One of the 2023 NFL Draft’s top offensive tackle prospects, Broderick Jones, is visiting with the Chiefs on Wednesday.
The Wednesday of the week before the annual NFL Draft is held is the last day that a team can use one of their 30 official visits with a draft prospect before the big event, and the Kansas City Chiefs are squeezing in an important one with the arrival of Broderick Jones at Arrowhead, per NFL reporter Ian Rapoport.
The Chiefs have already spent a bit of time with Jones back at the NFL Combine and now they’ve brought him in for a longer visit. It is, of course, impossible to determine what this meeting represents since we’re so close to the draft. Is it all a smokescreen to throw teams off the scent of other interests elsewhere? Is this intended to clear up some variables about his stock and cement his position on the draft board? Or is the team interested in making a move in the draft to go get Jones?
In terms of acquiring Jones, a move up in the draft is what the Chiefs would have to do to get him by all accounts. Mock drafts typically have Jones taken in the top half overall which would cost the Chiefs a pretty penny to move up and get him. Is that worth the reach? It could be, depending on how the Chiefs value him on their big board.
Jones is a big tackle at 6’5″, 311 lbs. with the versatility to play either side at the pro level. He certainly handled top competition at Georgia, and he’s still young as a redshirt sophomore who decided to turn pro. He’s big and strong. He’s athletic with great feet. He has very little in the way of obvious weaknesses, and the Chiefs have to love what he would offer in terms of protecting Mahomes, especially on a cost-controlled deal. That said, do they have the goods to go get him? Would it be worth the draft assets to make it happen?
The Chiefs have checked in on a number of tackles this pre-draft season, whether via an official visit to the team’s home or spending time in interviews at the NFL Combine or various all-star games or pro days. Some of those names we’ve already heard linked to the Chiefs include Oklahoma’s Anton Harrison, Appalachian State’s Cooper Hodges, Maryland’s Jaelyn Duncan, Michigan’s Ryan Hayes, Alabama’s Tyler Steen and more.