KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It’s the time of year when it’s hard to trust leaked reports as NFL teams posture ahead of the draft, so everything must be taken with a grain of salt.
“As far as what to believe, I wouldn’t believe anything,” Brett Veach, general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs, said with a grin Friday during a pre-draft news conference.
Veach said the Chiefs’ prospect board was 95% finished with some back-end work remaining.
Kansas City currently has 12 picks in the 2022 NFL Draft — two in each of the first four rounds and four in the seventh round, which explains the remaining work on the deepest of draft dives.
Much of the focus will be on the Chiefs’ two first-round picks, back-to-back at Nos. 29 and 30, but much of the work to set the course for the franchise’s next several years will happen after Thursday’s opening round ends.
Veach said the Chiefs have “right around 16, 18 names on our front board as first-round picks,” which doesn’t leave the team in an ideal spot to land the players graded that high.
“Picking there at 29 or 30, the odds of maybe one of those guys falling isn’t great,” Veach said.
But if there’s good news, Veach said the value at 30 to 60 is terrific — similar to last year, when the Chiefs landed linebacker Nick Bolton and center Creed Humphrey in the second round.
There’s been speculation Kansas City may want to move up for Alabama wide receiver Jameson Williams or a highly rated edge rusher, but Veach seemed to pour cold water on that idea.
“I don’t probably foresee a huge jump up, just throwing a haymaker and trying to get in the top 10,” Veach said.
That probably rules out a move up for, say, Florida State defensive end Jermaine Johnson II and maybe even Williams.
Veach said the first-round value for the Chiefs would come if one of the players they have a first-round grade on slid into the 19 to 21 range.
“If there’s still some of those guys on the board, I think you make a decision and see if you can maybe find a trade partner,” Veach said. “If those 16 guys are off the board by the time you get to 19, 20, 21, then it drives the narrative to stay put and just collect the assets.”
Regardless, the Chiefs have a chance to add some talent to a roster that needs an infusion of young and controllable players.
Kansas City has only 22 players under contract for 2023 and 14 for 2024, according to Over the Cap, so the team hopes to nail next week’s draft and add a boatload of guys who can contribute through at least 2025.
That effort starts with the defense, which was largely neglected during free agency.
“There’s certainly a high priority at both D-end and corner, and we’ll hopefully be in a position with these picks to land both those positions,” Veach said.
It’s not inconceivable that the Chiefs actually wind up adding draft capital by trading away pick No. 30 for a high second-round pick and another asset.
There’s a dearth of top-end quarterback talent in this year’s draft, but a QB-hungry team might be highly motivated to climb into the back of the first round to ensure a fifth-year option on that rookie deal for a player like Liberty's Malik Willis, Pittsburgh's Kenny Pickett, Cincinnati's Desmond Ridder or even Mississippi's Matt Corral.
“It certainly comes into play when you’re talking about quarterbacks,” Veach said. “The fifth-year option for quarterbacks is something that — having the option for all players is important, but none more so than for quarterbacks. I think there’s certainly value in that.”
That could play to the Chiefs' advantage, allowing them to move down a few spots while adding another early- to mid-round pick for another dart throw at a future fixture on the roster or more capital to move around and land a coveted player.
