Can KC Chiefs afford a draft risk like Landon Dickerson?

There’s no doubt that one of the most well-known interior offensive linemen entering the National Football League next season with the incoming draft class is Alabama center Landon Dickerson. With plenty of starting experience at multiple positions, and having played at the highest level of competition that college football can offer, Dickerson comes as a pro-ready prospect for a team in need of answers on the inside. He also comes with major “durability concerns.”

Opinions about Dickerson range from one of the best interior linemen available to a health risk with athleticism concerns who could be a Day 3 find. In the midst of all of that, the Kansas City Chiefs are entering the offseason ready to tackle several questions about their own offensive front—something which Dickerson could potentially help with.

In a recent mock draft from NFL reporter Daniel Jeremiah, one of the more respected draft analysts around, he has the Chiefs selecting Dickerson in the first round at No. 31 overall. He writes, “Dickerson, who’s recovering from an ACL tear, comes with durability concerns, but the Chiefs are in position to make this type of bet on the best interior O-lineman in the draft.”

This whole pick is very interesting for two primary reasons and we’re giving them more weight than we might otherwise given Jeremiah’s standing as an expert.

First, Dickerson as a first-round choice over several other potential picks would become a very polarizing choice on draft night. That’s not to say the Chiefs should care one iota about what fans think of it in late April, but it’s true all the same. Given his injury history (which includes only one season that did not end in injury in college), the pick itself seems shaky even if he is a game-changer in the middle.

Landon Dickerson doesn’t seem reliable enough for the Chiefs in 2021.

Even more than this is how Jeremiah thinks the Chiefs are just fine with taking this sort of risk. As a fan who just watched the Super Bowl loss, it almost feels like the opposite is true. The Chiefs are going to have to finagle with the salary cap just to make low-level moves in free agency, and they’ve got an entire offensive line to repair. Mitchell Schwartz might retire. Eric Fisher might miss the season. The bulk of the interior needs a major upgrade as it is without worrying about Laurent Duvernay-Tardif coming back from a year away.

The Chiefs do have Lucas Niang and LDT as incoming players who could potential remake the right side of the line, assuming Schwartz is out with a serious back injury. From there, the Chiefs will still want to import someone in the middle and potentially on the left side as well in the draft. Can the Chiefs really afford to bring in another player with a questionable injury history? The team already seems awash in guys who are health concerns without drafting another one.

None of this is Dickerson’s fault. Some players are especially talented yet seem cursed when it comes to health concerns. Sometimes, in the case of the L.A. Chargers, an entire team can seem unlucky as well when it comes to injuries. But the Chiefs seem ill-positioned to be able to take a guy who more often than not lands on injured reserve.