Grading the Kansas City Chiefs 2021 NFL Draft Class

The 2021 NFL Draft is now officially in the books. When the draft came to a close on Saturday, the Kansas City Chiefs found themselves with six new players that they had selected. If you are a diehard draft nerd like I am, you may have had strong opinions on some or all of these players from the moment they were selected. Others may have immediately started researching who these players are so you can start to form some opinions on if you like them or not. Either way, once the draft is over, we all turn our attention to the time honored tradition of draft grades.

This may sound like a silly way to start a draft grades piece, but let’s be honest here, draft grades are kind of silly. We all know it. The gut reactions of NFL writers to picks before they play a single snap in the NFL and without any real knowledge of what a team saw in the player or how they plan to use them rarely hold up. The draft grades always look drastically different a year later and even more different five years down the road.

So why do them?

For the same reason you read mock drafts, look at big boards and player rankings, and go over scouting reports. It’s interesting to see what people think about these players. What I mean is, if you care enough to see who a writer is mocking to the Chiefs before the draft, why wouldn’t you be curious about what that same writer thinks about who they ended up drafting? If you thought enough of their scouting reports before the draft to read them, why wouldn’t you care enough to see if they think the players they took are a good fit for the team?

It’s time to grade the KC Chiefs draft class of 2021.

The bottom line here is we’re all obsessed with our teams and who they are going to draft. We’re draft junkies who want that fix of any content that has to do with our team. That having been said, it does drive me crazy when I feel like a national writer assigns grades that don’t seem to be based on a true understanding of the Chiefs. That could be a lack of understanding of who they have on the roster, what they look for in players, etc. I also hate it when they don’t really explain where their grade came from—like they just pulled it out of thin air.

So if I’m going to do some post-draft grades I’m going to be fully transparent. I’ll show you where that grade comes from, and I’m openly admitting that these players could certainly prove my grades wrong for better or for worse.

You can check out my report card for the 2020 draft class here. Looking back at it, I feel pretty good about my grades on some players, but can admit that L’Jarius Sneed and Mike Danna outperformed my expectations. I still think it’s interesting to see what the initial impression of the picks are, and I’m glad I can go back and see how I graded them—even when my take on the pick was off.

So before we get started, let me explain how I’ll grade each pick. I’ll assign each pick a grade in five categories.

1. The first is value/reach for that draft spot. Was the player expected to go earlier or did most think they would be available in later rounds?
2. Second is a grade for if he was the best player available. It’s possible that a player could be seen as good value for that slot, but that there may have been players on the board that had even greater value there.
3. Third, does that player fill a need on the roster? That could be an immediate need or one for depth moving forward.
4. Fourth, how much long term upside does a player have? Is his ceiling a star player, starter, role player etc?
5. Finally, is that player a good fit for the Chiefs? Does he fit what the Chiefs typically look for and is he well suited for how they use players at his position.

Then I’ll average those five grades together for a total pick grade. So let’s get things started with the Chiefs first pick of the 2021 draft.