Mel Kiper Talks NFL Draft, Kansas City Chiefs

Apr 25, 2013; New York, NY, USA;

(Central Michigan) is introduced as the number one overall pick to the Kansas City Chiefs during the 2013 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

ESPN’s Mel Kiper did a conference call with various media members. Why? I don’t have an answer to that. What I do know is he made a couple comments relevant to the Chiefs and the draft. Relevant enough Terez A. Paylor tweeted them out for us.

Let’s dive in.

MICHAEL SAM

Sam would make a ton of sense for the Chiefs in the sixth or seventh round as a situational pass rusher. We’ve discussed this before, but the Chiefs do not have a lot of depth on the defensive line or at linebacker when it comes to pass rushers. It needs to be something they address at some point in the draft.

What Sam brings is a motor, a great work ethic, and a natural ability to rush the passer. Look, one doesn’t become a co-SEC defensive player of the year for just being an average football player. His body and lack of natural athleticism will limit his ceiling, which is a lot of the reason why he is dropping in the draft. But he is exactly the kind of role guy Kansas City needs on defense.

FIRST ROUND PICK

Kansas City just lost four starting linemen, three of them on offense, and Kiper still has Beckham to the Chiefs if the Jets don’t take him first. Either he knows something we do not about where the Chiefs are going in the draft or he isn’t aware of all the changes on the offensive and defensive line.

ERIC FISHER

This says less about Fisher and more about how good this 2014 draft class is and how bad the 2013 draft class was. It may actually be a compliment to Fisher he is as high as number four on Kiper’s list. This year is loaded with offensive tackle talent so to be ranked fourth means you’re probably still a first round pick.

One of the main issues with Fisher in his rookie season was he simply was not strong enough to handle powerful pass rushers. This caused him to cheat on things which only compounded the problem. Throw in the injuries and it makes sense why Fisher wasn’t great in year one.

However, his issues are easily correctable. A year in the weight room and another off-season of mini-camps, training camp, preseason games will do him a lot of good. The talent is there as Kiper’s ranking would suggest. He just needed a year to develop it.