Why The Kansas City Chiefs Will Draft A Defensive Lineman In The First Round

1. Ra’Shede Hageman – Minnesota – 6’6″ 310 lbs

I’ve been on the Hageman bandwagon for about a month now. I wrote THIS draft profile on him back on March 3rd. If you want a more detailed profile of him, give it a read. Here’s the bottom line. I believe Hageman is the most physically dominant defensive lineman in this draft. He has been inconsistent at Minnesota, but he has also flashed some of the most impressive size/speed abilities that I’ve seen from any prospect. If you watch some cut ups of his games on Youtube you’ll see periods where he’ll disappear for a while before making another freakishly athletic play.

You know who else had inconsistent college tape but whose sheer physical abilities made him too tempting to pass on? Dontari Poe. While Poe and Hageman are different players, their freakish combination of size and athleticism is similar. In fact, I’d argue that Hageman actually made a lot MORE plays in college than Poe did and against a higher level of competition. KC was able to capitalize on Poe’s abilities and he has become one of the cornerstones of their defense. If they were able to the same thing with Hageman they would have the most physically imposing pair of defensive tackles in all of football. There is literally no other combination of interior players that could come close to their size/power/athleticism.

While you can draft a starting WR or safety in the third round, you simply can’t find 6’6″ 310 pound defensive linemen with that kind of athleticism anywhere but early in the draft. Players like that don’t drop into the mid rounds. Their upside is just too great. If you have never seen Hageman in action, here is a video of some of his highlights.

If Hageman is my top choice, there is a very close second that I believe could be equally effective and an option at pick #23…….