Arrowhead Pride
Kansas City’s fourth-year linebacker isn’t letting anything change his priorities.
As Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Leo Chenal heads into the final season of his rookie contract, the 23-year-old is approaching it with a selfless mindset. Drafted out of Wisconsin in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft, Chenal has steadily carved out a significant role in Kansas City’s defense and special teams units. He’s determined to keep growing in 2025 — even with the potential distraction of a contract year.
“I try to keep my mind off it as best [I] can,” he told reporters on Thursday, following the team’s training camp practice at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph. “That can become an unnecessary stress on yourself and on your shoulders, so I just look at still being selfless: doing what I can for the team.
“I’m not trying to do too much. [I] still do my job and do what I can — but at the same time, [I’m] growing and [getting] better.”
Over his three seasons in the league, a key part of Chenal’s development has come under defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, whose demanding style has brought out the best in the linebacker.
“With Spags, you’ve got to pay the ‘Chiefs tax,’” Chenal joked. “Man, you’ve got to work hard. You [have to give] full effort. You’ve got to make plays in different positions. With him, being able to line up anywhere — and him asking you to do that — it’s a really, really big privilege.”
Another major influence on his development has been fellow linebacker Nick Bolton, whom Chenal credits as a leader of the defensive unit.
“He means everything,” Chenal said of Bolton. “When he’s on the field, it’s just different. You guys have seen it. [It’s] not only his play, [it’s his] his leadership: his loud, bold communication — just his positivity.
“You go down the list of what a leader is, and Nick Bolton checks the boxes.”
Like his teammates, Chenal is using February’s Super Bowl IX loss as fuel to keep improving.
“It’s the same thing with the Super Bowl win last offseason,” he explained. “It’s like, that was great, but we’ve got to learn from where we messed up and get better from there. Losing is obviously a lot worse feeling — and extreme — and all of us hate losing more than we love winning. So we’re taking as much as we can from what we did wrong and building on it.”
