The five priorities for the Kansas City Chiefs in this week’s NFL Draft
You want the good news or the bad news first?
OK, let’s start with the predicament. We’ve reached the onset of offseason workouts, and the Chiefs still have quite a few holes on their roster, while their competition has only grown more difficult. The NFL is becoming increasingly unbalanced, with its weight heavily tilted toward the AFC.
The good news? The Chiefs have some ammunition. They have 12 selections in the NFL Draft this week, which commences with the first round Thursday and concludes with the final four Saturday.
The Chiefs have long preferred the best-player-available model in the draft, but they don’t have that luxury this year, or at least not completely. There are too many needs and too few opportunities after the three-day draft to seriously address all of them.
They do still have a bit of wiggle room, though. Of their 12 selections, there are two in the first round (Nos. 29 and 30), two in the second, two in the third and two in the fourth. There will be time to find impact players at positions of necessity.
So while they must have an edge rusher, their abundance of picks means they don’t necessarily have to draft an edge rusher first. There will be options on when and therefore options on who.
That’s all the backdrop for this week. As they navigate the draft, here’s what they should prioritize (in order):
1. Edge rusher
For all of the talk of an unfathomable offensive collapse in the second half of the AFC Championship Game against the Bengals, the pass rush escaped the criticism it deserved. The Bengals were weak up front, and the Chiefs did so little to take advantage of it, sacking Joe Burrow only once.
Placing edge rusher atop the draft list, however, isn’t reacting to just one game. The Chiefs were 29th in the NFL with 31 sacks last year.
A few weeks into the offseason, they acknowledged a desire to revamp the defensive line — that’s where they prefer to build their defense, after all. But they’ve not yet added a single player on the edge. As of now, Frank Clark and Mike Danna occupy the top of the depth chart at defensive end.
Their division counterparts can all cite the position group as a strength. Not in Kansas City. The Chiefs not only need one impact edge rusher from this draft class — they probably could use two. Heck, I wouldn’t be against them using No. 29 and No. 30 on players who can pressure the quarterback, so long as that’s who’s next on their board. You’ll find a use for both.
2. Cornerback
It’s another spot in which the Chiefs have yet to engage this offseason. They lost starting quarterback Charvarius Ward to the 49ers in free agency. Ward was an under-appreciated player in his time in Kansas City. That leaves L’Jarius Sneed, Rashad Fenton and, well, whom exactly in a nickel defense? DeAndre Baker?
There is some reason for optimism here. The Chiefs have done exceedingly well at identifying cornerback talent in the draft, grabbing Sneed in the fourth round in 2020 and Fenton in the sixth in 2019.
That’s not necessarily the design this time. They’d be fine using better draft capital to land a cornerback — but, like edge rusher, the cream of the crop tends to be gone by the first half of the first round. And the Chiefs have too many needs to sacrifice a load of picks to move up and pluck one.
I just don’t think they can wait until Round 4 to find one this weekend.
3. Wide receiver
Well, unlike the first two on this list, there’s been a lot of movement in the wide receiver room already this offseason. The Chiefs traded Tyreek Hill to Miami; they let Byron Pringle (Bears) and Demarcus Robinson (Raiders) walk; they signed JuJu Smith-Schuster to a one-year contract; and they signed Marquez Valdes-Scantling to a three-year deal.
But they could still use another weapon.
Not just this year.
Beyond.
Smith-Schuster’s contract is just for 2022, and Mecole Hardman will become an unrestricted free agent after the season. Which leaves Valdes-Scantling as the only receiver locked up for 2023
So, yeah, they need another guy here. And, no, it doesn’t have to be a like-for-like replacement for Hill.
4. Safety
The Chiefs handed out their largest guaranteed contract of the offseason to a safety, when they signed Justin Reid from Houston.
So why is this position on the list?
The Chiefs use three-safety sets frequently, and they lost two of the three — Tyrann Mathieu (though he’s still unsigned) and Dan Sorensen (Saints). Regardless of your thoughts on Sorensen, he was on the field for 62% of the snaps last season and 88% the year before. Someone has to take those snaps.
One more reason to put this on the list: Juan Thornhill is entering the final year of his rookie contract.
Preferably, the Chiefs could find a player capable of playing both cornerback and safety, which would allow them to toggle their sets. Daxton Hill from Michigan fits the bill, but he might cost one of those two first-rounders.
5. Tackle
It doesn’t have to be in the first round, or even the second, but at some point over a dozen selections, the Chiefs ought to take a right tackle. Lucas Niang’s injury leaves legitimate questions about his future effectiveness, even if they anticipate him back to practice toward the end of training camp, and Andrew Wylie re-signed on just a one-year deal.
In an ideal world, the Chiefs would find a starting right tackle in the draft and allow Wylie to be a swing lineman who can fill in at three, maybe four spots in case it’s necessary. That might be a bit optimistic, considering the top-three needs on this list require more urgency.
Twelve picks, though.
A chance to address them all, and address them early.