The deadline for NFL teams to host college football players for pre-draft visits is Wednesday, April 15. On Tuesday, the Kansas City Chiefs brought in a wide receiver for a “top-30” visit who could be selected earlier than later on the weekend of the 2026 NFL Draft.
Louisville wide receiver Chris Bell posted his presence in the Chiefs’ facility on Instagram on Tuesday, and NFL Draft analyst Ryan Fowler reported the team hosting Bell as well.
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According to The Athletic’s consensus top 100, Bell is the 68th-ranked player in this year’s draft class, making him a reasonable option in the range of Kansas City’s pick No. 74. Draft expert Dane Brugler ranks Bell as the eighth-best receiver available and the 47th-overall ranked prospect of 2026.
Background
From Yazoo City, Mississippi, Bell was a three-star recruit out of high school who accepted the offer from the University of Louisville over a chance to stay home with Mississippi State and an offer from Maryland. He earned it after moving high schools before his senior season, allowing for the bigger offers after originally committing to Southern Mississippi.
He was an underrated member of the 2022 recruiting class, but it was more recognition than he had earned earlier in his football career. According to Brugler’s draft profile in “The Beast,” Bell was often overlooked as a youth football player, even being cut from the team entering his freshman year. Bell joined the marching band in reaction, claiming he “couldn’t play at all,” but wanted to attend the games.
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Bell grew closer to his current frame of 6 feet 2 inches tall and 222 pounds by his sophomore season and began to excel on the gridiron. He spent time as a running back, linebacker, safety, returner and wide receiver throughout his career playing for Yazoo City High School. He also lettered in basketball and track during his time, including a school-record mark in the 200-meter dash (22.54 seconds) during his Junior year.
Over four years at Louisville, Bell improved each season, finishing it off with a senior campaign that featured career-high marks in receptions (72), receiving yards (917) and touchdowns (6). He was honored as first team All-ACC in 2025 and was a semifinalist for the Fred Biletnikoff Award.
Unfortunately, Bell’s 2025 season was cut short when he suffered a torn ACL in a late-November game. He was set to have surgery during the second week of December.
Along with being 6 feet 2 inches tall and 222 pounds, Bell recorded an arm length of 31 3/4 inches and 10-inch hands at the NFL Scouting Combine.
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Evaluation
At Louisville, Bell was primarily an outside receiver, only aligning in the slot for 15% of his pass snaps during the 2025 season (a significantly higher rate than the previous two seasons).
That being the case, Bell made his mark most when he got the ball in his hands quickly and looked to gain yards after the catch. During his senior year, 41% of his receiving yards came after the catch, according to Pro Football Focus. His average depth of target was also only 9.4 yards, a remarkably low number compared to most college receivers who primarily play on the outside.
It’s because Bell was a missile down the field once he got the ball in his hands. He made a living on crossing patterns that gave him a step on the cornerback trailing him in man coverage, and his unique speed for his physique turned that advantage of a step into big plays like this.
He has garnered the general comparison to former San Francisco 49ers offensive weapon Deebo Samuel because of his ability after the catch. Nearly 65% of his targets came on passes thrown less than nine yards downfield, and he did a lot of his damage on short, in-breaking routes like slants and shallow crossers.
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On passes thrown more than 10 yards in the air, Bell only caught 17 of 39 targets, with only 379 of his 917 yards coming in those situations during the 2025 campaign.
There’s a real chance that Bell’s ability at the second and third levels of the defense was untapped during his time with Louisville. He seemed to exclusively align on one side of the formation, and many of his targets were funneled to the middle of the field. He will need to grow as an outside receiver at the next level, but there are flashes of that ability to do so.
How he fits with the Chiefs
As Bell recovers from a torn ACL suffered in December, he projects as a long-term pick for the Chiefs. There is a lot about his play style that fits in with Kansas City’s West Coast offensive foundation.
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At its core, the team wants playmakers who can make the most of any open space given once the ball is in their hands. It is why wide receiver Rashee Rice has been such a seamless fit into the offense since the day he was drafted, regardless of his ascension into anything more than a high-volume target when he’s on the field.
Bell’s strong physique gives him the ability to play on the line of scrimmage similarly to Rice, relieving lighter receivers like Worthy or Thornton from facing press coverage off the line. If Bell’s downfield abilities can grow, he has the profile of an older, X-receiver in the era of quarterback Patrick Mahomes: Sammy Watkins.
The bottom line
Bell should be a target for the Chiefs as early as the 74th-overall selection in the draft, but that could be too rich for a player who may not showcase his abilities to the franchise to their full extent until the 2027 preseason.
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That could make him a better option for Kansas City once Day 3 begins, but Bell is clearly an intriguing player who general manager Brett Veach won’t be able to wait around for if he does love Bell’s long-term outlook with the Chiefs.
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