Here’s why Kansas City Chiefs chose to use 70% of their NFL Draft picks on defense
When Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach identifies a weakness on the roster, he moves fast to address it.
Case in point during the 2021 offseason? The offensive line, a unit Veach knew by halftime of Super Bowl LV was in need of an upgrade after watching quarterback Patrick Mahomes under siege.
Veach then set about to overhaul the front five, which boasted five new starters (including three rookies) for the regular season.
This offseason, Veach had his sights on the other side of the football, and it showed throughout the 2022 NFL Draft when the Chiefs used seven on their 10 picks on defensive players.
“I think it was always at the forefront,” Veach said of addressing the defense. “I don’t know if it was as dramatic of a mindset like what we experienced in the Super Bowl. … This, obviously, we have to have balance on both sides of the football and we wanted to upgrade the youth, the talent and the depth on the defensive side.”
The Chiefs, consistently one of the NFL’s top offensive units in recent years, needed to focus on defense after hopes for a third straight Super Bowl appearance ended in a disappointing 27-24 overtime loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship Game. The Chiefs held a 21-3 lead before allowing the Bengals to score 21 unanswered points.
Kansas City’s defensive issues didn’t just appear in that matchup, though.
The Chiefs finished the regular season ranked near the bottom of the league in multiple defensive statistical categories, including 21st in yards rushing allowed per game (117.6), 27th in yards allowed per game (368.9), 27th in yards passing allowed per game (251.4), 29th in sacks (31) and 30th in yards allowed per play (5.9).
But before fixing the defense, the Chiefs had the benefit of March’s free agency to address offense.
Veach signed running back Ronald Jones and wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scanting to contracts. The Chiefs also brought back a pair of key contributors in backup quarterback Chad Henne, fullback Michael Burton and offensive lineman Andrew Wylie.
Reinforcing the offense and a defensive splash signing of safety Justin Reid at the start of the NFL’s new calendar year gave the Chiefs flexibility during the draft.
“We look at things on both ends, both the draft and free agency, and certainly the draft was geared more towards defense,” Veach said. “I think it’s a combination of us wanting to get better and get deeper and younger.”
Mission accomplished, as far as the draft is concerned.
The Chiefs used two first-round picks on cornerback Trent McDuffie (21st overall) and defensive end George Karlaftis (30th). Then, the Chiefs used a second-round pick on safety Bryan Cook (62nd), a third-round pick on linebacker Leo Chenal (103rd), a fourth pick on cornerback Joshua Williams (135th), and two seventh-round picks on cornerback Jaylen Watson (243rd) and safety Nazeeh Johnson (259th).
Of the seven players, McDuffie and Karlaftis project as immediate starters, while Chenal is the favorite to emerge as the starting strongside linebacker alongside Willie Gay Jr. and Nick Bolton.
A trio of potential new starters from the draft with multiple depth additions to go along with the current roster has Veach feeling optimistic the Chiefs are ready on paper for the 2022 campaign.
“I feel good where we were from the Cincinnati game, through free agency and through this draft,” Veach said. “I feel really good, and I’m really excited about not just the talent that we added to the team, but I think the quantity. I think we added a lot of good talent.”
This story was originally published May 4, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
