The night before his on-field workouts at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine, Caleb Banks broke his foot. He didn’t know it yet, and still ran a 5.04-second 40-yard dash. He also posted a 9-foot-6 broad jump and a 32-inch vertical. Surgery came in early March, and now Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach may be willing to use a top-ten pick on him.

Banks, the 6-foot-6, 327-pound defensive tackle from Florida, has had a top-30 visit with the Chiefs. The invitation from GM Brett Veach holds significance as the Chiefs are identifying a potential successor to Chris Jones in the Florida tackle.

“Gators DL Caleb Banks has had 30 visits with the #Chiefs, #Ravens, and #Cardinals so far and will soon visit the #Lions, #Titans, #Broncos, #Falcons, and #Chargers,” Florida Gators reporter Zach Goodall shared on X.

Kansas City’s 7x Pro-Bowler Chris Jones is set to be 32 in July. Jones has been among the league’s elite interior pass-rushers for close to a decade, but the names beside him have changed almost every single offseason. A season-ending ACL tear had derailed rookie Omarr Nroman-Lot’s performance, and the rest of the depth couldn’t amount to much.

Caleb Banks has the potential to end that cycle. He came back to Florida last season to prove his 2024 breakout (21 tackles, 4.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, and 29 quarterback pressures) wasn’t a one-season wonder. He entered his senior year on both the Chuck Bednarik Award and Bronko Nagurski Trophy preseason watch lists, two of college football’s highest defensive honors.

But he fractured his foot back in the 2025 training camp, derailing his campaign. Returning for starts at LSU in Week 3, Banks re-injured his foot in the third quarter and left the field in a boot. He then came back for the two final games and racked up just 6 total tackles across those three appearances. The senior season he needed the most was gone, but his performance in the past season gave scouts plenty to root for.

When Banks is healthy, the tape makes his case. His 6-foot-6 frame can command double coverage from the opposition. The moment that happens with KC, that leaves the field open for Chris Jones to operate one-on-one. Back in February, PFF’s Trevor Sikkema also made this case for Banks to line up in Kansas City.

“Banks didn’t play much in 2025 due to a foot injury, but on the final two days of Senior Bowl practices, he reminded us why he was seen as a potential top-15 pick heading into the season,” Sikkema wrote. “His size and length – 6-foot-6 and 330 pounds – are very alluring to pair with Chris Jones.”

For now, every front office visit carries the same question for Caleb Banks: Is 2024 still who he is? Brett Veach had flagged the defensive line class’s depth at the Combine, characterizing it as strong well beyond the first round. That depth could prove highly useful if Banks’ medicals force KC to go a different direction. However, if Banks’ foot is at a 100% again, the argument for passing on him gets harder to construct.

The defensive trench, though, is just one half of Veach’s board. The other is giving Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes the receiving infrastructure to match. And the Chiefs may already have a prime candidate for the job.

A different weapon for Brett Veach

USC’s wide receiver Makai Lemon has a top-30 visit scheduled with Kansas City, joining Ohio State’s Carnell Tate as a receiver the team is examining ahead of April’s draft in Pittsburgh.

Lemon, the 2025 Biletnikoff Award recipient, finished his final season at USC with 79 catches for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns. While the raw numbers are convincing enough, the deeper analytics of Lemon are actually what should move Kansas City.

His 99.9 PFF receiving grade on 20-plus-yard targets in 2025 is something else entirely. Over two seasons on deep routes, he posted a 97.7 grade, posting 24 catches for 790 yards and six touchdowns. His 79.8% separation rate from 2025 is what makes it all repeatable.

Now, the easy read on Makai Lemon is that he is a sure offensive bet, but that framing misses the actual problem in KC. The Chiefs opened 2025 without Rashee Rice (suspended for six games) and lost Xavier Worthy to a dislocated shoulder on the first play of the season. The defenses sagged into coverage and dared Mahomes to beat them, and he had no one who could make them pay for it. Even tight end Travis Kelce’s dropped catches added to the Chiefs’ 6-11 season.

The Chiefs don’t need another deep shot. However, they do need a receiver who forces defenses to honor the middle of the field. Lemon’s 2025 separation rate does exactly that. He won’t be a luxury signing, but a structural fix instead.

Brett Veach is visiting one of the most disruptive defensive tackles available in Caleb Banks. He’s also hunting for a receiver in Makai Lemon, who could reframe how defenses prepare for Kansas City. Both visits tell the same story: Veach is done auditing, and the rebuild has begun.