Over at CBS Sports, a recent column from Chris Trapasso featured a re-engineering of the 2021 NFL Draft class after a single season in the league. His question: how would general managers change things around if they knew then what we know now?
While there are many questions surrounding such an exercise, one thing made clear is that the Kansas City Chiefs made out incredibly well last spring—as if Chiefs Kingdom didn’t already know this. While the Chiefs knew they had made solid picks in numerous rounds (and had watched those picks make a considerable impact in their freshman seasons at the professional level), the redraft only points to how ridiculous the class turned out to be for K.C.
Trapasso’s redo put two of the Chiefs’ best rookies from last year within the top 12 picks overall. That’s not bad for a team that didn’t even make its first selection until the bottom half of the second round.
A redo of the 2021 NFL Draft over at CBS Sports shows just how ridiculously good the Kansas City Chiefs draft class turned out to be.
Coming in at No. 11 overall, Chiefs rookie center Creed Humphrey was taken by the New York Giants in this redraft effort by Trapasso, giving the Giants their long-term answer in the heart of the offensive line after years of struggling to find reliable help. Humphrey was a Week 1 starter for the Chiefs up front and he’s the latest in an increasingly long line of excellent centers drafted in the last decade by K.C. (e.g. Rodney Hudson, Mitch Morse).
With the very next pick, former Tennessee guard Trey Smith arrives at No. 12 in the single biggest jump of the entire redraft. Smith was selected by the Chiefs in the sixth round after medical concerns from previous blood clots in college pushed him down or off of draft boards entirely. The Chiefs took the risk in the sixth after getting a go from their medical team and reap the considerable rewards. In this effort, he goes to the Philadelphia Eagles at No. 12.
What’s crazy about this whole exercise is that the Chiefs just awarded the Mack Lee Hill Trophy last week, which annually goes to their top rookie, and he isn’t even listed here. That honor went to linebacker Nick Bolton, a rookie who led the league in tackles for loss despite playing a rotational role with the defense. Bolton is on the outside looking in here in terms of a first-round redraft, but there’s no doubt he would go early in the second round if Trapasso were to continue this into a longer feature.
It’s possible the Chiefs will get more from Joshua Kaindoh on the edge, Noah Gray as a pass catcher, or even wide receiver Cornell Powell at some point. But any time a Super Bowl contender can add three starting rookies from a class that didn’t feature a single first-round pick, that’s an incredible haul, and Trapasso’s redraft shows it.
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