2018 NFL Draft: Kansas City Chiefs trade up to take Kahlil McKenzie
By Matt Conner
The Kansas City Chiefs traded up late in the sixth round to make sure they secured the rights to defensive tackle Kahlil McKenzie.
The Kansas City Chiefs added a second sixth round pick to their draft haul by trading back up almost immediately after making their first selection in the round. After the trade, they announced their pick as Tennessee defensive tackle Kahlil McKenzie.
Interestingly enough, McKenzie is the son of Reggie McKenzie, the general manager of the Oakland Raiders—the Chiefs division rival. McKenzie is a 6’3, 314 lb. defensive line prospect who didn’t start until this last year in Knoxville. This season, he started 8 games for the Volunteers and had 35 total tackles and 2 sacks.
McKenzie was expected to be a late round prospect and might face a bit of an uphill climb to make the Chiefs final roster. Then again, it’s quite clear the Chiefs are hoping to radically remake this part of the depth chart and adding McKenzie only brings in further young talent to compete for a handful of roster spots.
The Chiefs have already added Breeland Speaks and Derrick Nnadi to compete for spots there at end and tackle respectively, although certainly such positions are fluid depending on the defensive package employed. This also gives notice to vets returning like Rakeem Nunez-Roches, Jarvis Jenkins and Allen Bailey that they might not have any job handed to them this training camp. As a unit they’re joined by starters Chris Jones and Xavier Williams.
An overview of the Chiefs draft class so far: