The Kansas City Chiefs and their 31 competitors will bunker in their war rooms and ultimately decide the next chapter of roster additions to their respective teams. It’s been well documented that the Chiefs have several needs, but deciding which impact first-rounder they might draft Thursday night is nearly impossible.
The NFL Draft is NOT an exact science. It’s a crapshoot in Rounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. If the dice roll correctly, teams can draft two or three starters and five backups. Sometimes, you strike gold in the later rounds, and Kansas City Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach has scored a few of them.
To date, his best late-round pick has been Running Back Isiah Pacheco. He also drafted Guard Trey Smith in the sixth round; both have been immediate impact players for the Chiefs. Still, in both cases, the Chiefs rated them much higher than any other team.
Veach has always done things his way and, for the most part, stays true to his massive board of draft prospects. When he’s on the clock, he’s decisive. If a player falls, then he moves up and gets him.
He did that with Cornerback Trent McDuffie two years ago. Will he make a similar move on Thursday Night?
Suppose you like his gunslinger mentality and comments to the media last week about that question. In that case, I suspect Veach won’t hesitate to give up the draft capital if a player falls like Joe Alt, Brock Bowers, or a top-notch wide receiver.
The latest rumor, courtesy of Tony Pauline with Sportsleeda, is that the Chiefs are drafting BYU Left Tackle Kingsley Suamataia. He’s a solid left tackle but not a finished product. Even if he’s the pick in round one, he’d be second on the depth chart to Wayna Morris.
Many NFL Draft experts have the Chiefs drafting a wide receiver to close out the first round. They could certainly do that, and honestly, they’ll land a starter. The Wide Receiver depth goes five rounds deep, so it’s not mission-critical that they select one early. They could wait until the second or third round to find a complementary receiver for Quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Whatever direction he takes, including mortgaging the future for one player, he’ll have the full support of ownership. Chairman Clark Hunt just extended Veach’s contract through the 2029 season. Further, he’s made him the highest-paid General Manager in the NFL.
With that commitment, Veach can trade a future first-round pick to nab Notre Dame Tackle Joe Alt or Georgia Tight End Brock Bowers.
Even without the new financial commitment from the Hunt Family, Veach has rebuilt this roster over the last three years with high on-the-field impact players, who have allowed him to keep his top-end talent.
Without the success of cheaper labor, it’s doubtful we are talking about the possibility of a Three-Peat the day before the NFL Draft. Still, what Veach does this weekend will also impact those odds.
If you had to make me choose which player he selects in round one, I’d lean toward South Carolina Wide Receiver Xavier Legette. He’s the perfect weapon for Mahomes, and honestly, of all the talented first-rounders available, next to Alt and Bowers, he’s a firm number three in my book.
He’s DK Metcalf, part two. Veah already lamented his decision to pass on Metcalf a few years ago, sighting his inability to see through the reports and the information from scouts about possible defects in his game on the field and antics off the field. He saw a great football player but chose the wrong side of that conflict.
That won’t happen again. The Chiefs might have to move up, perhaps in front of Buffalo, to get him, but he’d be worth sending off a third-round pick in 2024 or 2025.
Regardless of which potential superstar he adds in round one, I’m confident that whoever it is will be an immediate contributor to the Chiefs.
In the end, that’s all that matters.
