Leo Chenal: Two-Time Super Bowl Champion Now Leading the Commanders Defense

Leo Chenal, Linebacker: From Small-Town Wisconsin to Washington’s Defense

Leo Chenal (pronounced shə-NEL) is a linebacker for the Washington Commanders. He signed a three-year deal with Washington in March 2026 after four seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, where he won Super Bowl LVII and LVIII. He is 25 years old, stands 6-foot-3, weighs 250 pounds, and plays one of the more physically demanding positions in the NFL with a combine profile that belongs on a safety.

Where He Came From

Chenal grew up in West Sweden Township, a rural corner of northwest Wisconsin about 90 miles northeast of Minneapolis. He attended Grantsburg High School after open-enrolling there as a freshman, and he did something almost nobody does at the high school level: he was genuinely elite on both sides of the ball.

By the time he finished at Grantsburg, he had rushed for 3,706 yards and 68 touchdowns, caught 1,300 receiving yards and 17 more touchdowns, and on defense recorded 385 tackles, 55 tackles for loss, seven sacks, and three interceptions. His senior year alone: 2,038 rushing yards, 42 touchdowns, 120 tackles, seven tackles for loss. The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association named him both the small-school Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year. He also won the state Gatorade Football Player of the Year award for 2018.

That last part surprises people when they look it up. The Gatorade award isn’t given to whoever posted the most yards in a tiny conference – it factors in academics and character, and Wisconsin in 2018 was producing players from programs like Muskego and Mukwonago. Chenal won it coming from a school with roughly 450 students.

College Career at Wisconsin

He enrolled early at Wisconsin in January 2019. As a freshman he played 11 games and recorded 20 tackles, two tackles for loss, four sacks. Modest production, but he was playing real snaps as a true freshman in the Big Ten.

His sophomore season was cut to seven games because of COVID-19. He still put up 46 tackles, six TFLs, three sacks, one forced fumble, and one interception, which earned him honorable mention All-Big Ten.

Then came 2021. He was named the Butkus-Fitzgerald Linebacker of the Year, the award given annually to the nation’s top linebacker. First-Team All-American. First-Team All-Big Ten. He announced on January 3, 2022 that he was skipping his senior year to enter the draft.

The honest read on his college career is that it peaked at exactly the right moment. Three years, not four, and he left having won the most prestigious individual award a college linebacker can win.

The 2022 NFL Draft and What Scouts Actually Said

Most draft analysts had Chenal as a high second-round or early third-round prospect, with the consistent caveat that he needed to land somewhere that would deploy him correctly. The specific concern: his game was built around physicality and pass rush, not coverage. Analysts who rated him lower pointed to the risk of using him as a traditional three-down inside linebacker where coverage responsibilities would expose him.

At the NFL Combine he posted a 4.53-second 40-yard dash, a 40.5-inch vertical jump, a 10-foot-8 broad jump, and 34 bench press reps. The broad jump reportedly would have been the best at the Wisconsin WFCA Combine the previous spring. His 4.24-second 20-yard shuttle and 6.98 three-cone were both above average for the position. NFL Draft Buzz, one of the few outlets that rated him higher than consensus, noted his size-adjusted athleticism was exceptional enough that his grades at cornerback (9.83), safety (9.92-9.99), and defensive end (9.85) all came back positive.

The Kansas City Chiefs took him 103rd overall in the third round. From a pure draft-capital standpoint that’s a reasonable slot for his consensus grade. But landing with Kansas City under Andy Reid and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo – a staff that had already developed Frank Clark, Tyrann Mathieu, and others – was about as good a developmental situation as a linebacker from that class could have hoped for.

Four Seasons in Kansas City

Chenal made his NFL debut in the Chiefs’ Week 1 opener against the Arizona Cardinals in 2022. His first start came in Week 5 against Las Vegas. His first professional sack was in Week 10 against Jacksonville. He finished that rookie season with 35 total tackles and one sack across 17 games, starting eight. Not a breakout year, but he got his feet under him.

And then – Super Bowl LVII in February 2023, Kansas City vs. Philadelphia. The Chiefs won 38-35. Chenal recorded six tackles and a sack in the game. He was 22 years old and had been in the NFL for five months.

His role grew each year. In 2023 he appeared in 17 games with 10 starts. In 2024 he started a career-high 14 games, posting 53 total tackles, four tackles for loss, three forced fumbles, one sack, and three passes defensed. In that postseason, he started all three games. During Super Bowl LVIII against San Francisco, he contributed six tackles, one tackle for loss, one forced fumble on Christian McCaffrey on the opening drive, and a blocked extra point. The Chiefs won 25-22 in overtime.

One moment from 2024 that doesn’t always get mentioned in the Super Bowl coverage: in Week 10, Chenal blocked a potential walk-off field goal from Denver’s Wil Lutz in the final seconds to preserve a Chiefs win. Special teams plays like that don’t show up in the stat line but they matter to coaches.

His 2025 season ended early. He played 14 games, recorded 54 tackles, two sacks, one interception (a twisting one-handed pick of Lamar Jackson that made him the first defender to intercept Jackson that season), and two passes defensed. In Week 15 against the Chargers he sustained a shoulder injury while recording three tackles and half a sack on 37 defensive snaps. The Chiefs placed him on IR in late December. He elected free agency in March 2026.

Career totals with Kansas City across 65 games and 44 starts: 193 total tackles, 7.0 sacks, 16 quarterback hits, six passes defensed, three forced fumbles, one interception. Three Super Bowl appearances. Two rings.

Super Bowl Performances, Specifically

Super Bowl LVII (February 2023, vs. Philadelphia Eagles): six tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss. The Chiefs won their first title in four years.

Super Bowl LVIII (February 2024, vs. San Francisco 49ers): six tackles, one tackle for loss, one forced fumble on McCaffrey in the first minute of the game, one blocked extra point. What makes that fumble worth dwelling on is the context – it came on San Francisco’s opening drive, when the 49ers were trying to establish McCaffrey early. The forced fumble, recovered by George Karlaftis, set a tone. The Chiefs won 25-22 in OT.

Super Bowl LIX (February 2025, vs. Philadelphia Eagles): the Chiefs appeared in their fifth Super Bowl in six years. Philadelphia won. Chenal’s specific contributions in that game haven’t been detailed at the same level as the previous two, and the final score doesn’t invite the same retrospective attention.

Two wins out of three Super Bowl appearances in his first three seasons. No linebacker from the 2022 draft class can say the same.

Advanced Metrics and What They Actually Mean

PFF graded Chenal at 75.3 overall in the 2025 season, which ranked 18th among 88 qualified linebackers. His coverage grade of 72.6 ranked 11th. Run defense came in at 76.3, good for 22nd. His pass-rush grade as a designated blitzer was 57.2, ranking 65th.

That pass-rush grade is the honest complication in the Chenal profile. He generated 11 total pressures and three sacks as a blitzer, which is useful production. But when the grade factors in how he performs as a stand-up edge rusher compared to other linebackers in similar roles, 57.2 is not a strong number. He is better as a run defender and coverage piece than as a traditional pass rusher off the edge.

The coverage grade of 72.6, ranking 11th at the position, is legitimately impressive for a player whose combine profile screams “physical run stuffer.” He allowed a 98.8 passer rating when targeted in 2025, which is not good in isolation. But coverage grades incorporate more than passer rating on targets – they factor in how often he’s targeted, how he handles underneath zones, and how he moves in space. He was charged with four missed tackles over the course of the season.

What the numbers collectively suggest: he is a reliable starting linebacker who does enough across multiple dimensions to justify a three-year contract, but he is not a player whose pass-rush production alone would earn that deal.

Washington Commanders and What Comes Next

Chenal signed a three-year deal with Washington in March 2026. Terms were not disclosed. He was the first player to speak publicly about choosing the Commanders in a team-produced video, where he mentioned bringing a winning culture from Kansas City to Washington.

Defensive coordinator Daronte Jones has spoken publicly about wanting athletes in his scheme. Chenal fits that description in a measurable way – his combine scores at cornerback and safety came back above 9.8 on a 10-point scale, which means his movement skills translate to multiple positions in coverage. Whether Jones uses that flexibility depends on how the depth chart shakes out. Bobby Wagner is also on the roster and figures to hold a large role, which means Chenal’s snap count may again hover around the 400-450 range unless injuries or scheme shifts change things.

He was named an alternate for the 2025 Pro Bowl Games, which suggests he’s on the edge of the NFL’s top tier at the position but not quite there yet. That gap between alternate and actual selection is where the Commanders are betting his career trajectory still has room to move.

His Instagram is leochenal45, if you want to track the offseason yourself.

Career Statistics by Season

The table below covers his NFL regular season statistics from 2022 through 2025.

Postseason totals across four playoff runs: 8 games, roughly 30 total tackles, multiple TFLs and QB hits. His Super Bowl stat lines are detailed in the section above.

Athletic Profile and Playing Style

At 250 pounds running a 4.53 forty, Chenal is faster than most linebackers his size. His 40.5-inch vertical is the kind of number you see from safeties, not inside linebackers. The 34 bench press reps indicate he arrived in the NFL already strong enough to deal with guards and tight ends at the second level.

As a run defender he works best when he can attack downhill. He disengages from blocks quickly and uses his lower-body strength to control the point of attack rather than finesse around blockers. His 76.3 PFF run defense grade in 2025 reflects that.

Coverage is the more interesting question. He handles underneath zones competently and shows real range in space, which tracks with his athletic testing. But the 98.8 passer rating allowed when targeted in 2025 is a legitimate flag. It doesn’t sink the coverage grade because that grade measures more than just targeted passer rating, but it’s worth watching. If an opposing coordinator identifies that as a weakness and attacks it systematically, the Commanders will need an answer.

Pass rushing as a blitzer is where the gap between his physical tools and his production becomes most visible. Eleven pressures and three sacks from a 250-pound linebacker with a 4.53 forty should probably be more. Some of that is usage – he was never deployed as a true edge rusher in Kansas City – and some of it is technique. Whether Jones finds a way to use those athleticism numbers more productively in Washington is probably the most interesting football question in his immediate future.