Mock (2/10)
 

Assumptions:

1. The Chiefs franchise: OT Orlando Brown.

3. The Chiefs cut: DE Frank Clark, ILB Anthony Hitchens

4. The Chiefs extended: WR Tyreek Hill for 4 years, $80m ($52m guaranteed), WR Byron Pringle for 2 years, $6m; DE Melvin Ingram, 1 year 6 million ($1m guaranteed); CB Charvarious Ward for 4 years, $40m ($18m guaranteed).

5. The Chiefs tender: WR Marcus Kemp, TE Jody Fortson, CB Chris Lammons

6. The Chiefs re-sign to minimal deals: RB Jerick McKinnon, RB Darrel Williams, RB Derrick Gore, FB Michael Burton, TE Blake Bell, OG Andrew Wylie, C Austin Blythe, DT Derrick Nnadi; LB Ben Niemann, LB Dorian O'Daniel, CB Mike Hughes

7. The Chiefs let walk: WR Demarcus Robinson, WR Josh Gordon, OT Mike Remmers, OT Prince Tega Wanogho, OG Kyle Long, DT Jarran Reed, DE Alex Okafor, CB DeAndre Baker, S Tyrann Mathieu, S Dan Sorensen, S Armani Watts.

8. The Chiefs sign WR Odell Beckham Jr. (Rams) for 2 years, $30m ($16m guaranteed), DT Akiem Hicks (Bears) for 2 year, $22m, ($9m guaranteed), DE Randy Gregory (Cowboys) for 1 year, $13m ($1m guaranteed), LB Damien Wilson (Jaguars) to vet minimum, S Xavier Woods (Vikings) for 1 year, $5m, S Ronnie Harrison (Browns) for 2 years, $7m.

9. The Chiefs are currently predicted to get two 7th round compensatory picks, but I'm going to assume neither is actually awarded, as the NFL only hands them out to the top 32 compensatory picks, and last year, there were no 7th round compensatory picks awarded.

The draft:

1. DE Travon Walker, Georgia
2. WR David Bell, Purdue
3. S Kerby Joseph, Illinois
3 (Poles). DE Sam Williams, Ole Miss
4. OT/G Andrew Steuber, Michigan
7 (Hughes). DT Thomas Booker, Stanford
7. LB Merlin Robertson, Arizona State
7 (Durant). CB Jermaine Waller, Virginia Tech

the roster:

QB: Mahomes, Buechele
RB: Edwards-Helaire, Williams, McKinnon, Gore
FB: Burton

WR: Hill, Beckham, Pringle, Hardman, Bell, Kemp
TE: Kelce, Bell, Gray, Fortson

LT: Brown, Thuney
LG: Thuney, Allegretti
C: Humphrey, Blythe
RG: Smith, Allegretti
RT: Wylie, Steuber, Niang (IR to start year)

DE: Gregory, Walker, Kaindoh
DT: Jones, Wharton, Saunders
DT: Hicks, Nnadi, Booker
DE: Ingram, Danna, Williams

OLB: Gay, O'Daniel
ILB: Bolton, Niemann
OLB: Wilson, Robertson

CB: Sneed, Ward, Fenton, Hughes, Lammons, Waller
S: Thornhill, Woods, Harrison, Joseph, Anderson

K: Butker
P: Townsend
LS: Winchester

Bahhh, I still couldn't figure out the CB position. I'd like to see an upgrade at CB, but stocking that DL took a lot of my resources, and I just ran out of cap space and draft picks to do anything meaningful there.

Every other position I'm really satisfied with.

Just a few nitpicky things.

Kemp can't be tendered. He's an unrestricted FA.
Gore is an ERFA. Why not tender him?

How do you see this team's investment in DL vs. secondary this coming offseason?

Veach specifically mentioned the defensive line as something he'd like to attack. I think we're going to see a 2021 offensive line type rebuild.

Secondary is hit or miss. We need bodies there but he hasn't ever spent huge capital there. I saw a tweet that Butker has more money than Veach has spent on CB (individual contracts).

Waiting till the last pick for a CB like Waller would be a dream

I'm not nuts about Beckham or Gregory. If you're spending $15 AAV on Beckham, I feel like you can get Allen Robinson for a similar value.

Gregory is fine but I think there are better options at DE for that price point.

I like the Hicks addition. He's not going to do great playing NT for you, but he would add more oomph to the interior rush.

I also just don't have a ton of interest in David Bell. Just don't think he's athletic enough to be an impact guy in the NFL. Lots of other directions I'd rather go round 2 (Christian Watson, John Metchie, Doubs).

Direct serious question everytime you do a mock you never have us picking a starter. Wtf is up with that?

I don't know if that's true... but it's pretty close to true this offseason, so strap in.

The team we have is too talented on the top end, and the positions we need the worst (WR, DL, S) are just too hard to find Day One starters at the bottom of the 1st.

I've been doing mocks on this board since Herm Edwards, and those days I was able to secure like 4 or 5 projected starters with every mock, because the team was so lousy.

What's a Day One starter we could realistically draft at 30?

Probably a stud CB, or a LB, or for some reason a stud RB if we went that route. Maybe that's a thread I'll start.

You don’t think that a S or DE at 30 is going to start?

Open Starter Roles

Offense
- WR 2
- RT (at least to start the season / Niang's injury)

Defense
DE 1 - (Assuming Frank is gone)
S 3 - (Assuming Sorenson is gone)
LB - (Assuming Hitch is gone)
DE 2 - (If Ingram is gone)
S 1 - (If Matheiu is gone)
CB 2 - (If Ward is gone)

They could take nearly any position of need in round 1 and they could at least be a rotational starter. Even if they take a WR (one that's not injured, of course) that player is going to contribute right away.

I think you could take Brisker at 30 and start him at the SS spot in place of Mathieu day one. You’d probably have some growing pains but that’s a Spags defense every season.

Brisker is my favorite prospect in this draft. He'd definitely start day 1.

A DE like Thomas would at least be a candidate for a rotational starter as soon as they are drafted.

I think Brisker is my guy at 30. I’ve flirted with DE at that spot but DE is deep going into the 2nd round.

Same here. I've done a hundred mocks at this point and Brisker is the guy that consistently holds the most value at 30.

I loved what we did with Bolton & Humphrey last year.

Rather than picking backup/developmental player who was 8th/9th ranked in his respective position group, we took the #1 Center.

I'd love to snag a starter with our top pick as well.

Exactly.

Last season's draft was a smashing success. We should be looking to do the same this year.

The good news is that we can truly go BPA at 30 and still get that. There's several DE, DT, CB, and S candidates that would contribute significantly day 1. Even a WR could be although it's less likely due to scheme and history.

As it stands right now I can absolutely see a safety in round 1, but there are just so many good free agent safeties that I just don’t think we will be seeing it the same after free agency. I think we get at least one.

We shall see.

FA will obviously dictate what we do but safety is just as bare as defensive end at this point.

And the list of free agent safeties is great, while the DE list is average.

Also, the DE class is strong in this draft, while the safety class is average.

Just feels like DE will be more likely early in the draft than S when it’s all said and done.

To be honest, I think we address safety with a big name, early in free agency.

For better or worse, I expect that name to be Tyrann Mathieu.

Really? I seriously doubt it.

I think they sign somebody like Whitehead.

I expect them to bring Mathieu back, yes. I don't really like the idea but I think that's what they're going to do.

The biggest worry I have about a round 1 edge is that it will be the 6th or 7th edge off the board, and at that point, are those guys going to be pro-bowl caliber players?

I've been spoiled into wanting a homerun with our early picks, and also terrified by our past edge picks of KPass and Kaindoh.

Chiefs Twitter will rejoice.

I’ll be disappointed.

Meh I think safety is such an overrated position on here. They don't need to be as good as Mathieu as long as they aren't as bad as Ron Parker the defense will be fine

We need a starting safety. I actually agree with you that they don't need to be as good as Mathieu. Taking one in the draft makes a lot of sense monetarily, that's part of the reason you look at one early.

But to your point about quality, Thornhill is perfectly fine, if we could get another player as good as him, we'd be fine. We don't need perfection back there, we just need better.

The real problem at safety is that we have virtually nobody under contract. Sorenson and Watts suck ass and won't likely be back.

Agree with part 1. I'd argue so long as they are at least as good as Ron Parker, we'll be fine. Ron Parker, honestly, wasn't all that bad.

I look at that time with KC having Parker and Abdullah starting, and I never really thought the position was in dire straights. I don't think you have to go balls deep at the position to have solid players there. It's nice to have at least one really good one but I'm not sure it's the need we think it is. We had a nice go with Mathieu locking down slot receivers but that isn't the norm.

I think you couldn't be more wrong.

Oh Ron Parker was a pretty good player for along time I meant Ron Parker in his last year. He was bad like real bad.

A washed up Eric Weddle is starting for the Rams in the super bowl. Think back to all of the super bowl Champs I bet you'll remember a handful of who the safeties were. There's other positions with way more value.

This proposed defense would be near last in the league? Where do you see this defense ranking?

I like the Odell and Gregory signings!

I think you'd have a defense that's middle of the pack against the run and should be a lot more explosive against the pass. I've tried to pack on depth at all four DL positions, so when the inevitable Melvin Ingram injury comes down the pipeline, we're still two-deep across the board.

I think the secondary is ... alright. I honestly have just run out of resources with all the investments needed at WR, our own pending free agents, and DL.

I like them too.

Unless Odell goes off for 150 in the Super Bowl, he should be attainable. And we know Veach has no problem circling back on players he's previously missed out on. Odell unlocks the offense and effectively breaks every defense we face.

Gregory is a roll of the dice but on a one-year term, you hope he keeps his head screwed on. Maybe the strength of the locker room along with the prospect of thriving next to three other stud DL and a Super Bowl possibility will keep him out of the dog house for 6 months. We'll see.

due to injuries. And washed up Weddle is better than any version of Dan Sorensen.

It depends somewhat on what you do schematically, but in a scheme like Spagnuolo's, having good, smart, versatile safeties and slot defenders is super important.