Kansas City Chiefs: Post Draft Gut Reactions

The 2017 NFL Draft is officially in the books. The Kansas City Chiefs had an eventful three days where they completed several trades and ended up drafting six new players. If you are like me, you have probably spent a little time reading national media “draft grades”. I know I shouldn’t waste my time reading them, but I can’t help myself. The problem with these grades is that they are based on that writer’s draft rankings and that writer’s perceived team needs. If a writer thought K.C.’s biggest need was long snapper and they didn’t draft one then they’ll get knocked in that writer’s rankings. If a writer thought that Deshone Kizer was the best quarterback in this draft they’ll probably knock K.C. for trading up to get a different guy. You get the point.

That’s why I’m not doing draft grades this year. They don’t mean anything. Want proof? Exactly one year ago I did a draft grade post for the 2016 draft and my lowest grade went to the selection of Tyreek Hill. Now, in my defense the low grade was based largely on Hill’s domestic violence incident, but if I’m being honest I didn’t have the slightest clue that Hill would be such an effective offensive weapon as a rookie. I thought they were simply drafting DeAnthony Thomas’s replacement on special teams.

So this year I am keeping an open mind and admitting that none of us know for sure what the future holds for any of these players. We can hope. We can make logical assumptions based on the game film we have seen and things that we have read. That’s what I’m going to give you today. My gut reaction to each of these picks.

Let’s begin with the big one that will define this draft going forward.