As we close to the beginning of the NFL Draft, the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs have saved their draft intentions near the vest.
Nationwide analysts appear to alternate between mocking extensive receivers or second-tier offensive tackles for Kansas Metropolis. After all, that may very well be precisely what normal supervisor Brett Veach would need if he was eying a cornerback to exchange L’Jarius Sneed’s departure final month or a defensive sort out below rookie management to pair with celebrity Chris Jones.
Whatever the instructions the Chiefs go throughout the draft’s three days, listed here are some predictions we will make based mostly on latest historical past.
Kansas Metropolis’s first-round choice could have sturdy athletic testing
Because of a number of trades, the one pattern of Veach’s first-round philosophy throughout his first 4 drafts was deciding on working again Clyde Edwards-Helaire out of LSU with the thirty second choice in 2020. The choice immediately underwhelmed, as Edwards-Helaire’s less-than-ideal athletic testing for a first-round working again proved predictive of his limitations as a professional.
In Veach’s final two drafts, nonetheless, he has made three first-round alternatives: cornerback Trent McDuffie and defensive ends George Karlaftis and Felix Anudike-Uzomah. Per Kent Lee Platte’s Relative Athletic Rating, the trio all topped the 87th percentile for athletic testing at their positions. Whereas rapid returns on Anudike-Uzomah have been middling, McDuffie and Karlaftis have shortly change into among the many league’s greatest defensive gamers.
Assuming the Chiefs keep within the first spherical, count on them to once more swing on a high-ceiling prospect.
The Chiefs will at the least double-dip at a key place group
Photograph by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Pictures
On a soccer group, sure rooms want extra uncooked numbers to make sure depth. Most groups roster at the least 9 offensive linemen, defensive linemen, and defensive backs. Positional flexibility for all three rooms is a prerequisite for profitable backups.
In every of his six drafts as Kansas Metropolis’s normal supervisor, Veach has appeared to focus on one among these place teams as needing depth — and dedicate a number of draft picks to addressing it. Whereas the outcomes weren’t all the time fruitful, he took a number of line of defense gamers in 2018 and 2023.
The secondary has been the extra frequent a number of swings recipient. Whereas the success of the 5 defensive backs drafted in 2022 is recent in our minds, Veach additionally made a number of strikes to bolster the secondary in 2019, 2020, and 2023.
In 2021, the Chiefs drafted heart Creed Humphrey and guard Trey Smith — who now have a mixed 101 NFL begins. Whereas two of Veach’s most profitable draft picks, each now enter the ultimate seasons of their rookie contracts, that means at the least one is prone to play for a brand new group in 2025. With Kansas Metropolis at the moment having solely eight offensive linemen below contract — effectively wanting the depth wanted for offseason practices and coaching camp — count on Veach to present their room the heavy draft therapy for a second time.
Take note of Kansas Metropolis’s top-30 visits
NFL groups are allowed to host 30 prospects at group amenities for personal visits. Earlier this week, we checked out why groups invite sure gamers and why Veach values these visits.
Photograph by Ric Tapia/Getty Pictures
These of us who’re obsessive about all issues Chiefs must also worth no matter details about the visits manages to leak. Final 12 months, extensive receiver Rashee Rice and defensive finish BJ Thompson visited Kansas Metropolis earlier than finally being chosen to put on pink and gold. Among the many quintet of defensive backs drafted in 2022, Joshua Williams and Jaylen Watson are recognized to have taken High-30 visits with the Chiefs.
The Chiefs will not be all the time essentially the most clear group about draft visits. We now have written about most of the visits which have been confirmed by way of on-line experiences in our On the Draft Board sequence. Some late reported visits, corresponding to North Carolina extensive receiver Devontez Walker, haven’t been lined.
Anticipate at the least a few the latest Chiefs to have visited Kansas Metropolis privately resulting in the draft.
Anticipate Veach to contemplate buying and selling late-round picks for 2025 property
The Chiefs have been set to steer off the sixth spherical of final 12 months’s draft with a decide acquired from the Chicago Bears. Unexpectedly, we realized they’d traded that choice to the Dallas Cowboys for a 2024 fifth-rounder.
Final week, Veach said his employees has 221 gamers on their draft board. This additionally conveniently matches the Chiefs’ final at the moment scheduled decide of 221st total to steer off the seventh spherical.
His declaration of that deep of a draft board is opposite to the ideas of most analysts, who predict an enormous drop-off in expertise close to the fifth spherical. That is broadly anticipated as a result of solely 58 underclassmen declaring eligibility — the fewest since 2011.
Kansas Metropolis additionally has sturdy depth on the 90-man roster — outdoors of the aforementioned lack of offensive linemen. Two dozen gamers present Chiefs have appeared in a number of video games throughout at the least one of many previous two seasons — whereas retaining a number of future years of rookie management ought to the group need.
With an additional 2025 third-round choice from the Sneed commerce, shifting up for a participant Veach covets can’t be discounted based mostly on Veach’s historical past.
However, Veach has additionally proven he’s prepared to amass a future decide, moderately than forcing a range who could have issue cracking a championship roster.
