Cincinnati Bearcats wide receiver Cyrus Allen (4) gestures for a first down as Arizona Wildcats linebacker Jabari Mann (11) and Arizona Wildcats defensive back Treydan Stukes (2) react in the third quarter of the NCAA football game at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati on Nov. 15, 2025. | Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Following soon behind the Kansas City Chiefs’ pick of Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson, the front office kept the offense in mind and selected a wide receiver.Round 5 – Pick 176: Cyrus Allen, WR, CincinnatiAnother Bearcat on our roster 🐻With the 176th pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, we have selected WR @cyrusallen_! pic.twitter.com/mqU3pmwgYK— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) April 25, 2026Allen was ranked the 257th prospect and the 38th-ranked receiver by Arrowhead Pride’s consensus rankings.The Athletic’s Dane Brugler ranked Allen 27th among the receivers in this class, grading him as a fifth-to-sixth-round prospect in his draft guide, “The Beast.”The 23-year-old receiver measured in at 5 feet 11 inches tall and 183 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine and posted the following numbers:40-yard dash: 4.49 seconds10-yard split: 1.56 secondsVertical leap: 36 inchesBroad jump: 11 feetCyrus Allen was drafted in round 5 with pick 176 in the 2026 draft class. He scored a 8.69 RAS out of a possible 10.00.
This ranked 551 out of 4196 WR from 1987 to 2026.https://t.co/FjXdVEYFsFpic.twitter.com/1WyGk5781K— RAS.football (@MathBomb) April 25, 2026Before his lone season with the Bearcats in 2025, Allen made his mark over two seasons at Louisiana Tech, transferring to Texas A&M in 2024 for a low-output, injury-shortened season that ended with arm surgery.He enrolled at the University of Cincinnati before the 2025 season and went on to have a breakout campaign, finishing with 13 touchdown catches, the most in the Big 12 last season, and earned Second Team All-Big 12 honors.New Chiefs WR Cyrus Allen, I’m a big fan of his game!Awesome route runner who posted stellar success rates vs. man and zone coverage scores in the small sample Rookie Roundup: – 75% success rate vs man– 83.7% success rate vs zoneHas real separation skills that I think can… pic.twitter.com/Ks9z7mUm22— Matt Harmon (@MattHarmon_BYB) April 25, 2026With the Bearcats, Allen lined up nearly exclusively in the slot (92% of pass snaps) and was an efficient playmaker, considering how many times he scored while only catching 49 passes. At previous stops, he was nowhere near as predominantly aligned in the slot.Looking ahead to his fit with the Chiefs, he will enter the realm that last year’s fourth-round pick and wide receiver Jalen Royals is hoping he is in the clear of. He won’t have a clean path to being any higher than fourth or fifth on the depth chart, and history says he would have to go above and beyond to earn playing time as a sixth-round rookie for head coach Andy Reid’s offense.