Recent Chiefs drafts
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A look at snaps played by players drafted/signed as a UDFA for their original teams versus the franchises record from 2017 to 2020 <a href="https://t.co/qn71cbCvMY">pic.twitter.com/qn71cbCvMY</a></p>&mdash; Jason_OTC (@Jason_OTC) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jason_OTC/status/1379092373133795328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 5, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

So wouldn't this say the Chiefs haven't drafted very well recently?

I think it means we aren't getting many snaps out of drafted and UDFA players, but our record is still really good despite that.

The Patriots have had terrible drafts, and we're right there with them on the chart. So that should say enough right there. Stop drafting project players all the time and draft players that can actually play DE, etc.

I dunno, when I look at the teams in the UL it appears to be good teams who don't have alot of open snaps for young players.

Couple things:

1. Haven’t we traded 2 first round picks in that timeframe? That would impact this.
2. I bet this looks a lot better if you break it down yearly. We really only have 2 true starters from 2017 and 2018. 2019 and 2020 appear to be more promising.
3. Injuries, Opt Outs impacted Lucas Niang, Sneed, Thornhill, Saunders from the last 2 drafts.
4. When you have a loaded roster, playing time is going to be sparse for any “project-type” players. We’re contenders, so we can’t force rookies into the lineup and risk losing games (which could cost us the 1 seed).

We also had fewer draft picks because of the Mahomes and Frank Clark trades.

Also, we’ve only had 6 selections in each of the last 4 drafts. That has to be among the fewest in the league.

We're nailing our early round picks but day 3 of the draft hasn't been kind to us.

And another way to look at it is we have a really good team without a ton of holes (at least previously), so opportunity for snaps with rookies are limited

If your a day 3 draft pick you really have an uphill battle to get snaps on a team as loaded as the Chiefs have been the last 3-4 years.

We're not exactly nailing our early picks. We picked Tanoh Kpassagnon in the second round of 2017 and Breeland Speaks in 2018 - two huge misses. We followed that up with Hardman and Thornhill in 2019. Both have shown flashes but are inconsistent - certainly not stars.

I've mostly given up on Hardman being anything but a third receiver. He doesn't seem to get the offense, struggles to mentally connect with Jesus, and gives up on plays. He's a miss as a second round pick.

But Thornhill got hurt. Before that, he was on a star trajectory. With more time to heal, I think we will begin to see the best of him next season.

The graph seems to suggest that we have quality depth that allows our rookies time to develop rather needing them to be day 1 contributors.....

That 2018 draft was absolutely killer and not in a good way

We need higher draft picks than drafting last or almost last in every round every year since Mahomes. :cuss: STOP WINNING CHAMPIONSHIPS

It was a weak draft overall after the first round.

This

The draft might not have been deep, but we swung and missed on nearly everyone of them. Especially trading up and taking Breeland Speaks; that was brutal.

I think both of these are true.

Oddly enough, I thought our rookies gave us a huge boost in 2020 and played a ton of snaps.

CEH has been Veach's only first-round pick. I would say that makes a big difference.

This all day.

Burt's draftees would have more snaps if the team wasn't loaded.

Also Mahomes redshirted in 2017.

Top Half - playoff teams
Bottom Half - not playoff teams

Coincidence?

Well, yeah, that axis is wins.

:D

We literally just got a top 15 talent in the 4th last year...

Fenton and Allegretti were 6th round picks the previous year as well. Not stars, but great value where they were picked.

Add in Andy's penchant for not trusting rookies.

I wouldn't place much stock in that graph, but we do need to draft (or develop) a bit better moving forward. We haven't drafted an elite guy since 2017. It appears Sneed has that potential, but it's too early to tell.

We'll need the next wave of Chris Jones, Tyreek Hills and Patrick Mahomes if we want to keep this thing running.

While true, we need to look at where the Chiefs are drafting. To get elite guys at those positions, they're probably gonna have to take some time to develop.

So you've got guys like Thornhill and Sneed and (insert player) that could just take time to develop to that elite level.

The day one elite players just aren't gonna be something that happens very often considering the Chiefs draft spots.

I never understood the Speaks pick. I kinda get picking Kpass because of his enormous physical potential. Speaks, though, always looked slow and pudgy. He didn't look the part and he certainly didn't play the part.

Veach traded up three times in the 2018 draft and each was pretty bad.

We traded picks 54 and 78 to the Bengals for picks 46 (Speaks) 100 (DOD). The Bengals turned pick 54 into Jessie Bates who is a real good young safety.

We traded picks 86 and 122 to Baltimore to get Derrick Nnadi at pick 75. Nnadi wasn't a bad pick - he's a good run-stuffing lineman. Baltimore, though, used the picks on Mark Andrews and Kenny Young. Andrews is a stud and Young is a decent LB who now plays for the Rams.

We traded picks 233 and 243 to the Pats for pick 198 to get Kahlil McKenzie. Pick 233 was traded to the Eagles and they used it to pick Jordan Mailata. I know the Eagles really like Mailata and I've heard he may be the Eagles LT of the future.

Hindsight is 20/20 and no team makes the right choices with each pick. His 2019 draft was better and 2020 has the potential to be an excellent class.

We are still paying for Breeland Speaks. Chiefs still have $629,184 of dead money on their books for him.

Hopefully we learned from that draft.

Speaks was the polar opposite of KPass.

Speaks was a versatile player that had plenty of production in college. He could play nearly every position on the line and actually did it reasonably well. He was a 2nd-team all SEC player, that's not something shitty players accomplish.

That being said, there was literally nothing about him athletically that jumped off the page. Like I said, the polar opposite of KPass.

At the NFL level, you have to have skill AND talent. Both of those guys only had one but not the other.

This is completely false.

The 2018 draft wasn't a talent laden draft but the Chiefs drafted contributors in Nnadi, Watts, O'Daniel and Smith.

Nnadi was crucial to the 2019 Super Bowl run, Watts has been a very good Special Teamer, as has been O'Daniel. Tremon Smith made the PFWA All Rookie team that year, which isn't too bad for a 6th rounder from a small school.

Veach didn't hit on any superstars but he hit on guys that improved the roster and Special Teams, which is better than most got from the 2018 draft.

Thanks, Dane! :P
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