{"id":610293,"date":"2026-04-28T00:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T00:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/610293\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T00:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T00:58:12","slug":"chiefs-were-super-high-on-emmett-johnson-we-were-shocked-he-fell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/610293\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs were \u2018super high\u2019 on Emmett Johnson: \u2018We were shocked he fell\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The overall talent of the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>\u2019 running back room was certainly upgraded this offseason with the signing of Kenneth Walker III, along with a notable addition in Emari Demercado.<\/p>\n

Those moves put the Chiefs in a position to have it low on the priority list during the 2026 NFL Draft \u2014 until a point in the middle of the fifth round, when one running back became too valuable to ignore anymore.<\/p>\n

General manager Brett Veach struck a deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> to move from pick 169 to pick 161 with his focus on Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson. He was honored as First Team All-American and led the Big Ten conference in rushing yards last season, earning the attention of the Chiefs\u2019 front office.<\/p>\n

Chiefs Vice President of Player Personnel Ryne Nutt answered questions from reporters<\/a> in a livestreamed press conference on Monday, and he revealed that Veach was just one of the front-office members who felt strongly about Johnson in a December meeting last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went through the running backs, and Emmett was one of the top guys we watched,\u201d Nutt remembered. \u201cWe loved him. Brett was super high on this kid; we all were really high on this kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson was graded as high as a third-round pick by some draft analysts, showing talent that was clear to Nutt and the staff in Kansas City.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a juke button, he has very good feet, vision, feel, and he\u2019s very good out of the backfield,\u201d Nutt described. \u201cI think the Combine 40, I think he ran like a 4.56 or something, that might\u2019ve scared people away, but then he ran a 4.49 at his Pro Day. Then he ran like a 4.49 or 4.50\u2026 so he showed on two reps that he can match the same speed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why he fell,\u201d Nutt admitted. \u201cWe were shocked he fell, and that\u2019s why we took him in the fifth round, and that\u2019s why Brett traded up to get him. Because of the conviction we had in the talent, and we because we knew that was probably lower than he should\u2019ve went, but we\u2019re happy to have the kid for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chiefs were happy to be the team to give a decorated back like Johnson his chance, and the feelings were mutual.<\/p>\n

When Johnson spoke with reporters on a video call after his selection, he expressed his excitement about rolling with the punches.<\/p>\n

\u201cSame reaction I had my whole life, I\u2019ve been doubted, I\u2019ve been passed on so I just needed an opportunity, honestly,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cReally blessed for this opportunity, didn\u2019t matter what pick, what round, I can still put on a football jersey, put on a football helmet, go out there and work. When it\u2019s on the field, it\u2019s not \u2018what pick it is,\u2019 it\u2019s everyone playing football, so I\u2019m ready for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson is projected to be the immediate backup to Walker in the lead-back role, but don\u2019t be surprised if Johnson earns his way onto the field on pass downs or in other situations. His talent may be hard for the coaching staff to ignore, just like it was for the front office during Day 3 of the draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The overall talent of the Kansas City Chiefs\u2019 running back room was certainly upgraded this offseason with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[195981,15977,9374,349,99],"class_list":["post-610293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-kansas-city-chiefs-draft","tag-kansas-city-chiefs-news","tag-kansas-city-chiefs-roster","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}