Let’s take a look at the use of every first-round pick for the Kansas City Chiefs ever since Brett Veach took control as general manager.
There’s one primary evaluative method that should be utilized in the National Football League: Super Bowl wins. From there, a team might lean on Super Bowl appearances or deep postseason runs, or even playoff appearances, but there’s no denying that championships are the goal and, with that in view, general manager Brett Veach has done a remarkable job with the Kansas City Chiefs.
It’s important to get all of this out first because the larger perspective can fade from view pretty quickly when you get lost in the weeds. After all, Veach’s first couple of drafts weren’t pretty, some signings were questionable, and some trades were surprising. Everyone has to learn on the job, but a general manager is under the microscope from day one and it can be hard for many GMs to rebound from a bad call or overcome their own mistakes.
That’s definitely not true for Veach. These days, he’s drafting as well as anyone in football. He’s also a restrained shopper in free agency who has learned to pursue the necessary big-ticket items needed to win and then allow the deals to come to him from there. It’s working so far as the Chiefs have a lean operation without any serious financial woes on the budget and yet they’re the defending champs. Oh yeah, the roster is also incredibly young with another 10 draft picks on the way.
On the eve of the 2023 NFL Draft, and yet another first-round pick to utilize, we thought we’d look back at the way Veach used his first several first-round choices to see what grade we would give him for each year.
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2018: Used in trade for Patrick Mahomes
Honestly, what more needs to be said here from the outset?
The Chiefs would get an A+ for this trade if they’d surrendered five more first-round picks for Patrick Mahomes. Instead, they got it done with two late firsts and a third in a deal with the Buffalo Bills in the 2017 NFL Draft and they’ve been laughing at the rest of the league ever since.
The Chiefs haven’t made a road trip in the postseason since Mahomes arrived, except to make their way to a neutral site for a(nother) Super Bowl appearance. They are the class of the NFL with Mahomes under center and they’re going to stay that way until Mahomes hangs up his cleats. When you can trade two first-round picks in exchange for generational dominance, you make that deal every time.
Grade: A+
2019: Used in trade for Frank Clark
Back in the 2019 NFL Draft, the offices at Arrowhead were still being reconfigured to accommodate Steve Spagnuolo and a new defensive staff after years of Bob Sutton on the sidelines as defensive coordinator. To help the roster accommodate the change as well, the Chiefs needed a new defensive anchor up front who would serve as the team’s primary pass rusher and leader.
One man who fit the role was frustrated out on the West coast. Frank Clark was a young, talented defensive end who had just threatened to sit out of team workouts until he got a new contract from the Seattle Seahawks. While Seattle GM John Schneider said all the right things about wanting Clark long-term, the truth is that he was working behind the scenes to secure a solid draft haul for the rights to Clark so his team could move on from the drama.
In the end, the Chiefs traded their first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, a 2020 second-round choice, and a swap of third-round choices in 2019 in order to get Clark on the roster. They immediately followed up that trade announcement with news of a new five-year contract for Clark to make him comfortable in K.C. Just like that, Spags had his new leader.
The Seahawks had mixed results on the trade haul they landed, as defensive end L.J. Collier was the main prize, the first-round choice gained, and he put up three sacks in four years before leaving Seattle. However, the Seahawks gained some valuable cap space and they flipped some other picks for some current starters, including linebacker Cody Barton.
As for Clark, his legacy is a polarizing one for some Chiefs fans. He never provided the regular-season production that fans expected from a $20M/year player on the books, but there’s also no denying his leadership in the locker room and his ferocity on the field when it mattered most. When the lights were brightest, Clark was at his best and the results speak for themselves.
We’ll dock the grade a bit here, but the truth is we should all be thrilled with this run of success no matter the cost. Remember, keep the bigger picture in mind.
Grade: B
2020: Clyde Edwards-Helaire, RB, LSU
Oh, boy. Of all of the moves on this list, Veach would surely love a mulligan on this pick. However, we should tread lightly here—at least in blame.
Heading into the 2020 NFL Draft, Clyde Edwards-Helaire was a red-hot running back climbing draft boards who was on the verge of potentially being a day-one selection. The Chiefs were looking to bolster an offense that was already the talk of the NFL with Patrick Mahomes throwing to Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce in their prime. The loss of Kareem Hunt, however, had taken away a vital cog in the proverbial wheel, and it was clear the Chiefs wanted to add that level of dynamism to the backfield once again.
With Edwards-Helaire on the board, the Chiefs decided to make him the first running back taken in the draft instead of attending to real needs—making a luxury pick with Brett Veach’s first use of a first-round pick. Even Mahomes reportedly signed off on the pick himself, and the immediate response from many analysts was that it felt “unfair” for the Chiefs to have such an abundance of riches.
Three years later, Edwards-Helaire is on the trade block and was a healthy scratch in the postseason after losing his lead-back role to a former seventh-round choice in Isiah Pacheco. Edwards-Helaire doesn’t get enough credit for what he does bring to the table, but that’s the way it goes when you’re a first-round pick and the first RB taken overall—especially in front of Jonathan Taylor.
As for a grade, there’s only one way to go. The Chiefs could have used help at a number of positions and great value picks were right there. The very next two picks were wide receivers like Tee Higgins and Michael Pittman. Imagine how the Chiefs’ offense would look with one of those picks in-house. At safety, Antoine Winfield Jr. went a few picks later and offensive lineman Robert Hunt was also right there for the taking.
The good news is that the Chiefs’ top-tier talent is so good that they can somehow absorb a complete miss in the first round like this one, but Veach definitely made it tougher on himself by whiffing on this pick.
Grade: D
2021: Used in complex trade for Orlando Brown Jr.
In the spring of 2021, the Chiefs entered the offseason with a single top priority: remake the offensive line. In the aftermath of a devastating loss in the previous year’s Super Bowl, in which a patchwork o-line finally fell apart in the face of a relentless pass rush from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, general manager Brett Veach set out to completely overhaul the line left to right.
Free agency began with mixed results for the Chiefs. While their pursuit of a new anchor in left guard Joe Thuney went as planned, their overtures to lure Trent Williams away from the Bay Area failed in the end, leaving the Chiefs without a clear option at left tackle after such a public chase.
For a few weeks, the Chiefs went silent at the position and left fans wondering if someone like Alejandro Villanueva or Russell Okung was going to fill the role. Then Veach came out with a mega-deal with the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for Orlando Brown Jr., a former right tackle demanding to play the left side who was also searching for a new deal.
The exact deal came down to first, third, and fourth-round picks in the 2021 NFL Draft along with a fifth-round pick in the 2022 draft in exchange for Brown, a second-round choice, and a sixth-round selection in the 2022 NFL Draft. The Chiefs used the second-round choice on Nick Bolton and used the sixth to trade for Vikings cornerback Mike Hughes the following year. Meanwhile, the Ravens nabbed defensive end Odafe Oweh and guard Ben Cleveland and then traded other picks to help acquire cornerback Shaun Wade, lineman Daniel Faalele, and tight end Charlie Kolar.
Opinions about Brown will vary from fan to fan, but it’s hard to argue with the fact that he was at least a solid left tackle for two seasons in which a Super Bowl was won. The Chiefs also walked out of that deal with Nick Bolton in the heart of the defense. Still, given Brown’s financial demands and brief tenure, we’ll go with a B.
Grade: B
2022: Trent McDuffie, CB, Washington
It’s hard to believe that Brett Veach’s first successful first-round pick that was used as an actual first-round pick was just last year. Veach decided to package a couple of mid-round picks to be able to move up from No. 29 overall to No. 21, which gave the Chiefs the draft position they needed to grab a top-tier cornerback in Trent McDuffie out of the University of Washington.
McDuffie entered the draft with a pro-ready resume, given his years of experience in the Pac-12 to go with Washington’s well-respected work with defensive backs. While McDuffie was just the latest such prospect, he also has the potential to be the best in a bright pipeline with the sort of dynamic instincts and responsive athleticism that made him a lockdown corner even in his first season.
Of course, it took a while for fans and the team to really see what McDuffie can do given the hamstring injury that robbed him of the first several starts of the year. But once McDuffie arrived and settled into the secondary with L’Jarius Sneed in the slot and Jaylen Watson on the other side, the Chiefs pass defense took things to a whole new level.
Quarterbacks this year will learn to steer clear of McDuffie, if they’re smart, which means the Chiefs will have an offense-limiting weapon roaming in the secondary for the next few years after making such a wise investment.
Grade: A
2022: George Karlaftis, DL, Purdue
As if McDuffie wasn’t enough of a win from last year’s draft class (or even the entire body of work in the secondary), the Chiefs also grabbed a nice defensive cornerstone at No. 30 overall with their selection of Purdue pass rusher George Karlaftis.
Karlaftis came into the draft as one of the most recognized players in college football from his previously dominant seasons at Purdue. However, Karlaftis also struggled later in his college career to live up to the strong production he showed during his freshman season (17 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks)—partially due to injury—and it raised some concerns about how he might progress at the NFL level.
Fortunately, Karlaftis’ adaptability, teachable posture, natural talent, and non-stop motor created an ideal candidate for positional coach Joe Cullen to work with. It took several weeks for Karlaftis to look the part for four full quarters, but he really took off in the second half of his rookie campaign. Karlaftis finished the year with 6 sacks, 7 pass deflections, and a higher pressure rate than any other rookie edge rusher in 2022.
Going forward without Frank Clark and Carlos Dunlap, it makes sense for Karlaftis to take a step forward as he gains experience. His ceiling is unknown but his floor is rock solid and that’s good news for Steve Spagnuolo’s unit going forward.
Grade: A-