We’re less than a month away from the 2019 NFL draft. Most of the top free agents have signed with new teams. Front offices have begun organizing their draft boards. The upcoming season is getting very real.
The Chiefs still have several needs for the 2019 season that they must address in the draft. In order to best identify those needs we’ve divided them up into three categories: Upgrades, Depth, and Luxury.
Upgrades
EDGE
The Chiefs got rid of their most proven edge rushers (Justin Houston and Dee Ford) during the 2019 offseason. They’re left with a third-year player that hasn’t played much in Tanoh Kpassagnon, a second-year player in Breeland Speaks, and a veteran free agent acquisition in Alex Okafor. Kpassagnon and Speaks have a combined 3.5 sacks on their career. Okafor has 22.0 sacks during his six seasons in the NFL. Chris Jones could possibly end up rushing more from the edge in 2019 as well, he finished the 2018 season with 15.5 sacks.
While the Chiefs could certainly enter the 2019 season with this group as their top pass-rushers, it’d be leaving quite a bit up to chance. They’d be wise to upgrade this position through the draft, and do so early on in order to ensure they have a strong amount of options that can successfully get after the quarterback.
Corner
The projected starting trio at corner for the Chiefs right now are Charvarius Ward, Kendall Fuller, and Bashaud Breeland. For all we know this could be a very good group. Ward was blossoming into quite the corner before the end of the season. If Ford hadn’t been offsides against the Patriots in the AFC championship game, Ward would already be considered a Chiefs legend.
In the NFL they always say you can never have too many corners and while I’m confident that these three would be just fine, if the team can upgrade one of the three spots, it’d make the unit much better. They shouldn’t hesitate to do it.
Center
Austin Reiter filled in fine for Mitch Morse for 4-5 games during the 2018 season. Over the course of a full season will he be able to do the same? I’m not so convinced that the Chiefs can’t get better at the center position. Especially given the lack of proven depth behind Reiter.
Safety
The 2018 safety situation was a massive conundrum for the Chiefs. Injuries took out their two top safeties before the season started. Their young drafted safety was injured early in the season. That essentially left the Chiefs with a very barren position group.
Tyrann Mathieu is now leading the show, but the Chiefs really haven’t made any other significant changes at the position group beyond that. Since there is often more than one safety on the field, I’d expect the Chiefs are interested in upgrading this position in the draft.
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Depth
Tight end
Travis Kelce is clearly the lead guy for the Chiefs and that won’t change for a while. Demetrius Harris, however, departed in free agency. That means the Chiefs now have an opening at the No. 2 tight end position.
They’ve been looking for depth behind Kelce for a while now and have been entirely unable to find it. Harris, James O’Shaugnessy, and Ross Travis all failed to make an impact. In a deep tight end class, the Chiefs would be wise to finally invest in a solid second option behind Kelce.
Wide receiver
The Chiefs have some uncertainty at the receiver position. Sammy Watkins was injured for a good portion of the season. Tyreek Hill is currently facing allegations that could come with harsh penalties. The Chiefs also lost Chris Conley to free agency and will likely allow De’Anthony Thomas to leave as well.
The team has some depth pieces in Demarcus Robinson, Marcus Kemp, Gehrig Dieter, and Byron Pringle. They’ve also got some developmental pieces behind those players. What the Chiefs need to do is to continue to feed the pipeline of talent. Adding another weapon for Patrick Mahomes wouldn’t be the worst idea for the Chiefs.
Defensive tackle
The Chiefs haven’t done much revamping at the defensive tackle position. Right now I think they need to find some depth behind Chris Jones. They don’t have many players who can operate as the penetrating 3-Technique in the 4-3 defense. It appears that Xavier Williams is trying to make some strides this offseason so that he can contribute there, but the team would be wise to add another player who can fulfill that role.
Kick / punt returner
With De’Anthony Thomas likely leaving in free agency and an expanded defensive role for Tremon Smith also on the docket, the Chiefs need to find depth at the return man position. The Chiefs value special teams very highly and they have one of the most skilled coaches in the NFL when it comes to special teams.
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Luxury
Quarterback
The Chiefs don’t quite need a quarterback, even as far as depth is concerned they have three suitable options behind Patrick Mahomes. Still developing good quarterbacks is a sort of currency in the NFL, and if the Chiefs have the opportunity to snag one that they like to develop behind Mahomes, it could pay off down the line.
Offensive tackle
Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz are both under contract for a while, and they’ve both proven reliable during their careers. The Chiefs even have a few options at swing tackle behind them. There is a potential out year in Eric Fishers contract in 2020, and while you probably don’t want to cut your left tackle to sign your franchise quarterback, but it is an option. The Chiefs might want to add another body at this position with the option of having them take over next season.
Left Guard
The Chiefs have a lot of bodies that they could put at the left guard position, but none of those options really scream starter. Cameron Erving, Andrew Wylie, Ryan Hunter or even Kahlil McKenzie could potentially be the guys to play there. This is hardly a must-have because of the logjam of bodies, but if they had the opportunity to get better there they should take it.
Punter
Dustin Colquitt is the oldest player on the Chiefs’ roster. He’s still punting like he’s in his prime, but at some point retirement is coming for Colquitt. I doubt the Chiefs draft a punter, but they could certainly look at the undrafted free agents and bring in some training camp competition.
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