The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t wait long to see why they traded up for Jeffrey Bassa.

Just days after Chiefs general manager Brett Veach moved up to select the Oregon linebacker in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, Bassa took to the field in the team’s rookie minicamp held over the weekend. It gave Bassa his first taste of playing for defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, and it’s clear he’s soaking up every bit of it.

“Everybody knows that Coach Spag’s defense is really complex, but I mean, coming into rookie minicamp, you obviously want to get a head start on that, right? So I feel like the opportunity to come out here for rookie minicamp, learn the defense, kind of go through the first couple of installs has been really good for me,” said Bassa in a media session from Chiefs minicamp.

“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 and looking at the notes and looking at the film and saying, ‘OK, I was supposed to do this instead of this, right?’ So just catching on slowly day by day.”

The former Oregon linebacker is already turning heads at rookie minicamp for the Chiefs.

That instant readiness and intense preparation have been hallmarks of Bassa’s career for some time, which is why the Chiefs moved up eight spots in a draft-day deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers to get him.

A converted safety, Bassa offers the Chiefs’ defense another dimension that was lacking in 2024. His background in the secondary helps him understand what’s happening behind him and communicate across the defense—he wore the green dot for Oregon’s defense. That’s something he sees as a clear asset for the Chiefs.

“I think the main way it helps me out is knowing what my DBs are doing in the back end … I have a second sense of, ‘Okay, now if the safeties are doing this, now I can do this, right?’ But then as well as when it comes to coverage ability, obviously being matched up on running backs and tight ends and then running with receivers as well, that’s something that is not a mismatch for me as it would be for some people,” said Bassa.

It’s that awareness, along with a reputation as a true student of his craft, that helped to make Bassa a favorite of the Chiefs’ front office. He described himself as a “film junkie,” someone who grew up studying NFL coverages online and asking coaches for insight into both sides of the ball. “There’s some times where I’m just sitting in the house all day watching film for hours,” he said.

Given his experience on special teams, his commitment to excellence, and his natural skill set, Bassa should be a significant piece for the Chiefs going forward. Not only will Dave Toub love him as a core S/T contributor, but the Chiefs now boast a well-rounded linebacking corps equipped with a much better weapon in coverage sub-packages.