Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders has a habit of showing up in his former players’ comment sections at exactly the right moment, and offensive tackle Kahlil Benson’s mother got the latest example of it this week.
LaTonya Benson celebrated her son’s performance after the Kansas City Chiefs improved to 2-0 with a win over the Indianapolis Colts, quote-tweeting a PFF grade breakdown that had her son grading out just behind Patrick Mahomes himself. Sanders reposted her message with a short, heartfelt reply of his own.
“All smiles over here! Another great game @BensonKahlil,” LaTonya wrote. “Way to get the win, Chiefs! Every practice & game gets you better! And I’m here for it ALL! #ChiefsKingdom #70theUDFA #MommaBensonEncourages.”
“So proud, Mama! God bless y’all,” Sanders wrote on X.
It’s not the first time Sanders has publicly cheered on Benson this way. Back in December, after Benson helped Indiana reach the College Football Playoff as the Big Ten champions, Sanders reacted to a similar post from LaTonya with a nearly identical message of pride a small but telling detail showing this isn’t a one-off gesture but a running pattern between the two.
Benson’s time at Indiana got off to a rough start in 2020. An ACL tear kept him from playing that season, and he redshirted. He returned in 2022 to make five starts at right guard, then started all 12 games the following year.
After Indiana went 3-9 and moved on from head coach Tom Allen, Benson entered the transfer portal. He ended up at Colorado for 2024, where he spent the season blocking for Shedeur Sanders, Deion Sanders’ son and Colorado’s starting quarterback. Injuries limited him to nine games in Boulder, and Benson transferred back to Indiana for 2025, where he anchored the offensive line for an undefeated, Big Ten championship-winning Hoosiers team that reached the College Football Playoff.
None of that was enough to get him drafted. Benson went unselected in the 2026 NFL Draft entirely, signing with Kansas City as an undrafted free agent after a rookie minicamp tryout. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid admitted this summer he genuinely wasn’t sure why no team had used a pick on him.
“We’ve kind of moved this kid all over the place, and he did some good things. He’s got some things he’s got to work on, but you can see the talent there. He opened the gate a couple of times on his drop, but he’s got a lot of talent,” Reid said.
That became far more urgent than anyone anticipated once starting left tackle Josh Simmons went down with a back injury during the preseason. Benson, who had never played left tackle at any level in college, was thrust into protecting Mahomes’ blind side in Week 1 against the Denver Broncos, becoming the first undrafted rookie to start Week 1 on Kansas City’s offensive line under Reid’s 13-year tenure.
“I think the only thing I said to Kahlil Benson right before the game was, ‘I believe in you,’ and that’s it,” Mahomes said.
He hasn’t come off the field since, playing all 149 offensive snaps across the Chiefs’ first two games. In fact, he has allowed four hurries and two quarterback hits through two games but hasn’t been faulted for any of the four sacks the quarterback has taken, including in a matchup against a talented Colts pass rush that Reid singled out by name afterward.
“There were a couple hiccups in there, but he was going against a good player,” Reid said following Sunday’s win. “I thought he did a decent job. He is something.”
Reid also credited general manager Brett Veach for identifying Benson in the first place, repeating the phrase “great eyes, great eyes” when discussing how the undrafted lineman ended up in Kansas City at all.
Benson’s road was never straightforward, but the support from his family and Sanders has stayed with him. Now, after college stops and a redshirt year, he’s protecting a three-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback.