Conventional wisdom says that going to the grocery store on an empty stomach is a bad idea. The research is clear: hunger negatively influences your shopping choices and increases the chance you’ll wind up with unnecessary items in your basket.
With the 2023 NFL Draft less than two weeks away, this strategy also applies to Kansas City’s first-round selection. The Chiefs have had a number of players depart in the first wave of free agency. Fortunately for general manager Brett Veach and company, they’ve done enough to backfill open roster spots that they won’t have to be impulsive buyers come April 27th.
There are roster spots that could stand another impact player, but the Chiefs don’t have any glaring holes at this point. If Kansas City stands pat at the bottom of the opening round, they won’t need to reach on a player to fill a need. The process of finding the right prospect will only require them to assess which positions provide them with the greatest value at 31. As of right now, it appears the positional value is more likely at edge rusher and right tackle, but the cards may fall a different way on draft day.
A balanced approach to the first wave of free agency has set the Kansas City Chiefs up to draft the best player available with the 31st overall pick.
There are, of course, other considerations to be weighed by Veach. His decision will also need to evaluate the depth of each position group. If he has a choice between Boston College’s Zay Flowers and Kansas State’s Felix Anudike-Uzomah, he’ll need to be mindful of the differential between Day 1 and Day 2 talent at those respective positions (wide receiver and edge). If there’s a comparable receiver at 63, the smarter play is to draft Anudike-Uzomah. That, again, is the luxury of having a balanced roster coming into the draft.
The primary objective of the BPA approach is to prioritize prospect quality. It’s not the appropriate strategy for every team, but for one with few holes like Kansas City, it often produces the greatest return on investment. During a presser at the NFL Scouting Combine, Brett Veach had this to say about his draft methodology:
"When you’re a good team, you have a lot of good players, so you don’t have a ton of money to spend in free agency. At the same time, when you hit the draft, you’re picking at the bottom of each round, but I also think there’s hidden value in that: you don’t overthink things. You just let good football players fall to you."
Given Kansas City’s recent track record, it’s tough to argue with the way they’ve handled the NFL Draft. In 2022, their first-year players logged 161 games played. That is by far the most a Super Bowl-winning team has had over the past 42 years. The Chiefs have a core of young talent secured to inexpensive deals for the next two or three years. This affords them the ability to take a narrow focus on this forthcoming draft. They can simply look to improve depth and upgrade the overall talent on the team’s roster.
The most successful organizations in the National Football League have a consistent modus operandi. When you think about the most competitive franchises in pro football, teams like the New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Baltimore Ravens come to mind. They have one thing in common: they tend to draft well year in and year out. Such has also become the reality at One Arrowhead Drive. If that trend continues, the Chiefs could very well need more room to house future Vince Lombardi trophies.
Brett Veach put on a masterclass in 2022 and will soon have yet another opportunity to remind the league that he’s one of the best general managers in the business. He’s done his due diligence in the early part of free agency. Now, he can sit back and let the highest-graded player on his big board fall to him at 31. The Chiefs have 10 picks in this year’s draft. Whether or not they make all 10 remains to be seen, but another class like the one drafted last April keeps this team in the driver’s seat in the AFC.