The Kansas City Chiefs should trade up for a quarterback

Thirty-four years ago, the Kansas City Chiefs decided to take a chance on quarterback Todd Blackledge in the first round of the NFL draft. The pick was a complete and total bust as Blackledge never developed and two quarterbacks taken after him (Jim Kelly and Dan Marino) went on to have Hall of Fame careers.

Since that fateful day, the Chiefs have not taken another quarterback in the first round of the draft. In fact, in the 33 draft classes since, they have only taken a total of 12 quarterbacks and none of those developed into NFL caliber players either. The history of Kansas City quarterback draft picks is a desolate wasteland, devoid of both player talent and franchise investment in the position. This year, it is finally time for the Chiefs to end this draught and not only take a quarterback in the first round of the draft, but trade up to do so.

If you listen to many “draft experts” you may think this is crazy. We’ve been told for months now that this is a weak quarterback class. I’m not even going to really dispute that. This class doesn’t have any guys that are viewed as surefire generational talents. Instead, there are four guys (Mitchell Trubisky, Deshaun Watson, DeShone Kizer, and Patrick Mahomes) that are all seen as potential first round guys, but the order of those four is widely debated. Pretty much any of those four could go to quarterback needy teams like the San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears, and New York Jets in the top ten picks or any of them could still be on the board when Kansas City selects at pick No. 27.

There are probably many K.C. fans out there that will have a wait-and-see approach when it comes to these quarterbacks. In other words, the Chiefs see who is available at pick 27 and take a quarterback if they like one that is there. The reason I’m opposed to that is because they will be putting the future of the franchise in the hands of a guy that was “leftover” after most other teams had a chance to take him. If the Chiefs are finally ready to end their 33-year drought of drafting a quarterback in the first round, they need to make sure they get the guy they want.