The Kansas City Chiefs selected R Mason Thomas with the No. 40 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft on Friday, adding an edge rusher who built his reputation in Norman and now gets a chance to help a defense that needs more disruption.
Thomas, a 6-2, 241-pound linebacker-end hybrid, played four years at Oklahoma and finished with 65 total tackles, 25.5 tackles for loss, 17 sacks, 17 quarterback hurries, four forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, three pass breakups and one defensive touchdown. The production spiked over his final two seasons, when he had 12.5 tackles for loss and nine sacks in 2024 before closing 2025 with 26 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks.
That late surge earned him Second Team All-SEC honors in 2024 and First Team All-SEC honors in 2025. The and the American Football Coaches Association also named him a Second Team All-American in 2025, the kind of recognition that put him among the most accomplished pass rushers in the country by the end of his college run.
Thomas arrived at the NFL Scouting Combine as one of 10 Oklahoma players from the 2025 team and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.67 seconds. He did not take part in the bench press, three-cone drill or 20-yard shuttle, leaving scouts to lean more heavily on the body of work he put together on Saturdays.
For Kansas City, the pick fits a clear need. The Chiefs have won three Super Bowls since 2019 and most recently lifted the Lombardi Trophy after Super Bowl LVIII in 2023, but last season ended with a 6-11 record and no playoff berth for the first time since 2014. Their edge-rush group already includes George Karlaftis and Ashton Gillotte, and Thomas gives them another player who has shown he can finish plays in the backfield.
The Chiefs also used their first-round selection, pick No. 6, on LSU defensive back Mansoor Delane, signaling a draft built around adding speed and pressure on defense. That makes Thomas part of a wider reset after a season that fell short of the standard Kansas City has set over the last decade.
He was the kind of player Oklahoma leaned on late, and Kansas City is betting that the same burst and production will carry over now. The question is not whether Thomas has made plays against top competition. It is how quickly he can turn that track record into snaps, pressure and, eventually, the kind of result the Chiefs need after a year out of the postseason.