NFL Draft primer: How Chiefs are approaching Thursday night’s kickoff of 3-day event
Chiefs general manager Brett Veach’s draft board should be set by now, leaving last-minute strategy meetings with his staff and the team’s coaches all that remains before the 2020 NFL Draft kicks off Thursday night.
Those discussions, of course, will likely be done either through telephone, Skype or Zoom conference calls given the ongoing COVID-19 shutdown. And preparing for a virtual draft isn’t the only adjustment for the Chiefs, who currently have five picks.
In a normal year, general managers tend to have anywhere between 180 to 220 prospects on their draft board.
Without revealing how many players are on the team’s radar this week, Veach said the Chiefs hope to not deviate too much from their pre-draft plans.
“I would say the number has maybe decreased a few just because the reality of this environment we’re working in and just getting updated hands on information, medical in-house visits,” Veach said. “I would say the number is slightly decreased, but nothing that is going to dramatically alter how we go about the draft. “
Before the coronavirus pandemic prompted shelter-in-place orders across the country, the Chiefs were able to attend a few pro day workouts, including those staged by Kansas and Kansas State, among others.
But the mid-March suspension of travel meant a large piece of their draft-evaluation process wasn’t in play.
Gone were on-campus private workouts, a slew of pro days and pre-draft visits, which would’ve included all-important medical exams of prospective picks. In their place came player interviews conducted via telephone or video conference calls.
Veach, though, isn’t discouraged with what has become the new normal around the country. Instead, he indicated he enters the draft with confidence and the intent of building and adding intelligently around Super Bowl MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes and a high-caliber defense.
“There’s a lot of times where I’m jumping on these chats live and interacting,” Veach said, “and there’s a lot of times where I’m working through some video and I’m working through some other stuff where I can come back in the morning and just click on yesterday’s videos and watch that.
“There are certainly unique challenges, but those challenges are the same for all 32 teams, and I think we’re prepared. And again, it’s almost the norm right now.”
The draft begins Thursday at 7 p.m. Central Time. The second and third rounds await Friday, starting at 6 p.m. CT, and the draft concludes with the fourth through seventh rounds starting Saturday at 11 a.m.
Right now, the Chiefs don’t have a pick in the sixth and seventh rounds. But Veach said the door is open to either move up or out of the first round, should the right opportunity present itself.
“It would be unlikely that we would try to make a big bold move up there, but I wouldn’t want to rule it out,” he said. “Certainly, I think that we’re going to assess the board, and after we get closer to our pick, there could be a scenario where there’s a guy that we just did not anticipate being there that we get excited about and there also could be scenarios where we have a pocket of players that we like.
“And if teams fall in love with a player that they want at 32, we’ll certainly field phone calls and be open to all sorts of options.”
The three-day NFL Draft will air live on the NFL Network, ABC and ESPN.
The Star is also broadcasting a livestream during the opening round starting at 6:45 p.m. It will feature special guests, be hosted by Blair Kerkhoff and run all night at www.facebook.com/kansascitystar/.
CHIEFS’ DRAFT PICKS
Round 1, 32nd overall
Round 2, 63rd overall
Round 3, 96th overall
Round 4, 138th overall
Round 5, 177th overall
ADDITIONS, SUBTRACTIONS
Players re-signed: CB Bashaud Breeland, WR Demarcus Robinson, FB Anthony Sherman, DT Mike Pennel, QB Chad Henne, TE Deon Yelder (ERFA), OL Andrew Wylie (ERFA)
Frachised (non-exclusive): DT Chris Jones
Free-agent signings: OL Mike Remmers, CB Antonio Hamilton, TE Ricky Seals-Jones, RB DeAndrew Washington, QB Jordan Ta’amu, P Tyler Newsome
Players lost to free agency: CB Kendall Fuller (Washington), G Stefen Wisniewski (Steelers), LB Reggie Ragland (Lions), DE Emmanuel Ogbah (Dolphins), S Jordan Lucas (Bears), TE Blake Bell (Cowboys)
Current unsigned players from 2019 roster: QB Matt Moore, RB LeSean McCoy, RB Spencer Ware, T Cam Erving, CB Morris Claiborne, LB Darron Lee, DL Xavier Williams, DL Terrell Suggs, WR Marcus Kemp (not tendered as ERFA), TE David Wells (not tendered as an ERFA), CB Keith Reaser (not tendered as an ERFA)
The Chiefs as of Wednesday have $1.47 million in available cap space, according to the NFLPA.
According to spotrac.com, the Chiefs will need a projected $5.25 million to sign their 2020 draft class.
CURRENT ROSTER
The Chiefs have 70 players — 37 on offense, 29 on defense, four specialists — on their roster ahead of the draft, leaving them 20 players shy of the 90 maximum allowed on an offseason NFL roster.
Quarterbacks (4): Patrick Mahomes, Chad Henne, Kyle Shurmur, Jordan Ta’amu
Running backs/fullbacks (9): Damien Williams, Darrel Williams, Darwin Thompson, Elijah McGuire, Mike Weber, Marcus Marshall, DeAndre Washington, Anthony Sherman, John Lovett
Wide receivers (8): Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, Demarcus Robinson, Mecole Hardman, Byron Pringle, Jordy Fortson, Gehrig Dieter, Felton Davis
Tight ends (5): Travis Kelce, Deon Yelder, Nick Keizer, Ricky Seals-Jones, Alize Mack
Offensive line (11): Mitchell Schwartz, Eric Fisher, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Austin Reiter, Martinas Rankin, Mike Remmers, Andrew Wylie, Nick Allegretti, Greg Senat, Jackson Barton, Ryan Hunter
Defensive line (13): Chris Jones, Frank Clark, Tanoh Kpassagnon, Mike Pennel, Alex Okafor, Derrick Nnadi, Khalen Saunders, Breeland Speaks, Demone Harris, Braxton Hoyett, Devaroe Lawrence, Anthony Lanier, Tim Ward
Linebackers (6): Anthony Hitchens, Damien Wilson, Ben Niemann, Dorian O’Daniel, Emmanuel Smith, Darius Harris
Defensive backs (10): Tyrann Mathieu, Charvarius Ward, Bashaud Breeland, Juan Thornhill, Rashad Fenton, Antonio Hamilton, Daniel Sorensen, Armani Watts, Alex Brown, Chris Lammons
Specialists (4): P Dustin Colquitt, K Harrison Butker, LS James Winchester, P Tyler Newsome
This story was originally published April 22, 2020 at 11:45 AM.
