By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
The Kansas City Chiefs traded three draft picks to Cleveland to move up from ninth to sixth in the first round and took LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane on Thursday night in the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh.
Delane is the first LSU defensive player taken in the first round since cornerback Derek Stingley was the third pick of the 2022 draft by Houston. He also is the seventh Tiger to go in the top six picks of the first round since 2019.
Kansas City traded its ninth pick of the first round along with a third round pick (74th overall) and a fifth round selection (148th overall.) With the ninth pick of the first round, Cleveland took offensive tackle Spencer Fano of Utah and still has the 24th pick of the first round.
“Wow, this is crazy,” Delane said on ESPN of the trade. “They weren’t really on me too much in the process, but they said they just wanted to keep it quiet and make that sneak move. And they made the best move in the draft, so I’m excited.”
Asked by ESPN’s Laura Rutledge what he would tell his former self as a little boy dreaming of being drafted in the first round, Delane said, “Man, don’t stop now. Don’t stop now. You got what you dreamed of, but man let’s make a mark on this league.”
A transfer from Virginia Tech after the 2024 season, Delane was projected as a top 10 pick. And the New Orleans Saints thought they had a chance at him with the eighth selection of the first round. But Kansas City really wanted Delane.
The Saints then took Arizona State wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, a former target of new LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt, who transferred from Arizona State after last season.
Delane is the 54th first round selection in the history of the NFL Draft from LSU.
Delane played just the one season at LSU in 2025 as a senior and was consensus first team All-American by Walter Camp, the Football Writers Association of America, the Associated Press, The Sporting News and the American Football Coaches Association.
Amazingly, Delane played 11 games with 11 starts on the season despite a muscle injury in his core. He made 45 tackles with 26 solo stops, 13 passes defensed, 11 pass breakups and two interceptions.
At Virginia Tech, Delane started 25 games in the 2023 and ’24 seasons. He intercepted four passes and forced two fumbles in ’24 with 11 passes defensed and seven passes broken up. In 2023, he had an interception and a fumble recovery with two passes defensed and a pass breakup.
As a freshman in 2022, Delane played in eight games with four starts. He intercepted one pass with two forced fumbles, nine passes defensed and eight passes broken up.
Delane was a three-star prospect out of Archbishop Spalding High in Severn, Maryland, near Baltimore and the No. 55 cornerback in the nation. When he transferred to LSU, he was the No. 111 player in the portal and No. 15 cornerback.
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