2024 NFL Draft: What would you have done differently?

[Couch-Potato]

What would you have done differently considering the way the board fell in the draft this year?

Round 1, #28: WR Xavier Worthy
Round 2, #63: OT Kingsley Suamataia
Round 4, #131: TE Jared Wiley
Round 4, #133: S Jaden Hicks
Round 5, #159: OL Hunter Nourzad
Round 6, #211: CB Kamal Hadden
Round 7, #248: IOL C.J. Hanson
B+

Personally, I might've gone with another weapon instead of Hicks at #133 and probably RB Watson at #248 instead of Hanson but I'm no Veach! On second thought, there were some really sexy trade up options in the 4th that I would've liked to see us tap into: Sanders, Franklin, Baker, Walker, Irving, and Wright all went in the 4th and would've been more exciting picks.

I guess MIA is getting roasted a bit in draft circles for trading a 3rd next year to move up in the 4th, so what do I know, but I would've moved up for RB Wright or Irving, maybe Baker, or especially Franklin if I could get that high up! Not too mention BTJ came within reach and I would've preferred him over Worthy, I guess. In a perfect world, maybe a small move up for WR Tahj Washington in the 7th too.

Round 1, #22: WR Brian Thomas Jr (2024 3rd + 2025 3rd)
Round 2, #63: OT Kingsley Suamataia
Round 4, #119: RB Jaylin Wright (+2025 TEN 2025 3rd)
Round 4, #131: TE Jared Wiley
Round 5, #159: OL Hunter Nourzad
Round 6, #211: CB Kamal Hadden
Round 7, #240: WR Tahj Washington (+2025 Late RD Pick Swap)
A+

In Veach We Trust!

Go Chiefs!!

3-Peat!!!

[OKchiefs]

Hard to nitpick too much, I think they did just about as good a job as could be expected given the draft capital they had. I would have liked a DT pick but there was quite the run on DTs early in rd 2 so the value really wasn't there. It looks like we picked up a promising DT prospect in UDFA so that's a plus. Overall this was an excellent draft.

[DJ's left nut]

I'd have ended up trading up more.

I'd have been wrong to do it in the 2nd since Kingsley fell to us (who is who I'd have been moving up for) and I'd have likely been stoked to do it to get Jaylin Wright. Let's say I gave up 131 and 159 to get to Seattle's pick at 118 plus 207.

I'd have ended up in that world with Jaylen Wright at 118 and Christian Mahogany at 207 instead of Hicks and Nourzad.

I think I like that outcome better. But there's also a fair amount of hindsight there (I mean maybe I'd have traded up to 111 just to be safe and not gotten that pick in the 6th back).

But I'd have almost certainly moved up for Wright. I just liked him a lot as a complementary back here and in the mid 4th it's an easy call for me.

Hard to complain about much else really. Maybe I'd have gone Newton in the 1st, Kingsley in 2 and then traded up for Franklin at the end of 3 with the Titans third rounder?

Its really just awfully speculative as to what was even possible and any serious change at the beginning throws everything into flux.

I think every pick Veach made was good where the pick was made. I'll just say that.

[Nightfyre]

My only real gripes are that we didn't take a stab at Johnny Wilson and that we didn't secure J Coker as an UDFA. However, I think there was something going on with Wilson given how far he fell that is outside of the public view.

With respect to Coker, given that we clearly scouted Holy Cross games, at least I can feel comfortable that the Chiefs wouldn't have overlooked him given that we scouted and drafted a guard out of the program.

I can't blame the Chiefs if they feel they have a really good on who Worthy is and valued him over other candidates in that spot. The remaining picks were basically A+ value at positions of need where these guys will step in and fill historically critical roles.

Wiley -> Bell
Hicks -> Cook depth, Eventual Reid replacement?
Nourzad -> Allegretti
Hadden -> Outside depth
CJ Hanson -> Caliendo replacement?

[Jamie]

Originally Posted by Couch-Potato

Round 1, #22: WR Brian Thomas Jr (2024 3rd + 2025 3rd)

I would have preferred Thomas too, but I doubt that trade was there. I don't think Philly would have been willing to move so far back with Mitchell on the board, and even if they were I think we would have had to give up more.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I'd have ended up trading up more.

I'd have been wrong to do it in the 2nd since Kingsley fell to us (who is who I'd have been moving up for) and I'd have likely been stoked to do it to get Jaylin Wright. Let's say I gave up 131 and 159 to get to Seattle's pick at 118 plus 207.

I'd have ended up in that world with Jaylen Wright at 118 and Christian Mahogany at 207 instead of Hicks and Nourzad.

I think I like that outcome better. But there's also a fair amount of hindsight there (I mean maybe I'd have traded up to 111 just to be safe and not gotten that pick in the 6th back).

But I'd have almost certainly moved up for Wright. I just liked him a lot as a complementary back here and in the mid 4th it's an easy call for me.

Hard to complain about much else really. Maybe I'd have gone Newton in the 1st, Kingsley in 2 and then traded up for Franklin at the end of 3 with the Titans third rounder?

Its really just awfully speculative as to what was even possible and any serious change at the beginning throws everything into flux.

I think every pick Veach made was good where the pick was made. I'll just say that.

The Dolphins traded a 2025 3rd rounder to move into the 4th round for Wright. I would have done the same thing.

[duncan_idaho]

I have a hard time with Jaylin Wright love. I just don't see the appeal there, guys, but people I trust do.

I think it's my disdain for Heupel's system. I think it makes every RB in it look much better than they are.

[Couch-Potato]

Originally Posted by blake5676

I'm not smart enough to know the prospects like you all but the one point I'll make is that while the OP slate of players might be preferred for some, I'm a fan of the fact that we kept all of our ammo for next year. Looks like you gave up 3 of our picks in your alternative draft above. But as you said, Bart has earned that trust!

Correct. I have a go for it mentality around the 3-Peat and wanted to see us push a inch harder, maybe.

Ultimately, I'm stoked about the results though!

[Couch-Potato]

Originally Posted by Nightfyre

My only real gripes are that we didn't take a stab at Johnny Wilson and that we didn't secure J Coker as an UDFA. However, I think there was something going on with Wilson given how far he fell that is outside of the public view.

With respect to Coker, given that we clearly scouted Holy Cross games, at least I can feel comfortable that the Chiefs wouldn't have overlooked him given that we scouted and drafted a guard out of the program.

I can't blame the Chiefs if they feel they have a really good on who Worthy is and valued him over other candidates in that spot. The remaining picks were basically A+ value at positions of need where these guys will step in and fill historically critical roles.

Wiley -> Bell
Hicks -> Cook depth, Eventual Reid replacement?
Nourzad -> Allegretti
Hadden -> Outside depth
CJ Hanson -> Caliendo replacement?

Those were two additional names I thought to include in my OP

[Couch-Potato]

In the end I agree that Worthy will be optimized best in Andy's system, and I'm happy we got him!

[gordonelloyd]

And worthy clearly wanted to come to the Chiefs and he must’ve gotten the Mahomes blessing as I’m pretty sure he worked out with Mahomes. That blessing turned out pretty well with rice last year. No reason to think the same won’t happen again and worthy has skills rice didn’t have.

The only real question is how well and how soon Kingsley will work out at LT. But there wasn’t really a better alternative.

If you look at the off-season process as a whole, I think the only thing we did wrong was Sneed. I personally hoped we could keep him. I guess that turned out not to be the case. And we certainly didn’t get good value for him. Since we must have known, we weren’t going to keep him, instead of gambling that we could trade him for good value, I think we should have tried to trade him right at the start without putting on the tag. (we really couldn’t have gotten much worse value). And if we couldn’t trade him, we should have just cut him right at the start. That probably would have given us the cap space to get Tyrone Smith to sign with KC instead of with the Jets. He has 6.5 million guaranteed with the Jets and 12 against the cap. We probably could’ve handled that at the beginning of the process. I would feel much more comfortable about our left tackle situation instead of bringing back Donovan Smith.

But it is what it is and I think with Smith Kingsley and Morris things will work out.

[JPH83]

Originally Posted by MahomesMagic

I don't see any other WR available when we picked (including AD Mitchell) helping us more this year.

With respect to Sky Moore, his best chance at doing something worth rostering would be if we went back to a more RPO game. Without that he should be cut.

I think Tahj Washington came after our pick and could absolutely be a better slot/returner than Moore. But as I say I can see why they're sticking with Moore.

[ChiefsFanatic]

I would have drafted Brenden Rice in the 6th round, or I would have drafted Cornelius Johnson in the 7th.

Veach throws numbers at DB when it's a problem, and now he has thrown number at the OL twice. Why not throw numbers at WR?

If we want to continue to pay Mahomes what he deserves, and other star players like CJ max type deals, then Reid is going to have to get over his aversion to playing rookie receivers.

I think Rice is going to be a star. It's absolutely crazy he didn't get picked until the 7th round. I think Cornelius Johnson has the measurables and athletic score for a high upside in a 7th round pick.

[DJ's left nut]

Yeah, I'd have drafted Cornelius in the 7th as well. Was my favorite guy left when we made the pick.

But I understand trying to build some IOL depth later in the draft. I just think Johnson has some nice traits that could be coached up.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I have a hard time with Jaylin Wright love. I just don't see the appeal there, guys, but people I trust do.

I think it's my disdain for Heupel's system. I think it makes every RB in it look much better than they are.

It's just the speed. I wanted a fast guy that can hit the edge and house one as a complement to Pacheco and as a potentially dynamic 3rd down back if he can learn the protections.

Wright was the best fit at RB in this draft in that regard, IMO. But it was also a fairly weak RB class. For all the "Man, RBs have really fallen off in the draft" stuff, we oughta remember that the FA market certainly bounced back for them. So the league did demonstrate that they still value the position.

I just think it was a pretty poor RB class.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Jamie

I would have preferred Thomas too, but I doubt that trade was there. I don't think Philly would have been willing to move so far back with Mitchell on the board, and even if they were I think we would have had to give up more.

Yeah - Philly wasn't moving off that pick with Mitchell on the board. They BADLY needed CB help and he was, by most accounts, CB1 in this draft. You don't move off that pick for a 3rd rounder and some future capital.

That puts your entire draft at risk because you're almost certainly still looking at CB at 32 and there's no way of knowing if Arnold would've been there by then (Mitchell wouldn't have been). At that point you're looking at DeJean (who they got anyway) who's far better suited for a versatile DB role than he is a pure outside Corner. And they needed that boundary CB.

The Philly trade isn't realistic. But maybe you could've gotten up to 19 if you used the 2025 2nd instead of the Titans 3rd.

I was more than happy to move that pick. And if that option was available to us, that's what I'd have done. We just can't authoritatively state that it was. That's a long way to fall for a team.