Chiefs draft LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier in seventh round, No. 249

The Chiefs used the 249th pick to buy a quarterback whose stock once pointed much higher, taking LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier in Round 7 after a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers. At that price, Kansas City was not drafting a Week 1 answer. It was chasing the rare late-round quarterback who can outgrow his slot and become useful roster value.

Nussmeier’s fall was the story of the pick. NFL.com noted that some evaluators had projected him in the top half of the draft before he slid all the way to the seventh round, where Kansas City made him the 10th quarterback selected in 2026. ESPN listed him at 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds, and his final season at LSU produced 1,927 passing yards, 12 touchdowns and five interceptions. For a team looking for cheap quarterback depth, that is the kind of resume that invites a swing even if the player is no longer going early.

The logic is straightforward: No. 249 is not about solving the franchise quarterback question, it is about protecting the roster from that question. A late pick at quarterback gives the Chiefs a developmental arm, another body for camp, and a player whose draft fall suggests the ceiling still exceeded the price. In roster terms, Kansas City is trying to turn a long slide into surplus value, the kind that comes when a seventh-rounder outperforms the spot. The path is narrow. Nussmeier first has to survive the cutdown battle, then earn practice reps, then prove he can handle NFL timing and protection calls well enough to stay on the 53-man roster or stick on a practice squad.

The backstory helps explain why the name carried attention into draft weekend. Doug Nussmeier, Garrett’s father and the Saints’ offensive coordinator, was encouraged by New Orleans to spend draft week with his son, and Saints general manager Mickey Loomis called that a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” Doug Nussmeier was a Saints fourth-round pick in 1994. Garrett’s own journey has been unusually mobile, shaped by his father’s coaching career; LSU said he moved 12 times, lived in eight states and Canada, and played at Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas. LSU also listed him as a 2026 Senior Bowl MVP and a 2024 Texas Bowl MVP, proof that his draft slide did not erase a résumé built over years in Baton Rouge.

For Kansas City, the bet is clear. The Chiefs are paying seventh-round money for a quarterback with starting experience, awards, and a recognizable pedigree, hoping the 249th pick can still become more than a footnote.