On a mini-break/detox following the draft, but I wanted to chime in with my draft grades since I haven’t done so yet.
DE Tyson Jackson, LSU (1,3)
B -
Damn near impossible to argue that he’s not a reach. On the other hand, he almost certainly will not be a bust given Scott Pioli’s track record drafting defensive lineman. He also might be the part of our defense that allows other past first-round picks like Derrick Johnson and Glenn Dorsey to play like first-round picks. If that’s the case, then this grade could ultimately become an A.
Traded for OLB Mike Vrabel and QB Matt Cassel (Traded Second-Rounder)
A+
After seeing what the Jets gave up for Mark Sanchez, you have to give a second-rounder for Cassel and a 2007 Pro Bowl linebacker a perfect grade.
DT/DE Alex Magee, Purdue (3, 67)
B-
Purdue is known for it’s hard-nosed, hard-working players (Bernard Pollard), but there were bigger areas of need. A good pick, but by no means a great one.
CB Donald Washington, Ohio St. 4 (102)
D
This was not a position of need at all. Additionally, Washington wasn’t that good in college. He has “workout warrior” written all over him. His 45-inch vertical is nice, but are we trying to win a Super Bowl or a Slam Dunk Championship? The only reason I didn’t flunk this pick is because Pioli’s track record with defensive backs.
Rounds 5-7
C-
The Chiefs addressed some needs in these rounds, but there were often much better players on the board. Additionally, the Chiefs failed to get a pass-rushing outside linebacker, even as the draft wound down. The Colin Brown and Jake O’Connell picks are pretty worthless. I doubt either player will ever make any noise. Same story with Jarvarris Williams. I doubt his game will ever match his name. The only reason I gave this a C- is because the Chiefs addressed special teams by adding a both a kicker and return man who could actually stick.
Overall Grade
C
This was a very underwhelming draft. Still, it’s hard for me to be too tough on Pioli. First off, he has a great track record. Second, he wasn’t working with his own scouting department. Third, this is a weak draft. Fourth, he brought in Cassel for only our second-rounder.
I now think Pioli intentionally brought back a 2010 second-rounder in the Tony Gonzalez deal. Pioli has always shown a lot of patience when it comes to trading for draft picks, and it looks like he thinks next year’s draft class will be better. How else can you explain zero trades in a day where trading buddy Bill Belichick made about a dozen (and he also stockpiled 2010 picks, further backing up my theory).
If Tyson Jackson allows the 3-4 defense to come together, Quenten Lawrence becomes a good return man and Ryan Succup wins the kicking job, then I can live with this draft. Especially if Cassel pans out. Otherwise, this draft will look very Vermeilian when we look back at it.
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Pretty much the same grade, but i really like TJ I would have gave him a B+ only because he’s not that quick at the DE position but he’s very powerful and can read the O really well and Magee a C, Chiefs should have drafted Jarron Gilbert instead of Magee so my overall is a C
I would say the overall draft was a C- with Cassel. If I were to grade the actual draft day, I would say a solid “D”. The lack of a first round trade hurt the Chiefs and frankly, Raji may have been a bigger need. Since we picked Magee in the third, Raji would like nice in the middle. 4th rd pick was awful, many good players were available that we needed. 5th rd same thing.
My draft w/o trades:
R1 #3 DT BJ Raji-Boston College
R3 #67 DE Alex Magee-Purdue
R4 #102 LB Lawerence Sidbury-Richmond
R5 #139 OG Duke Robinson-Oklahoma
R6 #175 Cb Morgan Trent-Michigan
R7 #212 C AQ Shipley-Penn St
R7 #256 LB Dannell Ellerbe-Georgia
1. Tyson Jackson deserves at least a B+. He wasn’t a reach for Pioli and Co. because he was their best player available at a spot of need. This is the guy they wanted, period. Not to mention his versatility.
2. I can’t give a possible one-year wonder at QB and an old linebacker an A+. Even though I like the trade, it cannot be considered a homerun at this point by any means.
3. Magee is another solid pick at perhaps the most important position in our new defense. It was needed. Again, versatility is a factor here.
4. Donald Washington adds depth to our secondary and versatility as a potential kick returner. He is fast and athletic.
5. Hopefully Pioli and Co. saw something in Colin Brown that no one else did. He is athletic, and will hopefully provide depth to our O-line, seeing as he has played every O-line position. I’m guessing he’s a project.
6. Quinten Lawrence — watch this guys highlights. He is FAST. Kick returning option at worst, the speed compliment Dwayne Bowe needs at best.
7. I don’t look for Javarris Williams to play much of a role. Short yardage back at the very most.
Jake O’Connell is extremely athletic. I’m thinking he’s more of a project than anything right now, but he could end up being a very good receiving tight end one day… hopefully sooner than later.
Ryan Succop… forget this pick, I wanted Ellerbe or Sakoda. I don’t see this guy becoming the next Adam Vinatieri but who knows I guess.
Overall grade: B-
When the comment is made that in rounds 5-7 there were better players on the board than the guy that was picked. We should keep in mind that Pioli has his own draft board and it may not be the same as yours, Mel Kiper’s, or Todd McShay’s. I’m sure they took the best player available that they thought was also an area of need. Honestly, I think it is pointless to grade a draft right after it. We’ll see how this turned out in about three years.
Let me qualify myself first. I am a fan but I don’t have an X’s and O’s knowledge of football. I am confused on the comments on Colin Brown. I thought the general consensus was that we needed to take a right tackle in the mid to late rounds cause that is what we want to pay for that position. I watched missouri enough to see them spread thier line out wayyyyy wide so have to assume that he is very mobile and can work in space like a tackle has to do. His size makes him a mountain of a man to do this doesn’t it? I have no clue what other right tackles were available but maybe a bit of Kansas anti missouri bias on this rating this pick??
The Star has a good article about Brown. After reading the article it makes me think there is a lot of room for growth with him. He thought he’d be playing basketball so he put most of his time and energy into hoops. He never even played O-line in high school. He played guard at first and then tackle. With his size and good feet from his basketball background, the Chiefs may have found a guy that they can coach up into a solid starter in a year or two.
I have done it before, but now that I really think about it, grading a draft before even seeing the players play is the most retarded thing you can do. Honestly, no body has any idea who is going to be a bust, and who is going to step it up and become a stand out player. Obviously the guys who make the picks always think they are scoring an A, otherwise they wouldn’t make those particular picks in the first place. Look at last years draft. Everyone gave us an A largely in part to the Dorsey pick. Revisit that today and that grade may slip a bit. Revisit it in 3 years and it could very well turn out to be a D. Point is, you never know. Grading drafts before anything has even happened is rediculous.
who cares about draft grades, we dont know how good they are until they play, RMB tank tyler and mc bride(Tank & Turk)Soon to be failures (HOPE NOT)BUT we got some A-and B+ grades like (SIMS next sapp,MORRIS,SIAVII sapp part 2,WILSON-TONy G’s replacement,FOX-?garbage,PARKER-unstopable,FREEMAN-send him to EUROPE.we just dont know shit till they play.so for this whole draft grade who cares wait till they are on NFL soil
Have to agree with birddaug everyone says we have to get a right tackle including the people on this sight and we draft a kid that’s looks fully capable of being a very good right tackle and you say its a bad pick… The only down said i’ve read about brown is that speed rushers may beat him on the corner which can be countered with a tight end there to chip the end and make him go inside before releasing on route especially since cottam is a much better blocker than receiver at this point.
Adam:
Nice read and I basically agree. The draft was filled with lots of reaches. It will be interesting to see how Pioli fills his remaining holes. I am not including the Cassel trade in my comments. We beat that one to death already.
2383 said it pretty good. Why grade the draft now? Because there is nothing else to do, I guess. Completely pointless. Pioli has drafted ole players for the team, and that’s fine. I won’t complain if it helps us change the losing culture that has been constant in KC for the past 3-4 years.
*role players, not ole players. (Can we get an edit option?)
NO WAY you can give Donald Washington a “D” grade, hes probly the only guy drafted who wasn’t a “reach”, and that “position of need” arguement you used is bogus. Travis Daniels is by no means a solid nickel CB, Donald Washington IMO is. I honestly thnik that this draft will go down as one of the best for this franchise, and be on par with some of the great drafts Scott Pioli had with the Patriots.
ok now I know people are not watching the actuall players.. and are mostly seeing his coll, team colors.
Brown can play… no MU didnt throw tons of money into promoting him, like other teeams mostly the big ten (over rated again for the last ten years)
do to there players…yes those who dont know coll.s’ do throw money into marketing their senior players to the media, big time they do it…
MU has had a very good line for a while, i dont care that the okies sfties who play linebacker got to mu…lol(why do you think people dont draft them as linebackers)
I say brown actually has a shot at starting this year, really I do
as for washington I like that we have tall guy now…
I have never liked short corners, no matter the scheme. a tall cover corner allows more options.
look at bowe , if our QB sees’ bowe going into the endzone from 30 yards out against a short corner in a man coverage…
you know where the ball will be going…lol
just saying having two taller man corners allows more coverages we can run without risking as much…
beside man cover guys can still play cover two as well…
We also cant jump in now and say posativley that washington is a only show guy…even if he only jumps 30 on the field I take him over flowers…lol
beside guys I would love seeing flowers play nickle
overmatching the third wideout..
Washington is a home-run hitter as a KR. If he’s productive in the regular defense, that’ll be good, too. I agree with you on size in the d-backfield.
James Hasty was one of my favorite CBs. His physicality made it REALLY hard to beat him over-the-top, because he held up the receiver at the line with a tremendous jam. And if the QB adjusted his timing route to the shorter depth, Hasty was fast enough to make a play on the ball. It was VERY tough to complete passes against him, although it was easy to misinterpret his “lucky” plays, when the ball was overthrown, as a result of pass rush in combination with great jam.
Drafts are like doctoral dissertations. Final grades are pending your getting finished, and may not be awarded for YEARS. In that spirit, I’m with many of you, and award an IP (for “In Progress”).
If these new kids are instrumental in a Chiefs SB, it’ll be an ‘A’.
It’s WAY too early to give out any C’s or D’s, in particular. For instance, what’s the most prevalant mismatch in the league today?
WR-vs-CB.
Especially on the goal-line, where a dink pass for a jump ball is commonplace.
Don’t like Washington’s speed? How much speed does he need, defending the short field? He sizes up as a player who can close on the ball and make a play on it at its highest point. Even if that’s ALL he can do, it’s an instant upgrade on red-zone defense.
Even as a project, Colin Brown brings instant PUNCH to the short-yardage game, and without bending things out of shape to THROW to Tony G, a TE on his right shoulder mitigates against his being stuck in space against a speed rusher. He might not be great on the 2nd-level, but it looks like he can come in right away and, in league with Cottam, put an END to LJ’s being met 4 yards in the backfield on the strong side.
Just a thought on Washington, but does anyone know if he played any WR since HS? What about a red zone threat where they throw the fade and he just out jumps everybody for it? Sound familiar in Haleys offense.