Rookie Review: Kansas City Chiefs draft class proved highly productive

The Kansas City Chiefs’ limited 2019 draft class provided production and high hopes for the future throughout the Super Bowl season.

Brett Veach has earned a tremendous amount of praise over the latter half of the 2019 season. Coming into this season, there was plenty of question marks regarding Veach’s body of work to date, whether it be free agent signings or his first draft class. As the Kansas City Chiefs have ended the 2019 season as Super Bowl Champions, however, let’s take a look back at the draft class that helped get them there.

After trading away Kansas City’s first-round pick as part of a packaged deal for Frank Clark, the Chiefs would not make a selection until late in the second round. Veach selected wide receiver Mecole Hardman and safety Juan Thornhill in the second round. Finding another speedy, dynamic weapon for Patrick Mahomes also benefitted the special teams unit as Hardman would become the next electrifying returner.

Thornhill helped solidify the safety group that had also signed Tyrann Mathieu over the offseason. The final pick inside the top 100 for the Chiefs was third-round pick defensive tackle Khalen Saunders. Kansas City would then wait until the sixth round of the 2019 NFL Draft before selecting cornerback Rashad Fenton at pick 201, running back Darwin Thompson at pick 214, and center Nick Allegretti at pick 216.

The Lombardi Luge is immortalized forever in t-shirt form!

Not having a first, fourth, or fifth-round pick meant that Veach had to nail the picks he did have. Unlike his first draft class in 2018, Veach found early contributors that look to be building blocks in the near future. Outside of his seventh-round pick, all of the rookies saw more than 100 snaps on offense or defense during the regular season.