Why Chiefs traded up to 6th pick in NFL Draft for Mansoor Delane, and what they had to give up originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Kansas City Chiefs were already in a weird spot with the No. 9 overall pick. They haven't had a top-10 pick in a long time.

They weren't content to sit there. They traded up to No. 6, which the Cleveland Browns had.

It was the first bold move of draft night, and it got bolder.

They took the cornerback Mansoor Delane out of LSU. It's not what people were expecting.

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This is the trade as reported by multiple NFL insiders:

Clearly, the Chiefs had a player they wanted, and they went up to get him. Delane helps make up for the departures of Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson.

This is time for the Chiefs to make a statement. They are coming off a 6-11 season, their worst with Patrick Mahomes.

There's no time to wait around, and so they went and got their guy.

They didn't even have to give up pick 29 to do it, so they still have that second first-round pick that they acquired in the Trent McDuffie trade with the Los Angeles Rams.

And now, the Chiefs have added a major piece to try and improve their chances of getting right back to the top of the NFL world in 2026.

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It didn't seem like Delane would've gone off the board before the Chiefs' pick at No. 9.

They must've liked him enough to decide it didn't matter.

They moved up and got their guy, and that's that.

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