Kansas City Chiefs’ NFL free agency departures means big changes are coming for one part of the defense in 2026
There are big changes coming to the Kansas City Chiefs’ defensive secondary in 2026.
The Kansas City Chiefs are in the midst of an offseason of change as they say goodbye to several pending free agents during the legal tampering period.
As Chiefs DB coach Dave Merritt has come to say, it’s “Grow & Go” time for the defensive secondary. First, the team traded away the cornerstone piece of the players dubbed as “The Fab Five,” with star CB Trent McDuffie heading to the Los Angeles Rams. With legal tampering here, the Chiefs will also say goodbye to two more members of that group, who both became two-time Super Bowl champions during their time in Kansas City.
Chiefs CB Jaylen Watson to join Trent McDuffie with the Los Angeles Rams
Jaylen Watson is set to join his buddy, Trent McDuffie, with the Los Angeles Rams on a three-year, $51M deal. A seventh-round pick by the Chiefs in 2022 out of Washington State, Watson took full advantage of his contract year in 2025, starting 15 games with 64 total tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks, six passes defended, and two interceptions on the year. It set the table for Watson to secure a big payday.
In a single offseason, the Chiefs lost a pair of starting cornerbacks who have played at a high level for the team since they were selected in the 2022 NFL Draft. Typically, that’d be raising some alarm bells, but Kansas City already has a bit of a transition plan in place.
They have one of the best young cornerbacks in football in CB Nohl Williams, who filled in nicely as a rookie playing perimeter corner during the 2025 NFL season. They also have a veteran in Kristian Fulton, who proved fully capable when healthy. There are also several young cornerbacks on the roster, like Kevin Knowles II and Melvin Smith Jr., who could ultimately be in the mix for the nickel corner position.
Chiefs S Bryan Cook signs with his hometown team, the Cincinnati Bengals
Bryan Cook will sign a 3-year, $40.25 million deal with the Bengals. A second-round pick by the Chiefs in 2022, Cook has developed into a physical safety who plays both in the box and deep, helping to stifle the running game and create takeaways.
Since his rookie season, Cook has appeared in 62 regular-season games with 47 starts. During that span, he recorded 238 total tackles, four tackles for loss, one sack, two fumble recoveries (including one for a TD), 15 passes defended, and three interceptions.
It’ll be bittersweet to see Cook playing for a bitter AFC rival, especially after a breakout campaign in 2025. For Cook, however, this is the perfect homecoming for a Cincinnati, Ohio native and a University of Cincinnati alumnus.
The move leaves Kansas City with a trio of Chamarri Conner, Jaden Hicks, and Chris Roland-Wallace at the safety position. They could use more help there, especially at the free safety spot with Roland-Wallace coming off of injury, and also being in the mix at the nickel position.
What do these departures mean for the Kansas City Chiefs?
Trent McDuffie, Jaylen Watson, and Bryan Cook combined for 8,364 defensive snaps over the past four seasons with Kansas City. They’ve got a ton of lost snaps and production to replace, regardless of whether or not they’re prepared for it.
Dave Merritt and Steve Spagnuolo have done a great job of developing talent at the cornerback position, and that could very well be the plan with McDuffie and Watson out the door. They already have starters in place there, but could use more depth at the position. It’s the old NFL trope that you can never have too many good players at the cornerback position.
As for the safety room, the Chiefs haven’t had as much success with the draft-and-develop strategy there in recent years. They’ve done a really good job in the past during free agency (Tyrann Mathieu & Justin Reid), which suggests we could see another addition there as we get into the second wave of 2026 NFL free agency.
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