When the Kansas City Chiefs moved on from Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson during the 2026 NFL offseason, the cornerback position became a big question mark. Kansas City still had second-year CB Nohl Williams, who had a strong rookie season, and drafted CB Mansoor Delane with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Even with that investment in two young players, questions about the Chiefs’ cornerback position remained.

Through the first four games of the 2026 NFL season, Kansas City’s cornerback position has been a pleasant surprise. Delane and Williams have combined for more than 260 coverage snaps, and both players have exceeded expectations so far.

Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo got his career start as a defensive backs coach, with an emphasis on cornerbacks. As a result, he has high standards for what greatness looks like there. Spagnuolo believes Delane and Williams have been an impressive duo, but he still wants to see more from them.

Chiefs rookie cornerback Mansoor Delane trending upward

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Spagnuolo was asked to evaluate Delane through the first several games of the season. To be fair, the rookie has played only two full games, so there’s more to see. However, Spagnuolo feels Delane is trending in the right direction.

“Yeah, he’s on a progression upward,” Spagnuolo said. “I’m a little hard on corners. I would like more. I think he would tell you that. Like he’s made some, I tell you, he’s tackled really well. Although there was one play in the game against Vegas, he let it get outside. Those are the ones I remember. But he’s doing, he’s coming along really good.”

Tackling has been the strong suit for Delane. He has 12 total tackles, including four solo stops, and PFF says he hasn’t missed a single tackle this season.

“Yeah, I think instinctively, I mean, he wants to (tackle),” Spagnuolo said. “He was a physical guy at LSU. We harp on that here. We guilt those guys into being physical, because when they’re not, we put it on tape. And I just think that’s him. He plays that way. So, I think the shoulder and everything, he’s kind of put it out of his mind, which is a good thing. You want to play like that.”

His work in coverage has been just as encouraging. According to PFF, Delane owns the highest coverage grade on the team. Here’s a look at what he’s done across 99 coverage snaps:

• Nine receptions allowed on 15 targets
• 80 receiving yards allowed
• 8.9 yards per reception allowed
• 17 yards after the catch allowed
• Two forced incompletions
• Two pass breakups
• One interception
• A 46.5 passer rating allowed into his coverage

It’s a good start for Delane. Still, both he and Williams have things to work on.

A pleasant surprise from the Kansas City Chiefs’ young cornerback duo

Spagnuolo also spoke about Williams, who has an expanded role on the defense during his sophomore season. The Chiefs had high hopes for the pairing. Still, they didn’t know exactly how a rookie and a second-year player would fare as two of the most heavily relied-on cornerbacks on the roster. L’Jarius Sneed and Kristian Fulton have also factored into the rotation, with Fulton filling in for Delane when the rookie was hurt.

The biggest takeaway for Spagnuolo through four weeks is that both young players have bought in. Delane and Williams are playing the aggressive brand of football the Chiefs want from their cornerbacks. Spagnuolo pointed to a couple of areas the pair needs to clean up, but he considers the early returns solid.

“I think him and Nohl (Williams) together have been a pleasant surprise,” Spagnuolo said. “Really didn’t know how that was going to go because you have a rookie and you have a second-year guy, but they’re playing aggressive like we want. You know, there’s been a couple of things there that we need to iron out. We can’t get as many penalties. There’s some leverage things. There were a couple at the end of the game that I thought Mansoor (Delane) should have taken away, and we had talked about it. But you know that we’re going to live with some rookie mistakes and some second-year veteran mistakes. But all in all, I think those guys have been pretty solid for us.”

Kansas City has 13 regular-season games left, plus a lot of football beyond that if the Chiefs reach the postseason and make another Super Bowl run. Williams and Delane will keep growing together through their mistakes and their successes. How quickly they close the gap between solid and great could define the Kansas City defense this season.