S Brandon Joseph, Notre Dame
Against the Bengals in the AFCCG, S Juan Thornhill played 100% of the snaps, S Justin Reid played 98% of the snaps, and S Bryan Cook played 41% of the snaps. The Chiefs play with three safeties, and they do it about a third of the time. With Thornhill likely walking in free agency, and questions that I personally have surrounding Cook, it might not be a bad idea to draft a third safety high to fortify the position. And with the questions I might have with Cook, I might be targeting a "safe bet" prospect who can get slotted in immediately as a starter, with a high floor.
Brandon Joseph, by all appearances and tape, seems to be the "George Karlaftis"-type for this draft at the safety position. Having played in not one but two D1 systems very well in college, Joseph has gone through trial by fire and looked outstanding with his intelligence in zone, and his propensity to generate turnovers. If Spags is going to be increasingly committed to zone, this is a guy who has CB Trent McDuffie degrees of intelligence of how to handle it.
That being said, there are other safeties in this draft (
Jordan Battle,
JL Skinner) that have higher ceilings, but the Chiefs want to get back to the Super Bowl next year, and they're going to need reliable safeties to do it. Drafting Joseph would be a fascinating reveal of how the team feels about Cook, but mostly it would just provide the back of the defense with a reliable player with a high ceiling. That's worth a 2nd rounder to me.