Getty Images The Chiefs are scheduled to pick No. 32 overall in the 2020 NFL Draft.
The Kansas City Chiefs quiet offseason has continued well into April with only five outside free agents added to the roster since March 18. The lack of “splash” moves has been strategic in nature for the defending Super Bowl champions, however. Up against a tight financial situation this offseason, the Chiefs have been able to retain the majority of their impending free agents from last season. The most recent re-signing of CB Bashaud Breeland ensures that 20-of-22 total starters from the 2019 team will return for Kansas City in 2020.
With no glaring holes on the roster, the focus turns to the fast-approaching NFL Draft from April 23-25, where general manager Brett Veach and his staff can likely hone in on the best available player available with the team’s No. 32 overall pick in Round 1.
In a mailbag article posted to The Athletic last week, Chiefs staff writer Nate Taylor offered some intriguing insight on whether he believes Kansas City will stay put at No. 32 overall once the draft rolls around.
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For context, Veach has yet to trade back with his first pick in the past two drafts as the Chiefs’ GM. In 2018, the Chiefs moved up eight spots in the second round to select defensive end Breeland Speaks. And last year, the Chiefs moved up five spots in the second round to select receiver Mecole Hardman. This year, though, I do think it’s more likely that the Chiefs move down from the 32nd pick since the team has just five picks — all in the first five rounds — in the draft.
Veach is known for making shrewd selections in the second and third rounds of previous drafts, and there are plenty of talented prospects this year who will be available then. By moving down, the Chiefs could get an additional pick in the second or third round as they work to surround superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes with young talent as he enters the prime of his career.
With just five picks on the docket this year and less than $3 million in salary cap space as of writing (Over The Cap), the Chiefs are prime candidates to move out of Round 1 altogether, with the possibility of striking a deal with a team in the market for a young signal caller.
After all, it’s not unprecedented for teams to move back into the first round to scoop up free-falling quarterback prospects. In 2018, the Baltimore Ravens traded up to the No. 32 spot with the then-Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles to select now-NFL MVP QB Lamar Jackson. Four years prior in 2014, the Minnesota Vikings jumped up to the No. 32 slot to draft another Louisville star QB prospect, Teddy Bridgewater, after sending their 2nd and 4th round picks to the Seattle Seahawks.
As for the last time the Chiefs drafted a player 32nd overall, you have to go back to 1965 when the franchise selected Saginaw Valley State WR Frank Pitts, albeit in the fourth round. The only other instance occurred two years prior in 1963 when the Chiefs picked OT Daryl Sanders out of Ohio State in Round 4 as well.
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Chiefs ‘More Likely’ to Trade Out of Round 1 of NFL Draft This Year