Danna turns 29 in December and spent his first six NFL seasons with the Chiefs after Kansas City picked him in the fifth round in 2020 out of the University of Michigan.
Counting the playoffs, Danna has logged close to 2,100 pass-rush snaps in his professional career, and while his pressure rate of 8.1% is hardly an impressive figure, he registered an even 10% pressure rate in nine career games against the Bills.
While that two-percent increase doesn’t feel significant, it’s not nothing, and if his lone appearance against the Bills as a rookie in 2020 isn’t counted, that pressure rate climbs to 11.2%.
Danna was especially a thorn in the Bills’ side in the 2024 AFC championship game with four pressures on just 17 pass-rush opportunities (23.5%). In the regular-season loss to Buffalo the previous season, Danna had a five-pressure outing on 37 pass-rush snaps (13.5%).
3. Mansoor Delane
Delane’s got it all, at least for the purposes of making this list: head-of-the-class talent, a top-10 draft pedigree, extreme stability in his new coaching staff and a premium spot on a roster with a good chance to be competitive. That’s not the easiest combo to pull off, as the majority of early draft picks in recorded history would probably tell you.
The Chiefs had a tough 2025. They still have Andy Reid and — most importantly for Delane — Steve Spagnuolo running the show from the sideline. Eventually, Patrick Mahomes will be back from his knee injury and get this organization into the Super Bowl mix again. Whether that happens by Week 1 or not, in the meantime, Delane can take on the role of successful young star DB that has been well established in K.C. by the likes of Trent McDuffie and L’Jarius Sneed.
Round 1 (No. 29): defensive tackle Peter Woods
The selection of Woods indicates that, in the best-case long-term scenario, the Chiefs can burn fewer snaps for 31-year-old Chris Jones early in the season, saving the best of the six-time All-Pro for important games down the stretch and the postseason. With the signing of Khyiris Tonga and drafting of Woods, Kansas City has given itself some viable early-down options. Ideally, Omarr Norman-Lott returns healthy, and Woods can come off the field on passing downs as he develops that part of his game. Even if that’s the plan, it’s probably still unlikely Woods will start Week 1. Defensive line coach Joe Cullen will be responsible for getting him there as soon as possible.
Week 1: Rotational early-down defensive tackle
Do you think the Chiefs are on a two-year rebuild? They didn’t achieve all their needs in the draft because of the draft capital they traded to get to No. 6. On the surface, their needs appear to be at receiver and another offensive lineman. — George V.
I’ve never bought into any offseason “rebuild” talk with the Chiefs. The biggest reason for that is quarterback Patrick Mahomes. You can’t count the Chiefs out of any season if he’s playing, and we’ve seen recent examples of why.
In the 2022 offseason, for instance, K.C. appeared to be doing a mini “rebuild” when it traded receiver Tyreek Hill to add draft capital. The Chiefs finished 14-3 that year and went on to win the Super Bowl over the Philadelphia Eagles.
If we want to compare: The Chiefs were roughly 10-to-1 to win the Super Bowl in early May before that season. Right now, according to BetMGM, K.C. is 16-to-1 to win the Super Bowl, though in a wide-open AFC, that’s also tied for the third-best odds while behind only Baltimore and Buffalo (and tied with the Los Angeles Chargers).
Those numbers should only improve for the Chiefs if Mahomes continues his ahead-of-schedule recovery from knee surgery.
The Chiefs definitely have some thinner areas. And they probably didn’t get every positional need filled in the draft that they’d have liked.
But with Mahomes, the goal should be to keep the roster at a point where a championship remains possible each season. K.C. has accomplished that, and as we’ve often discussed, the Chiefs’ 6-11 season in 2025 included some outlier bad luck, with underlying statistics suggesting the team is closer to contention than that record would indicate.
The answer may live in Green Bay
The Packers had the same problem with their own talented former second-round receiver last year. Watson was entering his fourth season and had also missed plenty of time, 13 of 51 possible games heading into the 2025 season after tearing his ACL in the 2024 finale.
Green Bay’s solution was justifiable for both sides. A real compromise. In September of last year, before Watson had played a single down in his return from the ACL, the Packers signed him to a one-year, $11 million extension with $6 million fully guaranteed. The deal kept Watson in Green Bay through the 2026 season at a price that protected the team if his body broke down again, while giving Watson real money to take the pressure off his rehab.
The logic worked for both sides. Watson got additional security before another injury could tank his market in his prime earning years. Green Bay locked in a player they believed in at a number that was a bargain if he stayed healthy and a manageable loss if he didn’t. A year later, Watson is producing and the Packers are interested in a long-term extension conversation with their talented pass catcher.
Kansas City should run the same play.
The Colts on Thursday released veteran cornerback Kenny Moore II, one of the team’s longest-tenured players and most respected leaders.
Moore, 30, recently requested a trade after conversations with general manager Chris Ballard. The team agreed to explore trade possibilities, but Ballard said during the NFL draft that nothing had yet materialized.
With teams well into their offseasons and with the Colts anticipating signing rookies in the coming days during this weekend’s rookie camp, roster spots needed to be created.
Moore was in line to earn $10 million for the 2026 season. The Colts save just more than $7 million in salary cap space with the move.
The offseason drama surrounding Aaron Rodgers is inching toward the finish line.
Rodgers, who is expected to visit the Steelers on Friday and this weekend, will likely play for them in 2026, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported on Thursday, per sources.
The most likely plan all offseason was for Rodgers to play in Pittsburgh under new coach Mike McCarthy. The Steelers had spoken most of the offseason positively, saying they were giving the veteran quarterback time to make his decision on whether he’d play a 22nd NFL season. However, without any movement from Rodgers, speculation spawned.
Rapoport noted that a deal is not done and that caution remains until a pact is signed. The Steelers recently placed a UFA tender on Rodgers, considered a placeholder. The sides must now hammer out a new deal for Rodgers to play his second season in Pittsburgh. Rapoport added that it’s “hard to imagine” the QB plays for $15 million — the figure of the UFA tender.
Netflix will air the NFL’s first-ever regular-season game from Australia during this year’s opening week, sources briefed on the move tell The Athletic.
The streaming platform will air the Week 1 game between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams on Thursday, Sept. 10, with kickoff at 8:35 p.m. ET from Melbourne Cricket Ground, the largest stadium in Australia. NBC is expected to handle production of the game.
The early-season deal bookends Netflix’s current broadcast relationship with the NFL, which has included two games on Christmas Day the past two seasons and will continue in December 2026. Fox will air a third Christmas game in prime time.
On Thursday in the late afternoon, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo revealed information to conclude the saga of Kansas City Chiefs defensive backs coach Dave Merritt’s arrest on a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery.
Garafolo shared an Order of Dismissal from the District Court of Johnson County, Kansas, closing the case against Merritt just over two weeks after the time of arrest on the morning of Wednesday, April 22.
This past weekend, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid commented on the situation and made it clear that the organization was waiting on decisions to be made by Kansas; the state holds the role of plaintiff in all cases of domestic battery in Johnson County.
“Dave’s been very up-front with everything,” Reid said during his press conference last Saturday. “We’re still going through that whole procedure.”
