Louisville draft prospect describes what a Chiefs top-30 draft visit is like
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Chiefs hosted Louisville defensive tackle Rene Konga on top-30 visit including interviews.
- Konga described the visit as a 12-to-15-hour process with medicals, meetings and film.
- Chiefs coaches Spagnuolo and Cullen questioned Konga on plays and evaluated football IQ.
To prepare for the NFL Draft, the Kansas City Chiefs — and every other team in the NFL — have spent the past month holding top-30 visits with potential fits.
With top-30 visits, teams are permitted to invite up to 30 draft-eligible prospects to their facilities for interviews, medical evaluations and meetings with the coaching staff.
Recently, the Chiefs hosted Louisville defensive tackle Rene Konga, who is currently projected to come off the board on Day 3 (Rounds 4 through 7).
About Rene Konga
Konga is a 6-foot-3, 298-pound defensive tackle who played four years at Rutgers before transferring to Louisville in 2024. He spent the first of his two seasons at Louisville as a teammate of current Chiefs defensive end Ashton Gillotte.
“We have a good relationship,” Konga said in a phone interview with The Star. “Ash and I talk probably like once a week, if anything. We talked around the time of my visit, before my visit or whatnot, and then we play video games together. We used to watch film together back in Louisville. We lived in the same apartment building back in Louisville, so we (were) at each other’s house all the time.”
During Chiefs general manager Brett Veach’s pre-draft press conference, he spoke about signing defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga in free agency. But the GM was candid that he’d like to add two more defensive linemen before Kansas City gets into the thick of its offseason program.
Konga grew up playing basketball, and his football journey has included stops at defensive back, linebacker, defensive end and now defensive tackle. The prospect says he likely derives his explosiveness from playing hoops.
“Basketball is a lot of jumping and running and quick change of direction,” Konga said. “Those are things I’m good at.”
He highlighted Louisville’s 2024 game against Georgia Tech — three games into the season — as when it clicked for him as a 3-technique, lining up on the outside shoulder of the guard. Konga had seven tackles, including a tackle for a loss in the game.
“I can adapt,” he said. “I can easily adapt. I’m versatile. You look at my college career, I played from anywhere from a 0- to 9-technique, so I got experience in every position. And it’s just like I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win. I think it speaks volumes in that regard.” During his pro day in March, Konga impressed with his vertical jump, broad jump and 10-yard split. While his Louisville sack numbers are modest (8.0 over two years), he has firm belief that he’s a diamond in the rough waiting to be found.
“I know there’s a lot out there when it comes to my tape,” he said. “I understand why people aren’t super high on me. I’m not delusional in that regard, because I know what I have to work on. I know that I will work on it. I think ... in 4 to 5 years, I’ll definitely be in the conversation with one of the best in the league.”
Inside Konga’s top-30 Chiefs visit
If he lands with the Chiefs, he will be working on those areas to improve with defensive line coach Joe Cullen, who he met during his top-30 visit on April 14.
“When I got (to Kansas City), there were a couple of MRIs to check on my injury history and whatnot,” he said. “I’ll have lunch, meeting the coaching staff, GM, head coach, coordinators, position coach. And then once you’re done meeting with everybody, you kind of just go on about your day.”
Konga described the experience as a 12-to-15-hour “car wash” where he and the Chiefs got to know each other. His most important sit-down was with defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and Cullen.
“I’d say it’s probably about 20% (on-field) calls,” Konga said of the meeting. “Spags was very much digging into my background, who am I as a person, who am I as a player kind of situation, (and the) same for Cullen really. But then at the same time, when me and Cullen was doing that, we was watching film simultaneously, so it wasn’t just strictly background.”
Spagnuolo and Cullen spliced up film from Louisville to see how Konga analyzed the plays.
“They were asking me questions like, ‘OK, what do you remember from there?’” He said. “It’s, ‘OK, why did you do this? OK, so how are you coached to do this?’ Just to kind of get an idea of what I already know, and then if I’m able to learn as well.”
Konga said he felt that the detail of the Chiefs’ questions showed that they had genuine interest in him. They left no stone unturned in getting to know not only his on-field game, but also who he was off the field.
“Do I respect people around me? Am I cordial?” Konga said. “Do I make eye contact in conversation? Do I shake hands? I think it’s more so that kind of thing, because, God willing, to bring me in, that’s the only kind of guy they bring in.” One aspect of the visit that stuck out to Konga was Spagnuolo’s energy.
“He’s very friendly, very smart,” he said. “When we were talking about my background, you could tell he was very — it just almost seems like he understood me. So Cullen, too, you can tell he’s a good coach. Things about coaches and the way they speak, the way they watch film, you can tell that they’re knowledgeable, and that’s what I got from him a lot.
“He’s watching my film, and he knew corrections on the spot, even on good plays and bad plays.”
This story was originally published April 20, 2026 at 11:39 AM.
