When Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach spoke to the media ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft, he implied that defensive tackle was seen internally as a bigger need than draft analysts may have.
Veach stayed true to his word as the Chiefs selected Clemson defensive tackle Peter Woods with pick 29. When head coach Andy Reid spoke on Thursday, he praised Woods’ versatility both as a pass rusher and as a run stopper.
“This is a kid we had our eye on right from the beginning,” Reid remarked. “He’s a defensive tackle. He has great athletic ability. I think when you watch his highlights, you’ll see just a tremendous athlete, whether it’s in the pass game or the run game. He’s got great feet [and] great hands with his escape ability with his hands on sheds. He’s also a great kid.”
After the first round, Veach looked to the two teams that met in Super Bowl LX. The Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots both deploy deep defensive line rotations to keep their players fresh late in games against tired offensive lines.
Veach believes Woods is a strong candidate for building a similar group in Kansas City.
“You guys have seen it across the league, the depth of defensive lines is so important,” Veach observed. “You look obviously of what Seattle did and New England and those teams — they just have a plethora of defensive linemen across the board. What we like about Peter is he’s a versatile guy. He has strength and power, but he’s also athletic and has some pass rush. He’s one of the younger guys in the draft. I think he just turned 21. Super big upside with him, and again, I think it’s a priority for us more than anything.”
The defensive line is being addressed similarly to how Veach has attacked other position groups in the past. Last year, the Chiefs added defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott in the second round, who missed much of his rookie campaign with a torn ACL. On the first day of free agency this offseason, veteran nose tackle Khyiris Tonga was added.
Don’t expect Kansas City to be finished addressing the room after draft weekend.
“Obviously,” Veach noted, “we have invested in the offensive line over the years. That old blueprint of OL and DL and work from corner and receiver. We’ve done that with the O-line, and we’re going to continue to do that with the D-line now. We just want to add numbers and talent across the board. We have Omarr coming back now. Now you have Peter Woods, and now you have Chris Jones and now you have Tonga. It looks a lot different than it did last year already. We still have some more picks to go, and hopefully we can keep adding.”
Woods would seem to land in a perfect spot to perfect his NFL craft by sharing a room with star defensive tackle Chris Jones. Noting a size difference, Reid sees his new defensive tackle as more in line with the only interior rusher of this generation to have done it better than Jones.
The coach agrees with Veach that recent league trends have placed greater emphasis on inside pass rushers than in the past.
“He’s not Aaron Donald — yet,” Reid joked of Woods. “That’s a good challenge for him, but he has that ability inside. You’re seeing in the league now, guys that maybe aren’t the biggest guys but are extremely quick and have great body control and can rush the passer. The shortest distance to the quarterback are those dudes right in there. He gives you a little bit of that, and we were looking for that.”