Because we are the Chiefs.

You’re up. PM sent.

Okay, here's what it comes down to.

Candidate A. Safe pick, highly regarded. We have a decent starter at his position, but depth is thin and he would likely take the starting spot. Enough players in the draft that we could get a good one in Round 2, most likely.

Candidate B. Same position as Candidate A. Generally rated a little lower, but I love how the guy would fit in with our team. I would be ridiculed for taking this guy, but history would prove me right.

Candidate C. Pretty highly ranked guy that I really like, but at a position of very low need. Luxury pick.

Candidate D. Position where we could definitely use an upgrade. This guy is lower ranked than most of the other candidates, but there's a big dropoff after him in the draft. If I don't take him, we don't get the position filled in 2020.

Candidate E. Highly ranked candidate. Safe pick. Consensus is that we need help at the position, though I believe that less than many others.

Candidate F. Same position as Candidate E. Not as highly ranked, but I like him a bit more.

Final discussions are occurring in the draft room.

Candidate C is out of the running.

Candidate E is out of the running.

Candidate F is out of the running.

Okay, Candidates A and B are out, even though my heart wants Candidate B. Too much talent at the position is available. The Chiefs write their card.

A nondescript fellow who looks like a former athlete picks up the card and goes to the podium. He taps on the microphone a time or two.

https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/ima...cWPUAAtGea6F5U

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," he says. "I'm a regional director at Flowonix Medical, in Houston, Texas. But you may remember me more as the Chiefs' most recent #32 pick in the draft. In 1989, I joined the Chiefs from Wake Forest as the pick following the selection of Derrick Thomas. My name is Mike Elkins."

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-elkins-6845978/

"I'm here tonight to make quarterbacks' lives a little harder. With the 32nd pick of the 2020 NFL draft, the Kansas City Chiefs select Zach Baun, LB, Wisconsin."

Good job Rain Man.

Love the player.

The gang can argue about how he fits in Spags scheme in the morning.

Good night!

I'll reveal the other five candidates once they're all drafted. I'll be curious to hear the consensus. I decided that LB was a position where we all want an upgrade, and once Baun is gone there's a notable dropoff in the draft pool.

Good pick I think. CB or RB would have been a reach I think, there are a couple of other positions I would have considered as well. Be interesting to see who your 5 are.

The Cincinnati Bengals select Grant Delpit safety LSU


Will write later

Great pick Rain Man! That’s who I would’ve taken.

I don’t know why anybody would be arguing that. He’s versatile and should be able to fit in pretty much any defense, especially a guy like Spags who knows how to take advantage of that.

Oh goodness! Jordan Love is still there. Too bad Indy doesn't buy into the hype.
With our first selection in the 2020 NFL draft, the colts select:
Trevon Diggs, CB, Alabama

The Detroit Lions select D'Andre Swift, RB, UGA.

Lions keeping it Lions.

He would fit perfect in our defense.

Must say I've been cool to drafting a LB at 32, but think that is probably the best pick to make, and still plenty of talent out there to go get.

I think Baun is a good pick but I would have gone CB.

Diggs?

Baun improves your defense in all 3 phases. He can stop the run, he can cover, and he can rush the passer.

I’d be tempted to take a corner like Diggs, Johnson, or Noah given our current situation, but after we sign a vet like Breeland, we’ll be set up to go BPA.

Being an Alabama fan I’m not sold on Diggs he gets lost a lot in coverage and can be beat one on one. Baun is a beast good pick Rain Man

Ok tell me he isn’t gonna take the full 12 hrs again

He was last here at 3 am....

He's off to a good start.

Baun... What an awful pick how dare you rainman. Jk

And he has the #40 pick so he needs to stay alert today

He seems tailor made for Spags. His versatility allows him to line up anywhere and it gets rid of the need for Neimann on 3rd downs.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of his 4.65 time compared to Gay Jr.’s 4.46, but Baun’s 20 yard time was 4.31 to Gay Jr’s 4.30.

Our biggest need is LB and we are in prime position to pick the best one of the 2nd wave with depth at other needs I.e. corner, OL and WR

Only thing if this draft fell this way I’d probably take one of the RBs some good ones still on the board.

Either OL or defense, IMO for the premium picks in the first few rounds

Diggs and Swift are gone quickly, so I'll note that they were Candidates A and E. They both seemed like common sense picks, but in both cases they weren't my top candidate at the position, and they were both at positions where I think I can find a good candidate with my second round pick. And if Breeland comes back, I don't think we're in bad shape at CB.

With Baun, I figure he'll be on the field immediately and if I don't take him, there's a dropoff to the candidates I'll be seeing in Round 2. It's a bit of a need pick, but it wasn't much of a compromise.

Baun coached by House would be amazing.

Good pick.

I'm here, just let me update my tracker to make sure I am not double picking.

I can normally pick from work but its been a very shit night.

The NY Giants select :

Xavier McKinney, S, Alabama

Definitely a first round talent, beefing up the Giants D here with first 2 picks.

Steal.

McKinney is easily a top 20 talent.

Yep. And was drooling about him being my Dolphin selection....

I definitely PM'd Direckshun, but I never have anything in my sent box on the PM page. Is that something I have to turn on or is it just broken?

I sent him one just in case.

Good pick!

Under your DM text box you will see a header titled “Additional Options”.
Check off the toggle that stores “Sent” messages in your Inbox. The default setting is for it to be off...

Thanks, so I just have to remember to tick it every time.

The Miami Dolphins select, Lloyd Cushenberry, C, LSU

Was looking a safety here, but not only is this a position of real need for the Dolphins, I get to pair Burrow with his college center.

Oh we rollin’

Johnson was my Candidate F. I was very intrigued by him.

Probably 20 mins and I will be home to pick, getting faster I promise!

Jordan Love in rd 2 would be a steal. I think he’s a top 20 pick

Yea he would’ve been at the top of my board for the Chiefs if Baun was gone.

The Texans Select:

Denzel Mims, WR, Baylor

And there's the Hopkins replacement.

Would you have taken him over Diggs? Those were the two CBs I was considering. Pretty much every ranking showed Diggs higher, but when I'd read the descriptions I preferred Johnson.

This is who I'd have taken for the Chiefs.

He's so multi-faceted and so talented that you can run any scheme imaginable w/ him, Thornhill and Mathieu back there. And Mathieu is a cap casualty likely as soon as next season (if Jones is retained...maybe even if he isn't) at which time Delpit and Thornhill would still give you a dynamic pair of young safeties.

It isn't that I dislike Baun at all - I don't. I think he's a nice player. But I think he's a lower ceiling guy at a position we're perhaps overvaluing (I don't think he develops into the sort of 3-down Mike we're looking for; a Bobby Wagner kind of guy).

He's safe and steady as the sunrise. But if Delpit were there, I couldn't pass on him. He just brings too much to the table, IMO. You get a talent like that in your defensive backfield and you'll find a way to make him a difference-maker.

I can’t see them getting rid of Matheiu. He’s the leader of the defense and his presence alone changes everything.
I think they’ll push his money back in an extension and get rid of other high priced casualties instead like LDT, Fisher and Hitchens.

In fact, I think they’ll draft replacements for at least 2 of them this year and let them go in 2021.

This is a sneaky good OT class and I can see Andy drafting one as early as 64 if one of them is there.

Yeah, he's undeniably a great candidate for an extension. The deal always looked like something of a 2-year contract w/ a window to revise in year 3.

But man, he'll have a LOT of leverage in those discussions and may not be overly eager to really bargain. 2021 will be his age 29 season and I can't imagine you'd be eager to push him much past 30 as a top of the market safety. That's just a real risky bet.

So if you approach him in 2021 and look to turn that $14 million base into a 3 year extension, how do you make it palatable for him? Convert $12 million of it into bonus w/ a $2 million base salary? Kicks $8 million into 2022 and 2023 as pro-rated cap, brings his cap hit down to about $7 million for 2021. Toss a $13 million base in for 2022 and $17 million base for 2023? Leaving a cap hit of $17 million for 2022 and 20 million for 2023 (knowing full well he won't see it)?

I'd say that borders on team friendly and it's STILL possible he wouldn't bite. And frankly it only kicks the can 1 year down the road (sees a $17 million cap figure in 2022 instead of $16.3 in 2021) while creating an $4 million dead cap charge for 2023.

There's just so many guys we'd "like to keep" that it's hard to see it happening. The cap just isn't structured to let teams hold onto 5-6 guys at/near the top of their respective markets. With Mahomes, Kelce, Hill, Clark, Jones and Mathieu....cap just isn't designed to let teams do that for any appreciable period of time.

Yea. He’s just more consistent/safe and ready to start day 1, which is what we need.

This is where the Browns I think would attempt to trade down and let the board fall into place so that they don't have to make as much of a difficult choice. There's like 5 different directions they could go.

They went boring and safe with their first pick, and you know what? The Browns could use boring and safe. They really could. If they had some boring and safe last year I think they could have won a couple more games.

They get an NFL-ready starter with a bright future and a brilliant resume at perhaps their greatest positional need. Yeah, they could go with higher ceiling players at other positions, but this is honestly exactly what they need right now.

The Cleveland Browns select Antoine Winfield Jr., S, Minnesota

Damn good pick.

You ****ing asshole.

The Jacksonville Jaguars select Austin Jackson, OT, USC

The Jags are thrilled to get a guy that was on their short list for 20 here.

The Indianapolis Colts are getting very excited right now.

Loving my Jags draft so far:

1. Javon Kinlaw
20. Jeff Gladney
42. Austin Jackson

Indy selects Tee Higgins, WR, Clemson. And we couldn't be happier. Going into the draft we had Higgins and Diggs as our top targets at number 34 and got them both.

Damn that’s who I liked good pick on higgins

I almost took him for the Bears but they have Fuller and absolute dick at CB.

When I drafted for the Eagles at 39 I was sitting safety - especially with Xavier McKinney on the board, but I really liked Antoine Winfield Jr. there too. Thought he would be an excellent fit for them, but went with the center because they don't really have anything to speak of at the position besides a one year rental.

The second round is going to be difficult for the Chiefs to sit through - so much good talent sitting there in the first half of the round in key area. This is why we need extra picks. Not only to land another top guy at a key position, but to give Veach some ability to move around.

Oh, hey, it looks like I'm up. Tampa didn't receive any notification, but then again we were at the early bird special at the buffet restaurant so we couldn't draft earlier anyway.

The air rings out with a festive song.

There is just one moon And one golden sun
And a smile means
Friendship to ev'ryone
Though the mountains divide
And the oceans are wide
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small, small world.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse come skipping down the aisle, holding a large covered object. They stop at the Tampa table and pick up the card, dancing merrily up to the podium.

https://parade.com/wp-content/upload...8_DL_04883.jpg

Mickey leans into the microphone.

"Football fans of America," he says. "Tampa is not just a team for the city of Tampa, but for all of central Florida. St. Peter represented St. Petersburg in the first round, and now Minnie and I are here to represent Orlando with a very special guest!"

With a flourish, Minnie pulls the cover off of the object they're carrying as Mickey exclaims, "Kids, say hello to the severed head of Walt Disney!"

https://media1.fdncms.com/orlando/im...frozenhead.jpg

"Mr. Disney will read the pick." Mickey holds the card up to the fluid-filled orb, and Walt Disney's eyes read the print. There's silence for a moment, and Walt's eyes look up at Minnie and then Mickey. The two mice confer quietly, whispering into each other's ears.

"It turns out that Mr. Disney no longer has vocal cords," Minnie says, stepping to the microphone. "So I'll announce that with the 45th pick in the 2020 NFL draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers select Jonathan Taylor, RB, Wisconsin. Yay, Wisconsin!"

With a trumpeting roar, Dumbo takes off to notify the Broncos that they're on the clock. Mickey and Minnie dance their way out of the drafting arena. Dumbo wears a special shirt with his name on it so that Elway won't confuse him with Garrett Bolles.

<iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/B5BP3OYgVN5ss" width="480" height="368" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/disney-elephant-baby-animals-dumbo-B5BP3OYgVN5ss">via GIPHY</a></p>

<iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/12ndJJDC9N0RSE" width="480" height="371" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/animation-black-and-white-dancing-12ndJJDC9N0RSE">via GIPHY</a></p>

Look at those cute mice dance!

The Broncos couldn't pass up on Wirfs in the first round and for the second, need to address a team need rather than just BPA.

The Denver Broncos select Brandon Aiyuk, WR, Arizona State.

The Atlanta Falcons select Marlon Davidson, EDGE, Auburn

That defense needs pass rush and Marlon should help with that.

The Pittsburgh Steelers select Clyde Edwards-Helaire, RB, LSU.

Matched with Connor, this gives them the elite backfield they need.

Love Davidson. Great pick.