NFL Insider Reveals Chiefs’ True Feelings on Day 2 Rookie
It may still be early in the 2025-26 NFL season, but each team is beginning to get a better look at how its respective draft class is faring. The Kansas City Chiefs are no different, and general manager Brett Veach has to be feeling good.
Not only is his Day 1 selection panning out, but players from Days 2 and 3 of April’s NFL Draft are finding ways to get noticed. One of them, third-round defensive end Ashton Gillotte, is making his presence felt.
In an October 1 story for ESPN, insiders Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano opened their notebooks. Graziano had some intriguing tidbits about Kansas City and its rookies.
Insider: DE Ashton Gillotte ‘Excites’ Chiefs Coaching Staff
Focusing in on Gillotte, Graziano says the first-year man is exciting the team already.
“Edge rusher Ashton Gillotte is a player who really excites the Chiefs,” Graziano wrote. He got his hand on a field goal attempt in the Week 3 victory over the Giants and has seen his snap count rise each week as the team continues to trust him more. I would not be surprised to see Kansas City continue to use Gillotte more as the season goes on as they rely more and more on their defense while the offense gets its act together.”
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Gillotte is rising to the top. The Louisville product came into the draft process flashing a high motor and an interesting mix of run defense chops and pass rush tools. While he has yet to turn that into a ton of statistical production, he’s playing a significant role.
Less than a month into his professional career, the No. 66 overall pick has 100 defensive snaps. He’s also factored into special teams, as Graziano mentioned, adding 25 snaps there. According to Pro Football Focus, he has 2 pressures in 57 pass-rushing opportunities.
With the regular season off and running, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo tipped his cap to Gillotte and said he “just gets better and better.” Given Charles Omenihu‘s slow start to the year and Mike Danna‘s quad injury, Kansas City has leaned on him more.
Gillotte is bordering on a trusted member of the defensive end room opposite George Karlaftis (who is also endearing himself to his coaches). That’s a noteworthy feat as October kicks off.
Kansas City’s 2025 NFL Draft Class Off to a Good Start
Regardless of how you break it up, it’s hard to not be impressed by this year’s Chiefs rookie class.
Take the first-rounder, for example. Left tackle Josh Simmons took ahold of the starting job and never looked back. There have been some growing pains, but head coach Andy Reid is clearly a fan. Simmons has the potential to be the final left tackle of Patrick Mahomes‘ career.
The second night of the draft seems to have yielded solid results, too, Gillotte notwithstanding. Defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott is finding his way alongside defensive tackle Chris Jones. He gives the Chiefs and off-speed pitch to complement someone like run-stuffer Derrick Nnadi. Cornerback Nohl Williams is a PFF darling (top CB grade). His physicality at the line of scrimmage and down the field is tough to contend with.
There’s production and ceiling all the way in the seventh round. Running back Brashard Smith logged a career-high 19 snaps in Week 4’s triumph over the Baltimore Ravens, flashing in the receiving game. The converted wideout could see continued growth in the offense as the year progresses.
One of the biggest challenges of having a dynasty is during the year, it’s hard to find playing time for rookies. The impact typically shows up when veterans either get hurt or depart via free agency. Not only is Kansas City’s first-year crop taking advantage of opportunities, but they’re helping turn 2025’s tide around in the process.
For Gillotte specifically, this may just be the tip of the iceberg.
Ben Johnson Has Strong Words for Bears’ Offense After First 4 Weeks
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(Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
Coming into the year, many Chicago Bears fans wanted the team to show significant improvements on both sides of the football. With head coach Ben Johnson taking over, fans hope he can turn Caleb Williams into the quarterback many saw when he came into the NFL.
Caleb Williams entered the NFL as a generational talent, but his rookie season fell well short of expectations. Still, the second-year quarterback has plenty of time to grow into the star many projected him to be.
Bears Coach Ben Johnson Gets Honest
It’s tough to say that the Chicago Bears‘ offense has been perfect throughout the first four weeks of the season, but there have also been improvements every single week. They scored 24 points in the first game of the year and 21 in the second, before responding with 31 points against the Dallas Cowboys and 25 against the Las Vegas Raiders, both of which were wins. Not only did they score more points in both games, but Williams has also started to figure some things out, including leading a game-winning drive late against the Raiders.
When speaking to reporters about how the offense has looked throughout the first four weeks, it sounds like Johnson expects the Bears to be even better on that front moving forward. He doesn’t believe that anybody is pulling their weight yet, including himself.
“I don’t feel like everybody on offense yet is pulling their weight, and that’s myself included. There’s a number of things from yesterday’s game that I have to do a better job of; there’s a couple calls I was getting in late. There’s a couple things that the coaching staff, myself, we could have coached up better to give us a better chance there.
“When you look at it as a whole, it was just a mess, man. I’m just not proud of what we put on tape. I think it’s a reflection of myself; I always take it personally. I saw us getting better the first three weeks in a lot of ways on offense and then this was just a little bit of a step back for us,” he said, per Courtney Cronin of ESPN.
Bears QB Caleb Williams Is Gaining Confidence
Everybody has said all the right things for the Chicago Bears over the past few months, but again, this is an organization and a fan base that’s dying for success. The words don’t mean as much if they can’t deliver the job. For Williams to come out against the Las Vegas Raiders, however, and do what he did in the fourth quarter, was a massive step.
He stated, according to the team website, that those are the moments he loves. He has the confidence in himself to go out and make plays, and that confidence is only growing as he gets older.
“I think it’s just the confidence that I’ve had in myself through the hard work that I’ve put into myself and my work and my craft,” Williams said Tuesday at Halas Hall. “It’s just grown over the years. It started when I was younger.
“Those moments, you go through a whole game and there’s not many things that the [defense] is going to show you differently in those moments. I feel more comfortable in those moments. I think my heart rate drops. Everything kind of settles in. It’s gotta-have-it moments. I think I’ve done a good job with that over my career in those gotta-have-it moments, and I think it comes from the hard work throughout the week, the belief in teammates, things like that.”
Hopefully, this is just the start of Bears‘ offense eventually being one of the best in the NFL.
