Chiefs announce agreements with six of their nine draft picks

The Chiefs announced Friday they have signed six of their nine 2016 draft picks.

The players officially agreeing to contracts are: Mississippi State defensive lineman Chris Jones, chosen in the second round; Cincinnati offensive lineman Parker Ehinger and Florida receiver Demarcus Robinson, taken in the fourth; Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan, a fifth-rounder; and Georgia Tech cornerback D.J. White and Virginia Tech outside linebacker Dadi Nicolas, both sixth-rounders.

The agreements with Jones, Robinson and Ehinger were previously reported by The Star.

That leaves three players — third-round cornerback KeiVarae Russell, fourth-round cornerback Eric Murray and fifth-round receiver Tyreek Hill — unsigned heading into the club’s three-day rookie minicamp, Saturday-Monday at the Chiefs’ training facility.

But while Russell, Murray and Hill were not announced in the first wave of signings, it would be highly unusual for a team not to sign all of its draft picks before its first rookie minicamp.

The league’s 2011 collective bargaining agreement included a new rookie salary system that controls teams’ spending on first-round picks and has essentially eliminated rookie holdouts.

The Chiefs, for example, had all nine of their 2015 draft picks signed before rookie minicamp. It’s worth noting that the club also moved the rookie camp up a week this year, but the Chiefs still have time to reach agreements with the three unsigned draft picks on Saturday morning; practice is not set to begin until 1:20 p.m.

The Chiefs also signed seven undrafted free agents: Vanderbilt guard Jake Bernstein, Hawaii center Ben Clarke, Dartmouth cornerback Vernon Harris, Mount Union cornerback Tre Jones, Brigham Young receiver Mitch Mathews, Southern Methodist cornerback Shak Randolph and Florida State linebacker Terrance Smith.

The signings of Bernstein, Jones, Mathews and Smith were previously reported by The Star.

The Chiefs also released outside linebacker T.K. Kieras with an injury designation. The Chiefs signed Kieras — a 24-year old discus thrower at Mississippi State — in March despite the fact he has never played a down of football. But at Mississippi State’s pro day, Kieras checked in at 6 feet 3 and 271 pounds and ran a 4.69-second 40-yard dash with a 35-inch vertical leap and 116-inch broad jump, according to the school’s website. He also bench-pressed 225 pounds 24 times.

▪ The Chiefs also announced jersey numbers for all nine of their draft picks: Jones (No. 95), Russell (26), Ehinger (79), Murray (21), Robinson (14), Hogan (8), Hill (81), White (24) and Nicolas (52).

This story was originally published May 6, 2016 at 12:00 PM with the headline "Chiefs announce agreements with six of their nine draft picks."