This quote on Zach Baun makes me take pause: "To take a guy in the first round at a position he’s never played is kind of bizarre. You’re not talking about a tackle playing guard. You’re talking about a defensive end playing inside linebacker. That’s a whole different world.”


Woof. Yeah I'd be real uneasy about this. That's a potential miss among the linebackers.

Baun looks like a SAM backer to me and that's not an easy transition at all. Lots of responsibilities there.

Agreed. I’ve been doing mocks to play out the different scenarios and I just don’t see any way there isn’t somebody at EDGE, LB, CB, or S that’s worth taking at 32.

I'm also pretty reluctant to trade back though.

Because by the 36-38ish range, you're counting on luck before you fall into that pool of pretty evenly matched guys that runs through 60-70.

There's a ton of risk in a trade back, IMO.

As previously mentioned, the problem with the Chiefs signing UDFA's, besides all of the medical issues, is that there are very few roster spots available.

I would imagine that outside of a couple positions, agents will steer their clients away from the Chiefs because those players will have a much better chance to make another team's 55.

That's just another reason why the absence of a 6th and 7th hurts the Chiefs this year.

Didn't they expand the rosters though? And the practice squad size?

If you're an agent w/ a skill position player, the Chiefs are a FANTASTIC landing spot. Lots of turnover inevitable at WR in the next 2 years and a RB room that's wide open in the near and long terms. No real backup TE apart from some flyers and a coach who likes to use different kinds of guys in those roles anyway.

I disagree completely - this is an offense that can make guys look outstanding and has a proven track record of getting production beyond a guys initial standing. The first contract will be nominal either way so it will be the 2nd deal that matters for those guys.

And over the next 2-3 seasons (when a guy's due for his second deal) a skill position player will have a far greater chance to demonstrate his ability here than he would most places. CB and LB is a similar situation given the performance of the defensive coaching staff in '19.

Roster spot limitations cut both ways - your position is that we'd like to have last day picks to fill 'em, mine is that by NOT having those picks, we stay in the running for those UDFAs because those guys are all on equal standing to win the roles.

Queen.

I agree. His stock is high enough that someone will have to take a risk to draft him, by that I mean taking him fairly high for his lack of experience.

But he has played off the ball at times and between that and Senior Bowl week, he’s shown he’s capable of that transition.

I mean, maybe. That seems like a small sample size to then draft him in the first and hand the keys to the defense to him.

There are a lot of guys I'd rather have than Baun in the first round. If Veach drafts him though, expect me to not worry. Obviously he'll have thoroughly vetted him and come to the conclusion that he can do it.

Maybe have to take a 'Hardman' sort of flyer on him.

Veach pretty much said "**** the production; gimme some tools" and grabbed Hardman at least a round before predicted. And those tools translated immediately in at least a gadget sort of role.

It'll be interesting to see if the downside of that equation presents itself over the coming years. We still don't know if he can play with the polish to be a true X in this offense and that's why he wasn't widely projected to go as early as he did. Whereas someone like McLauren would've probably made Watkins expendable as early as this season.

Not often that both the upside and downside to a player emerges so quickly. The good news is that demonstrating the upside is the hardest part; the downsides can often be handled through coaching and experience.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Draft tidbits: <br>— The player teams just like the best seems to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OU?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OU</a> LB Kenneth Murray. No negative words on him.<br>— <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Louisville?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Louisville</a> LT Mekhi Becton is the player scouts get most excited about. Potential.<br>— <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UGA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UGA</a> OT Andrew Thomas is the player most overlooked publicly who goes highest.</p>&mdash; Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1252653869705854977?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 21, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">More draft tidbits:<br>— Sweet spot for the RBs is 26-32. Could see 1 or 2 taken there, with many (not all) having D&#39;Andre Swift as 1.<br>— GM told me he has more than 32 1st round grades for the first time ever. Deep draft.<br>— Houston LT Josh Jones has the biggest range: 1st to 3rd.</p>&mdash; Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1252656812891033600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 21, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Based on most of the mocks out there, it looked stupid of me to take Andrew Thomas over Tristan Wirfs in the CP Mock. I just think he's just flat-out a better player. I don't know necessarily if he'll go ahead of Wirfs, but I took him for the Browns, so anything ahead of 10 would be swell.

Watch Murray go in the top 10.