***OFFICIAL Walterfootball.com Mock Draft***

[The Franchise]

I'll just start it now since he has his 3 round mock draft out already.

#3 Russell Okung, OT, Oklahoma State
The Chiefs invested $63 million into Matt Cassel. Whether this was a smart move or not is now irrelevant - what's done is done, and Scott Pioli is betting his Kansas City tenure on Cassel succeeding.

Unfortunately, one of Cassel's most glaring weaknesses, his tendency to take too many sacks, will be very prevalent in Kansas City because the team's offensive line is so horrendous.

In two games, Branden Albert has surrendered two sacks and has been whistled for a whopping four penalties. Pioli didn't draft Albert, and the Chiefs organization doesn't have that much money invested into him (about $3 million over the next four years). Pioli can afford to draft a franchise left tackle and move Albert around in an effort to give Cassel more time in the pocket. He needs to protect his investment - no matter how bad it may be.

I gave serious consideration to Eric Berry here.


#35 - Eric Norwood, DE/OLB, South Carolina
The smart move here would be to add a rush linebacker to help an anemic pass rush that won't be any better in 2009 than it was in 2008. Eric Norwood opened the season with two sacks against N.C. State and added another one at Georgia. He had 14.5 TFL and nine sacks in 2008.


#59 - Evan Royster, RB, Penn State
The Chiefs should be able to cut Larry Johnson following the 2009 season. Evan Royster is a talented runner who would be a nice complement to Jamaal Charles.


#67 - Marshawn Gilyard, WR/KR, Cincinnati
With Tony Gonzalez gone, Matt Cassel doesn't have much to work with outside of Dwayne Bowe. I've always liked Bobby Engram, but he's 36. Mark Bradley, Bobby Wade? Meh.