Kansas City Chiefs finally get in on second wave of NFL free agency with a signing that can help offset big losses on defense
The Kansas City Chiefs might have just found their solution at slot cornerback.
The Kansas City Chiefs finally got in on the action in the second wave of 2026 NFL free agency.
According to NFL Insider Jordan Schultz, the Chiefs are set to sign former Miami Dolphins CB Kader Kohou. He missed all of the 2025 NFL season due to a knee injury, but he was on a trajectory to earn himself a monster payday in a contract year. In three seasons with Miami, Kohou appeared in 49 combined regular-season and postseason games, including 40 starts. He recorded 180 total tackles, 13 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, 28 passes defended, and three interceptions during that span.
We spoke to A to Z Sports’ Kyle Crabbs to get the full picture on Kohou’s tenure with the Dolphins:
“Kohou’s Miami career ended with a whimper after a knee injury cut his 2025 season short on the first weekend of training camp. Kohou was poised to serve as the anchor of a young secondary and appeared poised to come into his own after three separate seasons of baptism by fire in different schemes.
He made the Dolphins as an undrafted rookie in 2022 thanks to his experience playing press man at Texas A&M Commerce, allowing him to seize a role in the slot for DC Josh Boyer’s man-heavy defense. 2023 saw him indoctrinated into Vic Fangio’s zone match schemes, and he struggled while trying to cover for injuries to Xavien Howard and Jalen Ramsey throughout the season. But the experience helped him level up his game, and by the end of 2024, Kohou was an alignment-diverse player playing the best ball of his career.
2025 was meant to be the exclamation point, but instead saw him forgotten to the injured reserve.”
What does the Kader Kohou signing mean for the Chiefs’ cornerback room?
The Chiefs obviously lost CBs Trent McDuffie, Jaylen Watson, and Joshua Williams to free agency thus far. They have a pair of starter boundary cornerbacks on the roster in Kristian Fulton and Nohl Williams. What they no longer have with McDuffie’s departure is a solution in the slot.
The 27-year-old Kohou immediately adds a veteran layer to the cornerback competition at the nickel corner spot, with Kevin Knowles II and Melvin Smith Jr. also expected to compete this offseason. Kohou has nickel/boundary versatility, with 1,536 career snaps in the slot, along with 733 career snaps at corner. Ideally, Kohou returns to form following the knee injury and helps to elevate your secondary as you rebuild in the wake of the offseason departures.
Kohou is someone whom I identified early on as a Wave 2 free agency option for Kansas City, mainly because you could get a discount on a really good player coming off an injury. It’s unclear at this time what the length or term of the deal is, but I won’t be shocked if it’s a one-year prove-it style deal for the Chiefs.
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