Ex-NFL quarterback believes this could be a ‘franchise-altering’ draft for the Chiefs
It’s been a wild offseason in the NFL.
Russell Wilson is now with the Broncos. The Raiders traded for receiver Davante Adams, Khalil Mack was traded to the Chargers.
The Browns added quarterback Deshaun Watson, linebacker Von Miller signed with the Bills, the Bengals upgraded their offensive line.
That’s a partial list of the moves made by AFC teams in the past couple of months, and Chiefs fans couldn’t be blamed for feeling a little nervous about the 2022 season. And that was before the Chiefs traded star wide receiver Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins and bid farewell to safety Tyrann Mathieu.
But former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky, who is now an analyst for ESPN, thinks the Chiefs have a chance to reload in the NFL Draft. The Chiefs have a dozen picks, including two in each of the first four rounds: Nos. 29 and 30 in the first; 50 and 62 in the second; 94 and 103 in the third; and 112 and 135 in the fourth.
Those eight picks could set the Chiefs up to dominate for years, Orlovsky believes.
“For them, the draft is a franchise-altering draft,” Orlovsky said Monday on ESPN’s “Get Up.” “I think in many ways, it could be an NFL-altering draft ...
“First of all, they lost their defensive leader in Tyrann Mathieu and I understand they replaced him with a really good player in Justin Reid. This guy’s led their team in takeaways over the last three years. He is their leader, and then they trade away their second best offensive player in Tyreek Hill.”
Orlovsky then noted how the rest of the AFC West teams had made splashy moves during the offseason. He said there are seven AFC teams that could be considered serious Super Bowl contenders.
That includes the Chiefs, of course, who have been host of the last four AFC Championship Games and played in two of the previous three Super Bowls.
“I look at it like this: if they do a good job drafting this year in this draft, the Chiefs are set up to be unlike any team in the NFL for the next half-decade,” Orlovsky said. “But also, I think it’s a blueprint for the NFL in this regard: Once you have your superstar quarterback, do you start to find that one piece that you can decide we’re going to trade him away, we’re gonna get a ton of draft picks to start to rebuild our roster because we all know it, once you pay the quarterback, it’s really hard to have the complimentary team around him to go win a Super Bowl.
“If the Chiefs go and do it with this draft, then it alters everybody’s kind of viewpoint on how they’re going to handle their football team moving forward once you decide to pay your quarterback.”
Here is the clip:
Later in the show, Orlovsky mentioned the Chiefs’ picks in the first four rounds.
“The big thing is those eight in the first four rounds,” Orlovsky said. “You’re not gonna hit on all eight but if you get five good players in that eight, you’re not only going to be really good again this year, but you’re setting yourself up for again the next half-decade of ‘We’re in a better position than anybody in football’ because of it.”
This is that second clip:
This story was originally published April 12, 2022 at 12:20 PM.
