The Mock Draft Board

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Snow on the ground, in Kansas City at least, the anticipation of the big man coming and bringing lots of new toys to play with. The hope that the next year will be better than the last. Yes, it’s almost time for the Arrowheads Abroad live mock draft. I’ve read more scouting reports than my kids have presents on the Christmas letter to Santa, we’ve interviewed Kent Swanson from Arrowhead Pride to talk about the Arrowhead Pride Draft Guide and how to approach attacking pockets.

We’re all set. The draft board is done, unlikely to change. Although it is on version 17 or so at the moment so that’s not set in stone. With that in mind, let’s get down to business..

Needs

Do the Chiefs need a Tackle? I think I might have read that somewhere. Long arms required. If you aren’t comfortable with Lucas Niang starting there having had a year off, despite Andy Reid’s praise, then we need to address that early. Sammy Watkins departure left a hole at Receiver that probably isn’t Demarcus Robinson or Byron Pringle shaped. The cornerback room still looks thin on the ground unless Brashard Breeland comes back. Again. A Linebacker that can cover would be useful but not high on the list. Looking longer term there is depth needed on the O Line, Long and Dr Larry are back after a year off but how much do they both still have in the tank? Pass rush was an issue at times last year, a good edge rusher or two to add depth and allow rotation would be very helpful.

Approach

So I’ve broken down our draft board into rounds. Essentially who I would feel comfortable picking and which round I would be happy to take them. There is a little need bias thrown in here and there is a little position bias thrown in too. Some of the players could go early in the round, some could go later, the option could be there to trade down into a lower round and pick up the player we like. That’s the beauty of the draft, you just don’t know how it’s going to shake out. So, without further ado, let’s bring out the board in no particular order…

1st Round

Some of these are going to be available early in the 2nd if we want to trade down out of the 1st, some will be available mid round if we want to trade up, some at the end of the round if we stay put. CB and IOL are good options here.

3rd Round

Brady Christenson	OT	BYU	6ft6	300lbs
Walker Little	OT	Stanford	6ft7	309lbs
Stone Forsythe	OT	Florida	6ft9	315lbs
Dillon Radunz	OT	North Dakota	6ft6	301lbs
Tylan Wallace	WR	Oklahoma St	6ft	190lbs
Josh Palmer	WR	Tenessee	6ft2	209lbs
Amon Ra St Brown	WR	USC	6ft1	194lbs
Aaron Banks	IOL	Notre Dame	6ft5	338lbs
Quinn Merinez	IOL	Wisonsin	6ft3	320lbs
Deontet Brown	IOL	Alabama	6ft3	364lbs
Tommy Tremble	TE	Notre Dame	6ft4	248lbs
Hunter Long	TE	Boston College	6ft5	235lbs
Dayo Odeingbo	EDGE	Vanderbilt	6ft6	276lbs
Jordan Smith	EDGE	UAB	6ft6	255lbs
Rashad Weaver	EDGE	Pittsburgh	6ft4	235lbs
Patrick Jones	EDGE	Pittsburgh	6ft4	234lbs
Payton Turner	EDGE	Houston	6ft5	270lbs
Pete Werner	LB	Ohio State	6ft2	242lbs
Dylan Moses	LB	Alabama	6ft2	235lbs
Baron Browning	LB	Ohio State	6ft3	241lbs
Jamin Davis	LB	Kentucky	6ft3	234lbs
Chazz Surrat	LB	North Carolina	6ft1	227lbs
Shakur Brown	CB	Michigan State	6ft	180lbs
Kelvin Joseph	CB	Kentucky	6ft1	192lbs
Asante Samuel	CB	Florida State	5ft10	184lbs
Andre Cisco	S	Syracuse	6ft	209lbs
Richie Grant	S	UCF	6ft	200lbs
Talanoa Hufanga	S	USC	6ft	205lbs

The 3rd round looks like a strong round for defence. Plenty of options at EDGE and LB here, or possibly some high upside development OT if we look to double dip there.

4th Round

Robert Hainsey	OT	Notre Dame	6ft4	290lbs
Spencer Brown	OT	Northern Iowa	6ft8	314lbs
D’Ante Smith	OT	East Carolina	6ft5	294lbs
Nico Collins	WR	Michigan	6ft4	215lbs
Sage Surratt	WR	Wake Forrest	6ft3	215lbs
Simi Fehoko	WR	Stanford	6ft4	220lbs
Ben Cleveland	IOL	Georgia	6ft6	335lbs
Josh Myers	IOL	Ohio State	6ft4	312lbs
Tre McKitty	TE	Georgia	6ft4	247lbs
Janarius Robinson	EDGE	Florida State	6ft5	266lbs
KJ Britt	LB	Auburn	6ft	239lbs
Ambry Thomas	CB	Michigan	6ft	182lbs
Trill Williams	CB	Syracuse	6ft2	198lbs
Benjamin St Juste	CB	Minnesota	6ft3	200lbs
Caden Sterns	S	Texas	6ft1	207lbs
Divine Diablo	S	Virginia Tech	6ft3	226lbs
Paris Ford	S	Pittsburgh	5ft11	190lbs
Damar Hamlin	S	Pittsburgh	6ft1	201lbs

Plenty of development options here. Some big WRs to take a look at, maybe another Sneed waits in one of the DBs. There are gems there, we just have to find them.

5th Round and beyond

Austin Watkins	WR	UAB	6ft3	210lbs
Tammorian Terry	WR	Florida State	6ft4	209lbs
Jaelon Darden	WR	North Texas	5ft9	174lbs
David Moore	IOL	Grambling State	6ft1	350lbs
Michael Menet	IOL	Penn State	6ft5	273lbs
Sadarius Hutchinson	IOL	South Carolina	6ft4	320lbs
Drake Jackson	IOL	Kentucky	6ft2	290lbs
Chauncey Golston	EDGE	Iowa	6ft5	268lbs
Charles Snowden	LB	Virginia	6ft6	232lbs
Garret Wallow	LB	TCU	6ft2	230lbs
Grant Stuard	LB	Houston	5ft11	230lbs
Derrick Barnes	LB	Purdue	6ft	245lbs
Robert Rochell	CB	Central Arkansas	6ft	195lbs
DJ Daniel	CB	Georgia	6ft1	185lbs
Tre Brown	CB	Oklahoma	5ft9	188lbs
Deommodore Lenoir	CB	Oregon	5ft11	202lbs
Tariq Thompson	S	San Diego State	6ft	200lbs

A lot of Special Teams fodder here with the outside chance they develop into role players. Good options at IOL again, Golston the EDGE is a personal favourite too.

Dry run Mock Draft

A few players were available at 31 that I liked and I fancied I could still get somewhere high in the 2nd. The Bucs wanted to trade, they gave me a 4th to move up one spot. Too good to pass up. I then offered the Jets 32 for 34 and a 4th, they duly accepted. At this stage the last 1st round player on my board was Mayfield so I took him. So many options at the end of the 2nd round, this is probably the hardest pick, but I went with ‘Baby Gronk’ Pat Freirmuth because the idea of Andy Reid with a pair of TE that can run and catch is too fascinating to pass up. I had multiple 3rd round EDGE at 94 that I liked, in fact I dipped back in at 137 because one was still available there. The pair of 4ths that I picked up in the trades added a big bodied WR in Palmer and IOL depth in Banks. Late rounds were then used to stock up on defence with a pair of CB hoping to find another Sneed along with a replacement for Sorenson for next season.

All told, I’d be very happy with something like this if the board falls well when we do our live mock, but, you never know…