How are former Kansas City Chiefs players faring in the UFL?

BREELAND SPEAKS

We're pretty sure if Brett Veach could redo any single pick in his draft catalog, it would be the time he traded up in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft for pass rusher Breeland Speaks.

Not only was Speaks the very first pick in Veach's career, but he was also the lead pick in what could be termed the single worst draft class in Chiefs' history. (Derrick Nnadi was far and away the best player in that entire rookie class.)

In case you've forgotten, Speaks was a tweener up front for Ole Miss who was too lumbering to succeed outside yet too slight to play with any force inside. After a run on pass rushers in the draft, Veach traded up to get the one guy he admitted was left at the position on the team's draft board before it was no longer viable.

As it turns out, Speaks was a poor fit for both Bob Sutton, the team's defensive coordinator in Speaks' first season, and Steve Spagnuolo, who would take over in 2019. Maybe that transition hurt Speaks' development for a player who already lacked a significant body of work in college.

Last year, Speaks signed with the Michigan Panthers of the USFL (then) and performed so well that he earned a look with the San Francisco 49ers. That tryout didn't work but he's back with the Panthers again and putting up numbers in 2024.

So far this season, Speaks has 12.5 tackles for loss—four more than his closest competitor in Chris Odom—and 8.5 sacks, both totals that lead the league. He also has one forced fumble.

It would have been nice to see these results in K.C., but his ongoing success in the UFL validates what Veach saw in the first place.