Though the offseason is only a few days old a recent article on mocks has typified the Kansas City Chiefs conundrum, by saying that of all the NFL’s first round needs, theirs is the most obvious: the need for a wide receiver.
While I couldn’t agree more, that’s not who I believe the Chiefs should pick in the first round of the 2015 draft.
Now, before you go all ranting and raving and blabering and blustering ballistic on me, please here me out. If you happened to read Lyle Graversen’s AA post last week called, “Fixing The Kansas CIty Chiefs Offensive Line” then you may be aware that others like myself share the same point of view about the tactical potentials found within the draft.
Here’s what I mean by tactical potentials.
There are an equal number of quality wide receivers to be found, and had, in this coming draft, as there were in last year’s draft. While… at the same time… there are a limited number of high quality offensive tackles. Not that there aren’t good offensive linemen to had later in this draft, it’s important that the Chiefs get themselves a top shelf OT to plug-and-play for the 2015 season. Every other lineman should be considered developmental.
While most any lineman taken after the first round in this coming draft should be considered developmental, the same should not be said of all the wide receivers.
I have already done a goodly, and perhaps ungodly, amount of watching tape on potential draft picks for the Chiefs this year. I’m excited to see who the Chiefs will draft at wide receiver. There are wide receivers who can be had throughout any of the middle rounds who are so good that they can not only get open on their own, a skill most current Chiefs wideouts lack, but also possess the speed to score on their own, and I don’t need to say any more about the Chiefs wideouts in that department do I.
I recently have begun to use the 2015 Fanspeak.com mock draft generator to see how the Chiefs might come out, armed with the little that I do know about the offensive linemen and wide receivers who are available. I’ll share my most recent mock with you in a moment. However, I’d first like to share an observation that was revealing to me. One that has me coming to this understanding: that the Chiefs must draft an OT in the first round.
Below, you will find a list of the players who were listed as available players, IN THE SECOND ROUND. The list on the left shows the available players when an OT was chosen in round one: 6-5, 315, OT La’el Collins from LSU. On the right you’ll find a list of available players left over after a wide receiver was chosen in the first round: 6-3, 209, WR Kevin White.
While Centers and Guards are available, it’s clearly not a Center or a Guard that will serve as the primary “fix” for the Chiefs offensive line woes. On the left list, Ereck Flowers is the only OT available but he will likely be gone as well, because he’s ranked 42nd here and the Chiefs are selecting around the 49th or 50th pick. Besides, the Chiefs need to pick up at least two offensive linemen in this draft (and one of them has to be an OT) so they’d still be looking for someone else later even if they could somehow get OT Ereck Flowers in the second. The important point here is that this was a pattern, the more I would create mock drafts… the more I would see a deficiency of OTs available in the second round… and thereafter.
So, based upon this newly revealed information about this coming draft, here’s my mock.
While it appears that Fanspeak hasn’t yet gotten the exact order correct, there are several factors to be taken away from such a mock.
I think La’el Collins could be plugged in a at RT and the Chiefs would be a better team immediately.
Following is a breakdown of each of the other mock draft picks.