Going into the 2025 NFL Draft, there wasn’t a lot of talk about the Kansas City Chiefs going after a linebacker. But that’s exactly what they did in the fifth round, using the 156th overall pick to bring Oregon linebacker Jeff Bassa to Kansas City.

Even though coming to the Chiefs came with a price — becoming teammates with Josh Simmons of the rival Ohio State Buckeyes — Bassa is delighted with where he landed.

“It’s truly a blessing,“ he told reporters before the Sunday session of the team’s rookie minicamp. “[I walked] past Josh, [who] went to the school that knocked us out of the playoffs — but I’m sure we’ll have jokes about that down the road.”

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If he gets to play for the Chiefs, Bassa is more than willing to put that aside.

“Like I’ll keep saying, I’m so blessed to be here and have the opportunity to [walk] into the building every day and [see] the Kansas City Chiefs logo everywhere [and meet] the coaches that you watch on TV.

“You’re like, ‘Wow, I really love the opportunity and chance [to] play [here].’ So to be here now — to be living in the moment — it’s truly amazing.”

It’s likely his new team is just as happy to have Bassa, who played as a defensive back and a wide receiver before beginning his Oregon career as a safety — and then becoming a linebacker before his sophomore season with the Ducks. The 6-foot-2, 235-pound Bassa immediately gives Kansas City something it hasn’t had since Willie Gay Jr. moved on: a second-level defender who can be effective in coverage.

“I think the main way it helps me out is knowing what my DBs are doing in the back end,” said Bassa of his background. “So sometimes the communication may be different compared to a linebacker’s communication from his job standpoint, right? So when it comes to knowing when my safeties are rotating — or knowing what kind of coverage we really wanna show in the back end — I have a second sense: ‘OK, now if the safeties are doing this, now I can do this, right?’

“But then, when it comes to coverage ability, obviously I have been matched up on running backs and tight ends — and then, running with receivers is something that is not a mismatch for me, as it would be for some people.”

Bassa can also run the defense as a MIKE linebacker, making him a player that defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo will love to have as a backup for Nick Bolton.

“[I’m] a guy who was responsible for doing all that at Oregon,” Bassa pointed out. “I feel like that translates here as well — especially under Spags’ defense. You’ve got to be a linebacker that can communicate — [to] make sure your defensive line is set as well as making sure the DBs are on the same page as everybody else, right? So I took a lot of pride in that at Oregon — and so for me to have the same role, kind of, heading into a defense where there’s a lot of communication? I feel like that’s a perfect situation for me.”

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But Bassa doesn’t want to leave the impression that he’s an egghead linebacker who cannot play instinctively. He’s spent so much time watching film that he’s ready for anything.

“I’m a huge film junkie,” he revealed. “There [are times] where I’m just sitting in the house all day watching film for hours. I take a lot of pride in taking good notes and watching a lot of film. I think that really came from my love of the game for football.”

Bassa says he became a film junkie in high school.

“I remember [going] on YouTube [to] watch NFL defensive breakdowns of defensive coverage,“ he recalled. “It [was] people on YouTube just saying, ‘Oh, this team’s in this defense and this linebacker is responsible for this,’ right? So I really had that itch for watching film; [I] just wanted to learn more about football and defensive scheme.

“Then I really started moving that over to offense. [I was] picking, my OC’s brain at Oregon, getting close with the quarterbacks and learning what they’re understanding and what they’re trying to do from an offensive standpoint. So [I’m] really just trying to [do] a deep dive into both sides of the game.”

And so far, Bassa seems comfortable working his way into Spagnuolo’s complex defensive scheme.

“The first couple of installs [have] been really good for me,” he reported. “Overall, I feel like I’m catching on pretty well. Honestly, right now I feel like I’m at a good stage where I can keep going back — [while] looking at the notes and looking at the film — and say, ‘OK, I was supposed to do this instead of this, right?’ So [I’m] just catching on, slowly, day-by-day.”