The draft has a way of turning the toughest athletes into kids. Something similar happened with the Oregon Ducks' wide receiver, Malik Benson.

Benson has been a long-time fan of the Kansas City Chiefs, his hometown team. The WR explained how surreal it was to talk to the whole team in a Zoom meeting.

"That was a special moment. In this process,  I think about the journey that it took for me to get here," Benson told Bri Amaranthus of the Oregon Ducks on SI. "Growing up a Chiefs fan, when you get into the Zoom, and you see Coach (Andy) Reid, offensive coordinator (Eric Bieniemy) - the whole time, I just have this smile on my face."

Benson recorded 4.37 seconds in a 40-yard dash and 32.5 inches in vertical jump at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Benson said that the interactions with them were more about him as a person and not just about the game. He expressed how the "little kid" in him was just "super excited" to meet his hometown team.

“It wasn't even honestly really about the ball too much. It was more about just me as a person," Benson added. "I probably had a smile on my face for probably an hour after that meeting. It didn't even feel real until it was over."

Benson has appeared in 41 games across 3 seasons playing for Alabama Crimson Tide, Florida State Seminoles and Oregon Ducks.

He caught 81 passes for 1,192 yards and eight touchdowns, averaging 14.7 yards per reception across his career.

His arc from Alabama, with 13 receptions for 162 yards in 2023, went to a career high 43 receptions for 719 yards with Oregon in 2025.

Such production landed him as a legitimate wide receiver prospect heading into the 2026 NFL draft. 

Malik Benson Draws Interest From an NFC Team

Malik Benson had a meeting with the Dallas Cowboys as well. They asked Benson about his voluntary community service in Alabama that he did years ago, which took Benson by surprise.

During a conversation with Bri Amaranthus, Benson said he was pretty impressed with the Cowboys' research and off-the-field performance questions focusing on him and his past activities.  

“People don’t ever bring that up – when you’re doing community service, I don’t want any pats on the back just because I’m doing things for the community," Benson said. "But once they brought that up, I was like, ‘man, these teams really do their research on everything.’ There is not one thing that they don’t know.”

Benson added that he did voluntary activities by visiting elementary schools and helping with turkey drives. 

The 2026 NFL Draft is less than a week away, and for Benson, the kid who grew up watching Chiefs games in Kansas, the moment he has spent a lifetime preparing for is finally within reach.

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Written by

Archana Ramakrishnan

Edited by

Shubhi Rathore