2 biggest Chiefs training camp battles to watch ahead of 2026 NFL season

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2 biggest Chiefs training camp battles to watch ahead of 2026 NFL season

Garrett Kerman, ClutchPoints · ClutchPoints

Mon, Jul 20, 2026 ·

4 min read

The Slot Corner Competition

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Four of the Chiefs' five starting spots in the secondary look set. Chamarri Conner and Alohi Gilman are the presumptive full-time safeties, rookie sixth overall pick Mansoor Delane needs to claim one outside corner job, and Nohl Williams holds the inside track over veteran Kristian Fulton for the other boundary spot. That leaves the slot corner position as the true wild card in Steve Spagnuolo's defense.

The slot role matters more than its name suggests. In nickel packages, the slot defender must be versatile enough to match up with shifty receivers in space while also holding up against the run, a dual responsibility that Trent McDuffie once filled at an elite level for Kansas City. With McDuffie now traded to the Los Angeles Rams and spending more time on the boundary in his final season with the Chiefs, the team enters 2026 needing a new answer.

Four candidates have real paths to winning the job. Kader Kohou, signed in March after missing all of 2025 with a torn ACL, was described as an ascending slot defender before his injury and would have been an early frontrunner, though uncertainty around his offseason ramp-up has clouded that outlook. Fourth-round rookie Jadon Canady profiles as the long-term answer but likely needs a full season before overtaking a crowded veteran group.

That leaves the competition largely between Chris Roland-Wallace and L'Jarius Sneed. Roland-Wallace, an undrafted find from 2024, already has experience in Spagnuolo's system and has looked comfortable inside, giving him a notable edge in a secondary full of newcomers. Sneed, reunited with Kansas City after a injury-plagued stint in Tennessee, offers the highest ceiling if healthy, having once been among the league's best cornerbacks, though his knee history makes him something of a gamble at a physically demanding position.

The depth here works in Kansas City's favor. With four plausible options, the Chiefs have layers of redundancy that should prevent them from being forced to slide Conner back into the slot and weaken multiple spots at once. The real question isn't whether someone can fill the role, but whether one candidate separates decisively enough to lock it down before Week 1.

The Right Tackle Battle

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

On the other side of the ball, Andy Reid's own word choice has signaled that Kansas City's right tackle situation is far from settled. Reid's use of the term "competition" when discussing incumbent Jaylon Moore during OTAs is notable, given how measured Reid typically is in his public comments about roster battles.

Moore enters camp as the presumed starter after occupying the role, but he is not operating without pressure. Second-year tackle Esa Pole represents the most realistic threat to unseat him, and how Pole performs in padded practices and preseason games will determine whether this remains a true competition or a formality.

Chu Godrick and rookie tryout signee Kahlil Benson have also been mentioned in the mix, but neither profiles as the primary challenger. If Moore and Pole fail to clearly separate themselves as starting-caliber players, it would point to a deeper issue at the position than previously recognized, since the expectation is that one of the two established options solidifies the job.

Right tackle carries obvious stakes for a Chiefs offense built around protecting its investment at quarterback. Whoever wins this battle will be tasked with anchoring the edge in both the run game and pass protection, and any weakness there could ripple through the entire offensive scheme. Given how much continuity Kansas City already has up front, this competition may ultimately hinge less on flash and more on which player limits mistakes and plays with consistency across camp and the preseason.

Both battles are a microcosm of the same underlying theme for the Chiefs as they head into 2026: The roster is full of options, but training camp will tell us which options will translate into reliable, week-to-week production.