Rookies inherently face a lot of pressure every year when trying to get playing time, but that’s especially true when the team has championship aspirations.
It takes a lot to earn the trust of a coaching staff when the roster is loaded with proven players who have made plays already at the highest level, but even teams like the Kansas City Chiefs need the bottom-of-the-roster types of guys to step up and make an impact.
The Chiefs are going to be asking a lot out of their rookie class in 2025, starting with the potential of their first-round pick — offensive tackle Josh Simmons — starting at left tackle. While a lot is going to be expected out of the top picks from the 2025 class right away, the Chiefs will also have some fascinating prospects from a pretty loaded undrafted rookie class to watch.
Chiefs GM Brett Veach invests more in undrafted players than a lot of other general managers, which is interesting because typically, guaranteed money and signing bonuses are a recruiting tool for teams as much as anything. And you wouldn’t think it would take much convincing to get these top undrafted players to Kansas City.
The Chiefs gave out $200K or more in guaranteed money to 10 different UDFAs in 2025, and another player got $100K. That is extremely uncommon.
One player who got a higher signing bonus than any other cornerback in Kansas City’s UDFA class is Florida State corner Kevin Knowles ($20,000). Despite his large signing bonus and huge guarantee ($220K), he’s facing long odds to make the team.
Kevin Knowles facing an uphill battle to make the Chiefs 53-man roster
The Chiefs brought in veteran Kristian Fulton to bolster their starting lineup at the cornerback position after Fulton played last season for the rival Los Angeles Chargers. The arrival of Fulton plus the return of players like Nazeeh Johnson and Jaylen Watson gives the Chiefs plenty of experience at corner, but they also moved up in the 2025 NFL Draft to get Nohl Williams.
Knowles is also battling with the fact that Southern Arkansas corner Melvin Smith Jr. received one of the highest overall guarantees on the team at $249K among this year’s UDFA crop.
The Chiefs have a combination of youth and experience in the defensive backfield right now that makes it almost impossible to see a path for Kevin Knowles to make it, even though the Chiefs made a substantial investment to get him.
That investment should ultimately lead to Kansas City trying to get him on the practice squad, but if he can show up big in training camp and preseason games, you never know what might happen.
