Given the overall success of the franchise since Andy Reid arrived on the scene in 2013, the Kansas City Chiefs haven't made many top-10 picks in the NFL draft in recent years.
In fact, since Reid came to town, he's only had two such selections, first selecting Eric Fisher at No. 1 overall after Kansas City went 2-14 under Romeo Crennel and then taking Patrick Mahomes at No. 10 overall in 2017. That second selection, of course, didn't originally belong to the Chiefs, as they traded up 17 spots from No. 27 in order to take the Texas Tech signal-caller. So, yeah, this doesn't happen often.
On Thursday, however, following a dreadful 6-11 campaign, Kansas City is currently slated to make its first pick at No. 9 overall. But in his latest mock draft, SI's Conor Orr has the Chiefs making a trade with the Cleveland Browns in order to move up to No. 6 to select Miami offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa, with the following being his reasoning:
"Andy Reid wants to hammer the offensive line in this draft and, with Cleveland having so many holes, Kansas City can get the assurance of picking the correct tackle, not just the remaining one, as the team has done in so many recent end-of-first-round selections.
"Mauigoa’s back injury could make this an interesting discussion point, but he is still believed to be the best offensive lineman in this draft. The Chiefs also have the 40th selection, which they can bundle with No. 39 to get back into the first round if need be (stay tuned)."
SI's mock draft has the Chiefs also giving up their other first-round pick
As you saw above, Orr mentioned the No. 39 pick, and that's because his full trade scenario has the Chiefs sending both of their first-round selections (Nos. 9 and 29) and a sixth-rounder (No. 210) to Cleveland and receiving the No. 6 pick and the Browns' second-rounder (No. 39) in return. So, that's why that was there.
It's an intriguing idea, but including that second first-round pick at No. 29, which they received from the Los Angeles Rams in the Trent McDuffie deal, just doesn't seem very likely. Yes, it's only moving back 10 spots, but those 10 spots could matter quite a bit in terms of talent. As Orr mentioned, Kansas City could bundle the 39th and 40th picks to get back into the first round, but we're talking some unrealistic Draft Day kinds of things there if you ask me.
And we haven't even gotten to Mauigoa's back injury yet, which could seemingly shake up the entire first round. For those who didn't see the news, it was reported on Monday that the consensus All-American and Jacobs Blocking Trophy winner has a herniated disc.
While currently asymptomatic, if things go in the wrong direction in the future and it requires surgery, he could conceivably miss three months of action. And that's obviously not what you want from a top-10 pick.
Naturally, reports are that teams now have concerns about drafting Mauigoa that early. But maybe that ends up being a good thing. A herniated disc obviously shouldn't be taken lightly, but there are far worse injuries that can hinder a player. So, maybe if the teams sitting ahead of the Chiefs get scared off, Mauigoa can just fall into Kansas City's lap at No. 9, and Brett Veach can keep his other picks.
But we'll just have to wait and see how this all shakes out.
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