The Chiefs appear to have had a very good draft — but it was rigged all along. By them
The game is rigged.
You know the game is rigged because we can debate whether a team that was short on defensive backs and lost a defensive back in free agency should’ve passed on defensive backs with each of its first three picks, and no matter how that debate ends we will come to a truth:
The Chiefs were the champions of the last Super Bowl and favorites for the next Super Bowl before the NFL Draft — and they got better.
The game is rigged, because the Chiefs set themselves up in such a way that the only mistake they could’ve made in the draft would be selecting a replacement for Patrick Mahomes at quarterback.
Me? I thought the Chiefs could’ve maximized value by taking a defensive back (Alabama’s Xavier McKinney or Minnesota’s Antoine Winfield Jr.) or even an edge rusher (Penn State’s Yetur Gross-Matos or Tennessee’s Darrell Taylor) with their first pick to continue the momentum on a remade defense.
They acquired some much-needed speed and athleticism for the WILL linebacker spot with second-round pick Willie Gay Jr. from Mississippi State, and deepened their offensive line with third-rounder Lucas Niang from TCU before addressing their defensive secondary (Louisiana Tech safety L’Jarius Sneed in the fourth round) and edge rush (Michigan’s Michael Danna in the fifth).
It’s not the way I’d have done it, or expected them to, but I also recognize two indisputable facts.
First, the Chiefs’ front office has won more Super Bowls than mine.
Second, each pick is backed by clear logic, an understandable plan and varying degrees of aggression.
What’s not to like?
That does not mean all of these picks will work out. One or two won’t. Most, perhaps. That’s the way these things go. Chiefs general manager Brett Veach and the scouts who work for him are not smarter than everybody else. They do not know a secret that the other 31 teams are searching for.
What they have is a clear idea of what they want this roster to be, and how their evaluations can help them get there.
Because the case can be made — I could make it, you could make it, your neighbor could make it — that the league’s best offense going with the luxury pick of a running back in the first round is a little like the guy at the bar ordering top-shelf bourbon when he really needs to order an Uber.
But — and here’s the rigged part — we can also see that taking LSU running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire is a little unfair and the honest-to-goodness last thing defensive coaches and players elsewhere around the AFC wanted to see.
We’ve talked a few times before about Mahomes being the NFL’s ultimate force multiplier, and this is where it shows up. Everyone else is better around him, from owner Clark Hunt to head coach Andy Reid to first-year receiver Mecole Hardman.
Edwards-Helaire is a terrific talent and would fit on any of the other 31 teams’ rosters.
But his quickness, playmaking in space and advanced route-running — seriously, watch him on angle routes — is a bit like a fuse for a stick of dynamite.
The Chiefs’ offense remained elite last year, and in the rare moments it played at or near full strength it was again the best in the league.
But a discerning eye could see it wasn’t quite the same as the spaceship as it was the year before. Mahomes can make relative weaknesses irrelevant, but he can’t make them disappear. Perhaps as much as any organization in the league the Chiefs believe in keeping strengths strong.
That’s been clear to see from the moment Reid and former GM John Dorsey were hired, and it’s been even truer as Veach gained influence and Mahomes became the league’s best player.
Mahomes is a unique player and he gives the Chiefs a unique advantage. His skills provide edges for teammates that would not exist on other rosters, so why not maximize those proprietary advantages?
In other words, sure, taking the running back in the first round is a luxury pick. And you know who buys luxury items? People who can afford it — and that Ferrari looks better in their garage than it would in mine or yours.
We now know, for the most part, what the 2020 Chiefs will look like (assuming there’s a season, but that’s another column for another day).
They will be basically just like the 2019 Chiefs except with more firepower on offense. That doesn’t seem like the kind of team you’d want to play.
If we’re looking for flaws, we can find them. The interior of their offensive line struggled at times last year and lost starting guard Stefan Wisniewski, who generally performed well.
Their pass rush was, in broad strokes, not as good as it was the year before, though it performed remarkably well in big moments. This is a hard thing to discern. If that was somehow by design, the concern is limited. But they may be flying without much of a safety net there, and that’s assuming Chris Jones is back.
The other spot is the secondary. There’s a lot of talent — Tyrann Mathieu and Juan Thornhill could be the league’s best safety pair — but not a lot of depth.
That’s particularly true with Fuller leaving for Washington in free agency. But Daniel Sorensen is back in a contract year, cornerback Rashad Fenton played well in spots and internal optimism remains for Armani Watts.
So, sure. We can quibble with positional value. But it’s hard to fault the logic behind it all, which at this point is the only fair and honest way to evaluate a draft class.
Then again, it wasn’t a fair fight. The game was rigged, and the Chiefs rigged it.