The Kansas City Chiefs have a brief history with the NFL Supplemental Draft, one that ended with a bit of mixed results back in the mid-nineties.
One in forty-one. That’s the total amount of selections the Kansas City Chiefs have made in the history of the NFL Supplemental Draft, a lone choice in 41 years of the annual mid-summer event.
The only time the Chiefs have ever submitted the winning bid for a player came all the way back in 1992, when the Chiefs decided it was worth spending a future 2nd round pick for the chance to claim Darren Mickell, a promising defensive lineman from the University of Florida.
Mickell was dismissed from the Gators for off-the-field issues (maybe for a loan from an agent?) and entered the NFL via the supplemental draft. The Chiefs made a bid and won the rights to Mickell, who came in that first year behind everyone else and ended up with a single tackle in a single game in 1992.
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The next year, however, Mickell began to show off some decent pass rushing skills and turned a corner. He only started a single game in ’93, but he played in all 16 games and forced 2 fumbles, had 1 sack and 21 total tackles. The next year was his breakout year. In 13 starts, Mickell finished with a solid 7 sacks, 4 forced fumbles and 38 total tackles. In ’95, Mickell would play his final season with the Chiefs, adding another 5.5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles.
From there, the Chiefs traded Mickell to the New Orleans Saints in 1996, and the defensive end would play another three years in the Big Easy. He added single seasons with the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders before calling it a career after 9 years.
Mickell is one of the biggest success stories to come out of the NFL’s supplemental draft in that he played for nearly a decade, which is difficult for any player to achieve. That said, he cost the Chiefs a second round pick and was only a productive starter for a single season. The second round should deliver more impact than that, yet we also can all name several second round picks who have never turned out half as well as Mickell.
No matter how you view Mickell, it’s clear the Chiefs have a very limited history in the draft. If they submit a bid and win a claim on a player in 2018, it will be a bit of franchise history in the making no matter how the pick turns out simply for the fact that the move itself is so rare.