Rethinking The 2010 NFL Draft: Jon Asamoah

Aug 9, 2013; New Orleans, LA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs guard

(73) against the New Orleans Saints during a preseason game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The Saints defeated the Chiefs 17-13. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

In 2010 the Chiefs had five of the top 93 selections in the draft. It was considered to be a draft that was going to be a game-changer for the Chiefs. Instead the results were mixed.

Today we look at Jon Asamoah, who recently signed a big contract with the Atlanta Falcons.

Asamoah was taken with the 68th overall pick in the draft, which happened to be the fourth overall pick the fourth round. He was taken one pick ahead of Jared Veldheer, who, like Asamoah, left the team that drafted him, the Oakland Raiders, and signed with the Arizona Cardinals.

Pro Football Focus’ grading system liked Asamoah, who started 48 games for the Chiefs between 2011 and 2013. (He had one start as a rookie). In those three years Asamoah had overall grades of +8.9, +15, and +6.6.

In comparison to Veldheer, Kansas City may have made the wrong decision. After struggling mightily as a rookie left tackle (-18.5 overall grade), Veldheer bounced back to post grades of +16.5 and +22.2 in 2011 and 2012. Veldheer was injured for most of 2013.

The key to remember here is the Chiefs had a starting interior line of Brian Waters, Casey Wiegmann, and Ryan Lilja, with Barry Richardson as the starting right tackle in 2010. The Chiefs didn’t have an immediate need to get rid of Waters (though they did) and Lilja would play two more seasons for the Chiefs before retiring last year.

From 2009 to 2012, the Pioli era as it were, the Chiefs had three different right tackles – Ryan O’Callaghan, Richardson, and Eric Winston. Veldheer would have easily solidified the right tackle spot for Kansas City at a more affordable cost than Winston. It should be noted this would not have fixed the Chiefs interior offensive line needs, but Veldheer did prove to be the better player.

Big name players to be selected after Asamoah include Eric Decker and NaVorro Bowman. A trio of solid receivers – Brandon LaFell, Emmanuel Sanders, and Andre Roberts – also were drafted soon after Asamoah.

However, it was clear the Chiefs wanted to address offensive line with their pick – a good idea at the time and also in retrospect. The question is more or less did they make the right selection.

So what do you think, Addicts? What grade would you give the Asamoah selection?