Okay, so what *is* your plan for the 2023 passrush?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I mean, I could probably talk myself into splashing nice money on someone like Jones or Payne or even Fletcher Cox/Hargrave and pairing them with a second-round pass rush specialist type. If Nolan Smith's injury pushes him down at all, that would be an ideal pairing, potentially.

Payne/Jones/Smith/Karlaftis would be a pretty fantastic long-term group up front. And even if you transitioned to a 34 because Spagnuolo has moved on, that group would slide right into that alignment pretty easily...

But it's not all about Smith. BJ Ojulari, Andre Carter II, KJ Henry... there are lots of names in the second round projections the Chiefs could be in line to add who would work nicely as the speed guy. Stock is all over the place on them so it's hard to say who would be a realistic round 2 target.

Carter makes me drool, though. He's kind of a unicorn physically (6-7, 260, but can play LB and do "normal sized" LB things).

Exactly.

A 3-down SDE who can muck up the works and create rush lanes for his teammates is the hard part. On his present development arc, we have that guy in Karlaftis.

Getting a dedicated edge rusher in the 2nd or 3rd round wouldn't be that difficult. It's just a question of whether or not a guy like that would be physically developed enough to contribute early.

That's where the younger veteran comes in. Someone that can show out a bit and then even act as a rotational guy if the rookie is ready. And w/ Karlaftis functional strength, you could even kick him inside on 3rd downs and pair the rookie w/ the young vet on the edges.

It's eminently doable and doesn't require that you trade 3 first round picks for Josh Allen or Brian Burns.