Drafting Chiefs: Favorites, names, and a dream draft

Draft Day Notes and John Dorsey’s Press Conference

Saturated College Teams

I am generally wary of prospects who come from a school that has a high number of draftable players. At Alabama many players are overvalued because they have won big for a number of years in a row but the problem is being able to truly evaluate an individual on a team like that. Is a player good because they’re really good, or are they good because they played with a bunch of other guys around them who were good?

That being said, I like a lot of the players coming out of Ohio State this year and expect several to have quality careers with multiple Pro Bowl years coming from the bunch.

180 Ranked Prospects

In his press conference yesterday, John Dorsey said, “This is a good draft… you can find starters in every round of this draft and even in free agency.” I would agree with him but what I want to know as Joe-the-plumber-everyday-fan, exactly who those prospects might be?

When asked this week how many players he has on his draft board, Dorsey said, “I’ll be truthful with you, 180.” Five years ago, right before the  2011 draft, in my first piece for Arrowhead Addict (which I link below) even then I was attempting to determine that very thing. Which players are on John Dorsey’s hot list? The following may help determine that.

Pockets of Quality

John Dorsey also stated this week that he sees this draft as having “pockets.” That’s his word. He said,

"“I think the strength of this draft will be, you could say, from number 1 to 12… then you could blend that number, in here from I’d say, 13 to, I don’t know, 13 to 30, then you could take it from 31 to down to about 60.”"

Recently in response to a question Bert, a super blogger here at AA, asked about the prospects this year, I stated,

"“… there’s the top echelon from 1 to 10ish… then there’s a bunch who are “the same player” quality wise from 10 to say 40… then there are a bunch who are the same guy from 40ish to about….. you get the idea.”"

That’s an important piece of information Dorsey shared because it not only confirms my speculations but it also may help to determine whether or not he would be interested in trading backwards on draft day when he gets a call from another team willing to move up to take a player who is in that higher ranked pocket. In other words, it looks like the chances of Dorsey trading backwards just went down with that statement. At least in the first round.

In the second round? Sure, why not.

The Tell

Dorsey also said on Friday,

"“The game of football has evolved into a passing game… and I think it is important to have as many defensive backs on your team as you possibly can have.”"

More than anything I’ve read or heard so far this year, I think this may be telling about how the Chiefs will go in the first or second round: the Chiefs need defensive backs!

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Side note: this coming Tuesday marks the 5 year anniversary of the first article I wrote for Arrowhead Addict, on April 26th 2011. The title of that article was “Three Scenarios and the Cat’s Game.” The piece you’re reading now is my 381st feature length article (meaning: 1,500 words or more) for AA and it’s been a pure pleasure! A special thank you to all our readers and bloggers. You guys and gals are what makes this web site possible. Oh yeah, and the reason for the season: the Chiefs are… Still the One!

Rock on Chiefs!!!!

What do you say Addict fans? Have any random thoughts about your own dream draft… personal favorites… names that stand out… or draft day insights? If you have no comments, play “Caption this Photo” with the following picture.