The Kansas City Chiefs made some minor headlines when they selected quarterback Garrett Nussmeier in the seventh round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
Not because anyone thought the selection might be anything resembling competition to quarterback Patrick Mahomes â if that even needs to be said out loud. But due to the fact that Nussmeier, who at the season’s outset was predicted to be a potential first round draft pick, came within nine selections of going undrafted.
Perhaps even more unexpectedly, at least after he started to fall in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds, the New Orleans Saints â whom Nussmeier’s father, Doug, is the offensive coordinator for â passed on him five times on the final day of the draft.
Garrett Nussmeier Tipped to Make Final Roster as QB3
Despite him being the 249th overall pick, and as a seventh rounder on average only having around a 1/3 chance of making final cuts, Arrowhead Pride’s Ron Koop Jr. predicts that he will make the 53-man active roster ahead of the start of the regular season.
“[Justin] Fields is signed to a one-year contract as the backup quarterback, but seventh-round pick Garrett Nussmeier has put together an impressive enough camp to warrant a spot on an NFL teamâs 53-man roster come September. It feels like he could put together some notable film against third-team defenses in the preseason.” Koop Jr. wrote on August 6.
Koop further argues that keeping Nussmeier on the roster not only gives the Chiefs a solid third choice player, but will help groom the former LSU standout to become Mahomes’ primary backup for the ensuing years to come.
“If the Chiefs are serious about him being the immediate understudy to Mahomes next season and beyond,” Koop continued, “he will likely need to be on the active roster.”
Is Nussmeier a Lock to Make the Final Roster?
Virtually no rookie seventh round pick are anything close to locks to make the roster, especially just two weeks into camp.
But at this point in time Nussmeier is certainly in one of the better spots as concerns bottom-10 rookie draft picks.
His excellent play over his first two years in college were all but voided in the eyes of draft evaluators after a cyst in his spine added pain to his throwing motion and forced him to develop poor mechanics in his senior year.
Whilst the pain from the cyst has subsided, according to Nussmeier, he is still a medical risk. And much of that explains why teams were reluctant to take a shot on him prior to the end of the seventh round of the draft.
Nussmeier is also a little on the smaller side for a quarterback, coming in at 6’2 and just 203 lbs.
However, if he can demonstrate the type of play the SEC saw him execute in 2023 and 2024, he will look far superior to your average 249th overall pick. And it’s that kind of upside that Andy Reid and Brett Veach were no doubt banking on when they picked him.
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