Warpaint Speculated

In what inevitably will be an offseason of thousands of mock drafts (including my own Mock Monday! series), some will inevitably be more interesting than others. After a while, mocks by their nature can become bland, especially as the Chiefs blogosphere becomes more and more of an echo chamber where roughly everybody begins to agree with one another.

But perhaps nobody has offered a more exciting, creative, and essential mock so far this offseason than Warpaint Illustrated’s Nick Athan, who has outflanked even yours truly when it comes to outside-the-box fantasizing for Pioli’s second NFL Draft with the Chiefs. Athan barrels through his mock with such reckless abandon that every other mock for the next two and a half months will seem downright conservative by comparison.

The biggest controversy of it all is that his mock features a litany of trades, some of which have been guesstimated here at AA. Here are among the biggest surprises of his entire mock (I encourage you to read the whole piece):

• The Chiefs trade out of the #5 overall to Buffalo for the #9 overall, their 3rd rounder, and their 5th rounder. With the 9th overall, the Chiefs select Rutgers OT Anthony Davis.
• The Chiefs trade no fewer than five of their players off to four different teams.
• The Chiefs have fifteen overall Draft picks.
• Four of their six picks go to offensive line. All four would likely start according to Athan, giving the Chiefs an opening day lineup of LT Davis (R), LG Asamoah (R), C Pouncey (R), RG Ducasse (R), and Albert.
• Three wide receivers are selected.
• No passrushers are selected — period.

Bravo, you crazy bastard. While nearly all of these items are incredibly unlikely, Athan beat everybody to the punch that the Chiefs would trade Jared Allen off for three draft picks a couple years ago (though the trade went to the Falcons for all three of their 2008 2nd rounders). So his thoughts are worth considering, especially since they’re this creative.

After the jump, we discuss some of Athan’s most interesting things we’d like to consider, and some of the things that just aren’t realistic.

Unrealistic: Waters has more trade value than Dorsey?
We get the fact that Waters and Dorsey are probably both on the trading block. Waters, an unhappy veteran who won’t be around for this team’s rebound, might still command some attention from other teams looking for his dependability and his guidance. And Dorsey has, shall we say, made less of a splash than one hopes in his first two years in the league. But for Waters to be worth a 2nd (to the Colts, a team that never trades for players) and for Dorsey to be worth a 4th is ridiculous. 4-3 DTs in this league are one of the most highly-valued positions, and Dorsey’s progress from 2008 to 2009 was evident to everybody who paid attention. If Athan had simply reversed the names (I think Dorsey is worth around a 2nd, Waters a midrounder), then I’d be 100% with him.

Intriguing: Gilyard-Thomas-Cooper as the Chiefs’ three WRs drafted.
This is a compelling one-two-three hit. Hell, as long as we can keep Chambers around another year, this could be our starting lineup in a year or two. Marty Gilyard I see as more of a slot guy, but he does have the ability to play wideout and it could be possible that he could develop into a solid route-runner. His ability to transition spooks me. Demaryius Thomas has been one of the few players this offseason that Paddy and I agree on as a big-bodied possession guy (I doubt he’d make anybody “forget about Dwayne Bowe,” though). And Riley Cooper is a great measurables guy that will be hanging around by the midrounds — a Pioli pick if there ever was one.

Surprising: trading Morgan away for a 6th?
Athan has the Chiefs trading away four players — two of which wouldn’t surprise me (Waters and Dorsey), one that would (Bowe), and one that would flabbergast me: sending FS DaJuan Morgan to the Patriots with a 6th rounder. Now, we knew when we drafted Morgan that he had fantastic speed and ability, but that he would need a truckload of refining. That can normally take a couple of years — I doubt the Chiefs are prepared to lose Morgan, especially for something as low as a 6th! Morgan looked fine in the time he played this year, he just needs a little more time.

Loving it: Cody and Joseph for the Chiefs’ two NTs.
This is a great one-two punch for the Chiefs if they manage to pull this off. I think Cody is close to a sure thing as a stud NT this Draft has to offer, and Linval Joseph has a ton of upside that could lead him to start in this league eventually. Together, they are 700 lbs, and if we were ever in our goalline defense, well, hand me the popcorn. A realistic and fantastic one-two punch at NT. Our worst position would become our most promising.

Madness: going OL with the #9 overall, and staying there for three of the next five picks.
Arrowhead Addict has pushed as hard as anybody in the blogosphere against the idea of the Chiefs drafting offensive line with the 5th overall. Our team could desperately use playmakers on the offensive and defensive side of the ball — offensive tackle, especially an overrated one like Anthony Davis, would be a disasterous acquisition with so much promise still on the board. Then, Athan spends two picks in the high rounds for guard — our most option-filled position on the OL. I am not opposed to Pouncey, but what Athan’s done is that he’s assumed that we can Draft an entire starting offensive line in one Draft. Considering that he even picks up a right tackle in the 5th, Athan truly does.

Outlandish: assuming the Chiefs sign Julius Peppers.
This is just worth mentioning because the offseason this year is going to be so treacherous that I don’t think it’s worth dropping historic sums of money on anybody, including Julius Peppers. We need that money for when the cap returns and we have a hole or two left to plug in for this team to be a Super Bowl contender in a couple years.

Disappointing: not one passrusher in 15 picks.
That’s right. Read it and weep. The Draft features some of the best elite passrushing talent in years, and goes quite deep (a potential player like Eric Norwood may not go off the board until the 4th!). If it were up to me the Chiefs would invest at least two picks in OLB. But instead, the only LB Athan opts for is AJ Edds of Iowa, who projects to inside linebacker.