, Jaylen Watson, and Joshua Williams, and traded with the Dallas Cowboys for an undrafted Charvarius Ward. After working that kind of magic, it’s no wonder what the franchise could do with a first-round pick in Trent McDuffie, who would go on to become the highest-paid corner in the NFL, signing a $124 million contract with the Rams after being traded from Kansas City. With the loss of McDuffie and Watson to LA, the Chiefs shored up the cornerback room in the 2026 draft, selecting Mansoor Delane at sixth overall and Jadon Canady at 109th. Though expectations are high, it remains to be seen what the team's newest defensive backs can do in regular-season games. However, there’s a second-year player who stood out during his rookie year last season and is poised to take it to the next level in 2026.
Selected in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft at 85th overall, Nohl Williams was ranked the best cornerback in the NFL through the first four weeks of the regular season. With a PFF defensive grade of 90.3 and a coverage grade of 93.7, Williams was a true shutdown corner as a rookie. By the end of the season, the UC Berkeley Golden Bear had a 74.5 overall defensive grade and a 75.6 coverage grade, per Pro Football Focus. He was ranked 15th among all cornerbacks in the league and was the highest-graded rookie at that position. With limited snaps at 457 total, playing a third-string rotational role behind McDuffie and Watson, the rookie standout made the most of his time on the field and then some. At six-foot-one, 200lbs, Williams is good size and plays physical; he’s a big-play hunter who has great awareness of what’s happening on the field. During his college career, he caught 14 interceptions, with 7 coming in 2024 alone, the most in the FBS.
With McDuffie and Watson gone, Williams will no doubt be playing more snaps in 2026. The former rookie phenom now has a year under his belt in defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s complex defensive system and is more comfortable within it. Along with the sixth-overall pick in Delane and returning vet and Super Bowl champion, Sneed, Williams is in a great spot to improve his game. If last year is any indication of the second-year player’s future performance, it seems that the peculiar Arrowhead alchemy of turning late-round cornerbacks into stars is still in full effect. A recipe for secondary magic that has become uniquely Kansas City’s.
