A Kansas City NFL Draft primer: Setting table for Chiefs ... minus a first-round pick
Whatever the Chiefs had in mind on their draft board a month ago before Thursday night’s first round of the 2021 NFL Draft went out the window last week.
The trade for two-time Pro Bowl tackle Orlando Brown effectively took care of that.
Chiefs general manager Brett Veach engineered a deal by sending a 2021 first-round pick, a third-round pick, a fourth-round pick and a 2022 fifth-round pick to the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for Brown, a 2021 second-round pick and a 2022 sixth-round pick.
The transaction obviously means the Chiefs are sitting out the first round, but that’s far from a worst-case scenario.
“I think if we just stick to our board, and that’s why teams continually update and revise and tweak that board knowing where they can kind of attack it,” Veach said during his pre-draft news conference last Friday, less than two hours before striking a deal to acquire Brown. “I think that mid-two-to-early-three area is going to be a hot zone.”
Perhaps the general manager provided a hint on what was happening behind the scenes, but the Chiefs will have two picks in the second round to add to their roster, in addition to four more picks in the fourth through six rounds.
The pressing need for an offensive tackle, specifically one to protect quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ blindside, no longer exists.
Possessing two picks within the first 100 players, though, means the Chiefs can still land a talented player at other position groups — such as wide receiver, defensive end and/or linebacker — capable of contributing immediately.
And just how good is that pocket in the second round, given the fact that some draft prospects elected to return to school?
Apparently strong enough for Veach to later double down on the talent level expected to be available.
“I think that early-to-mid-three, two, three area is really the hot zone,” he emphasized. “There is more of a fall off this year just because the numbers are down.”
Also, likely down is the quantity of players that the Chiefs are considering in the looming overall selection process.
In a normal year, most team general managers prefer to have between 180 to 220 prospects on their draft boards. But with the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the pre-draft process in 2020, Veach admitted last year his draft board was slightly decreased from the norm.
This year might not be different, especially when considering the Chiefs didn’t have the benefit of the annual NFL Scouting Combine like in 2020.
Veach did not go into what he has now on the team’s draft board.
He admitted, however, that the lack of a scouting combine, inability to host pre-draft visits, including medical evaluations, and absences of private workouts on a prospect’s college campus during the continued and fluid COVID-19 environment provided a roadblock.
“There are certainly some alterations that we had to work through,” Veach said. “The biggest challenges are the medical. At the combine, certainly we get everything verified, and we talked before about athletes all running on the same surface and everything kind of being uniform.
“This year was a little bit challenging, but I feel good about where those measurements are. Some of the bigger challenges, though, are really medial-related. The numbers were down in regard to how many guys we were able to get at the combine and get our docs’ hands on.”
Nevertheless, the Chiefs adapted to the obstacles and leaned on head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder to help navigate the medical evaluation process to where they are comfortable before being on the clock to select a player.
“It goes back to our faith and trust in Rick,” Veach said. “And fortunately for us we have one of the best.”
Barring a trade to get back in the first round, which kicks off Thursday at 7 p.m. CT, the Chiefs aren’t scheduled to make a selection until Friday night, which is for the second and third rounds. The draft concludes Saturday with the fourth through seventh rounds, starting at 11 a.m. CT.
As it stands now, the Chiefs don’t have a pick in the first, third and seventh rounds. Given Veach’s history and aggressive nature in the draft, however, would anyone be surprised if the Chiefs aren’t done on the trade front?
The three-day NFL Draft will air live on the NFL Network, ABC, ESPN and ESPN Deportes.
CHIEFS’ DRAFT PICKS
- Round 2, 58th overall (acquired via Baltimore Ravens in trade for T Orlando Brown)
- Round 2, 63rd overall
- Round 4, 144th oveall (CB Kendall Fuller compensatory pick)
- Round 5, 175th overall
- Round 5, 181st overall (DE Emmanuel Ogbah compensatory pick)
- Round 6, 207th overall (acquired via Miami Dolphins in trade for RB DeAndre Washington)
ADDITIONS, SUBTRACTIONS
Free-agent signings: G Joe Thuney (from Patriots), OL Kyle Long (came out of retirement), TE Blake Bell (from Cowboys), DT Jarran Reed (formerly with Seahawks), C Austin Blythe (from Rams), FB Michael Burton (from Saints)
Players re-signed: DE Taco Charlton, RB Elijah McGuire, OL Mike Remmers, S Daniel Sorensen, RB Darrel Williams
RFA/ERFA tenders: TE Nick Keizer, LB Ben Niemann, WR Byron Pringle, OL Andrew Wylie, CB Charvarius Ward
Players lost to free agency: DE Tanoh Kpassagnon (Saints), WR Sammy Watkins (Ravens) RB Damien Williams (Bears), LB Damien Wilson (Jaguars)
Unsigned free agents from 2020 roster: RB Le’Veon Bell, CB Bashaud Breeland, CB Alex Brown (not tendered as ERFA), LT Eric Fisher, CB Antonio Hamilton, C Daniel Kilgore, DE Alex Okafor, G Kelechi Osemele, DL Mike Pennel, C Austin Reiter, TE Ricky Seals-Jones, RT Mitchell Schwartz, FB Anthony Sherman (retired), G Stefen Wisniewski, TE Deon Yelder (not tendered as RFA)
The Chiefs as of Wednesday have $10.02 million in available cap space, according to the NFLPA.
According to spotrac.com, the Chiefs will need a projected $4.94 million to sign their 2021 draft class if they select six players.
CURRENT ROSTER
The Chiefs have 73 players (40 on offense, 30 on defense, three specialists) on the roster ahead of the draft, leaving the team 17 players shy of the 90 maximum allowed on an offseason roster.
Quarterbacks (4): Patrick Mahomes, Chad Henne, Jordan Ta’amu, Anthony Gordon
Running backs/fullbacks (5): Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Darrel Williams, Darwin Thompson, Elijah McGuire, Michael Burton
Wide receivers (12): Tyreek Hill, Demarcus Robinson, Mecole Hardman, Byron Pringle, Marcus Kemp, Antonio Callaway, Jordy Fortson, Gehrig Dieter, Maurice Ffrench, Dalton Schoen, Chad Williams, Tajae Sharpe
Tight ends (5): Travis Kelce, Blake Bell, Nick Keizer, Sean Culkin, Evan Baylis
Offensive line (14): Orlando Brown, Joe Thuney, Austin Blythe, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Mike Remmers, Kyle Long, Andrew Wylie, Martinas Rankin, Lucas Niang, Nick Allegretti, Yasir Durant, Darryl Williams, Byran Witzmann, Prince Tega Wanogho
Defensive line (12): Chris Jones, Frank Clark, Derrick Nnadi, Jarran Reed, Khalen Saunders, Taco Charlton, Demone Harris, Mike Danna, Tershawn Wharton, Austin Edwards, Tim Ward, Tyler Clark
Linebackers (7): Anthony Hitchens, Willie Gay Jr., Ben Niemann, Dorian O’Daniel, Emmanuel Smith, Darius Harris, Omari Cobb
Defensive backs (11): Tyrann Mathieu, Charvarius Ward, L’Jarius Sneed, Juan Thornhill, Rashad Fenton, Daniel Sorensen, Deandre Baker, BoPete Keyes, Armani Watts, Chris Lammons, Rodney Clemons
Specialists (3): P Tommy Townsend, K Harrison Butker, LS James Winchester
This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 10:02 AM.
