The Biggest Question Nobody Is Asking About the Chiefs (And How They Answer It)

An uncharacteristically poor 2025-26 effort left the Kansas City Chiefs with plenty of things to sort out during the offseason. General manager Brett Veach and his coaching staff have worked hard to patch up existing holes, but there's one question that isn't getting asked enough.

With Chiefs training camp on the horizon, a new-look defense is tasked with fitting a wide variety of pieces together in time for Week 1. At defensive end, where will rookie R Mason Thomas slot in once the game of musical chairs concludes?

The answer may be twofold.

On one hand, Thomas was selected early (40th overall) in the 2026 NFL Draft and enters a position room that is underwhelming at best and among the lesser ones in football at worst. There should be a path to legitimate — and early — playing time. There's ample reason for the team to seek out snaps for him.

The flip side presents a different argument. One of the two starting defensive end spots is occupied by George Karlaftis, and he could be in line for the most impactful season of his career. The other role currently figures to go to Ashton Gillotte, a second-year man whose run defense makes him a more natural fit for the gig right out of the gate. There's a floor-versus-ceiling debate to be had.

Further complicating things is the still-uncertain world the Chiefs find themselves in regarding Thomas. They can't find out what the upside is without accepting potential growing pains to start his professional career. That trade-off isn't something defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is typically known to embrace.

At 6-foot-2 and just over 240 pounds, Thomas' best-case outcome may simply be becoming a league-average run defender. It's physically challenging for lighter players to set a quality edge, but it's easier for them to change direction and impact available lanes. That lack of size presents a double-edged sword as a pass rusher, too, thus making a situational role more sensible.

There's also the presence of former first-rounder Felix Anudike-Uzomah. Believe it or not, he's entering his fourth campaign already and has had his fifth-year option declined. It's a contract year for him, but he's the closest thing to Thomas that Kansas City has. In 550 defensive snaps spanning the 2023 and 2024 seasons, he's failed to flash much and has just three sacks to his name.

The likes of a Tyreke Smith, VJ Anthony or Ethan Downs making things interesting seems like a low-chance proposition. Thus, Thomas simultaneously has little barrier to entry in terms of logging some snaps but also might have his workload come with a hard cap in 2026 due to the dynamics of depth chart rungs one, two and perhaps three.

Until a move is made to bring in someone from the outside, which the team shows no signs of manifesting, there's incentive to get Thomas on the field. At the same time, Gillotte appears to have earned the right to prove capable of delivering starting-caliber play. That leaves the former Sooner stuck in the middle for the time being.

Unless a defined hierarchy presents itself, it's best for expectations to be in a similar spot.

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