It's now been three years since the 2023 NFL Draft and, as a result, evaluating how teams did in that particular draft is a little easier now. The Kansas City Chiefs entered the 2023 draft as the Super Bowl champions, so they picked last in the first round. They also had the honor of being the host of that year's draft, cranking up the pressure even more.
Unfortunately, the Chiefs' 2023 draft will likely go down in the books as mostly underwhelming. That reflects Pete Prisco of CBS Sports' redraft grade for the Chiefs, as he gave them a C- at the time of the draft and didn't budge from that grade three years later.
Prisco was particularly harsh on first-round pick Felix Anudike-Uzomah, who the Chiefs took with the final pick of round one. FAU, as he's commonly referred to as, has been a bust and that's what Prisco pointed to in his write-up.
"They took edge Felix Anudike-Uzomah in the first round and he has been a major flop so far. They then took receiver Rashee Rice in the second. He's been a good player -- when he's been on the field. Third-round tackle Wanya Morris has started games. Fourth-round safety Chamarri Conner has been a good solid player at a couple of spots. The rest of the draft produced little help."
When you put it that way, it's miraculous that the Chiefs received a C- from Prisco and not a worse grade. FAU truly has been a bust even though it's understandable why K.C. took him. They were hosting the draft and took a local, hometown kid out of Kansas State for the cool story and it hasn't panned out, unfortunately.
Rashee Rice is a good player but his off-the-field problems have clouded all of that. Wanya Morris hasn't been very good and Chamarri Conner has been fine. As noted though, the Chiefs haven't gotten much help from anyone ele in this draft and even those names listed aren't "Wow" names by any means.
Chiefs' 2023 draft failure is impossible to ignore
When reflecting on how he felt about the draft at the time, Prisco wrote:
"I questioned taking Anudike-Uzomah, which has played true. I said I didn't like his tape and I was right about that. I also praised the pick of Rice in the second. This was not a draft I liked then and it isn't one I like now."
It's not hard to blame Prisco for his assessments, and again, it's wild that he still gave the Chiefs a C- despite the draft class' shortcomings. It felt like a pretty underwhelming draft at the time and, years later, we can officially confirm that this group of players didn't hit the mark.
Not every draft class is going to be a home run like the 2021 and 2022 groups turned out to be. That being said, for a team hoping to contend for a Super Bowl every year, draft classes as poor as the 2023 squad ended up being can set a team back and we've seen that happen with the Chiefs. Hopefully, this was just one bad year for Brett Veach and the future draft classes end up being much more productive.
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