A Chiefs fan’s guide to the NFL Draft: The Linebackers
The NFL Draft is only a few weeks away and the Kansas City Chiefs have several positions they could address. This week let’s look at some linebackers.
As the 2018 NFL Draft gets closer and closer, many Kansas City Chiefs fans like myself become almost obsessed with figuring out which players will join our favorite team. It wasn’t all that long ago that we the fans just had to take the word of talking heads like Mel Kiper Jr. when it came to draft prospects.
Thankfully that is no longer the case. Not only are there numerous scouting reports available from different sources but you can go to YouTube and watch actual play-by-play game cut-ups to really see a player in action. This allows armchair draft enthusiasts like myself to spend hours pouring over different players looking for the ones that seem like the best fit for our team. This post is the third in a series of five posts that cover my favorite options for the Chiefs at positions of need.
If you would like to read the first two installments you can find them at the following links:
The Chiefs fan’s guide to the NFL Draft: Cornerbacks
The Chiefs fan’s guide to the NFL Draft: Safeties
This week its time to look at the linebackers. Now, I was originally going to title this installment “The Edge Players” or “The Pass Rushers”, and that is essentially what this post is centered on. However, as I watched all of the players I came to the realization that several of my favorite guys that were going to make the list weren’t a clear cut traditional outside linebacker. Three of the five guys on this list could actually play a couple of different roles in the Chiefs defense (but more on that in a minute).
For those that haven’t read the first two installments of these posts let me be clear about how I put these lists together. First, this isn’t a list of the guys that are the best available in the draft. I think Bradley Chubb and Harold Landry are great, but since there isn’t any realistic chance that the Chiefs can draft them there isn’t much point in us Chiefs fans studying/debating them. Instead I’ve tried to stick to prospects that the Chiefs have a realistic shot at drafting. The five guys on this list aren’t even the five best guys that will be available when the Chiefs make their first pick. What I’ve done is identify a handful of guys that should be available in rounds 2-5 that would fit best in Kansas City. That way if the Chiefs go cornerback or safety with their first couple of picks there should still be some linebacker prospects on the board for Chiefs fans to target.
The last thing I’ll add before we get to the prospects is that the outside linebacker spot opposite Justin Houston is a big question mark for us fans right now. Do the Chiefs think Dee Ford will be healthy and able to start all season? Do the Chiefs think Tanoh Kpassagnon will develop enough going into year two to be a regular contributor or maybe even an option to start? If the Chiefs think Ford will be 100% and Kpass will develop they might not see OLB as a big need. However, if they don’t think Ford will be able to stay on the field and that Kpass is still another year or two away then they may feel like they need to draft someone that can contribute from day one. We just don’t know.
Let’s start with the outside linebacker that I think would be the best fit for the Chiefs but is probably the most likely to be off the board when Kansas City picks.