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hen the 2022 NFL Draft is underway, the Kansas City Chiefs will have a league-high 12 draft picks to utilize. However, they don’t have the roster space to bring in 12 rookies, which means using some of that draft capital to move up the board is a possibility.
In the first round, the Chiefs have two draft picks: the 29th and 30th overall picks. Based on some of Kansas City’s roster needs — which include adding at wide receiver, edge rusher, and cornerback — using one or both of those draft picks to move up on Day 1 and get a premium player at one of those positions might be of interest to the Chiefs.
Kansas City general manager Brett Veach detailed his thoughts on potentially trading up in the first round of the draft.
“I don’t probably expect a huge jump up unless something unforeseen happens, but we’ll be flexible and let the board talk to us,” Veach said during his pre-draft press conference on Friday, April 22.
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Chiefs Have Limited Amount of 1st-Round Grades
Moving up in the first round would likely only happen if a player Kansas City has graded highly begins to slip down the board. But how many first-round grades do the Chiefs have this year?
Not very many.
“I think there’s a lot of similarities to the [2021] draft. I think we have right around 16 to 18 names on our front board as first-round picks,” Veach explained. “Picking at 29 and 30, our odds of maybe one of those guys falling isn’t great, but at the same time, we probably aren’t factoring in quarterbacks that most teams do. I’m sure there are quarterbacks worthy of a first-round grade, we’re just obviously not going in that direction.”
If you factor in teams that might want to draft a quarterback in the first round, the players the Chiefs have graded as first-round talents could all be gone by picks 19 to 21, which are owned by the New Orleans Saints, Pittsburgh Steelers, and New England Patriots respectively.
Despite a scarcity of first-round talent on Kansas City’s big board, Veach detailed that there’s a lot of value in the draft, specifically in the second round. That works in the Chiefs’ favor, as they have four selections in the first two rounds.
“But I think similar to last year, when you look at value in this draft, [picks] 30 to 60 is really good. We were able to get Nick Bolton, Creed Humphrey last year [in the second round], I think there will be a lot of value similar to that, a lot of really good players in that second, third round.”
NFL Media’s draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah echoed similar remarks to Veach during his press conference with NFL reporters on April 21.
“You know, I actually like where [the Chiefs are] positioned. You talk to other GMs around the league, I think that’s kind of actually the target area, is kind of that late first, early second. It’s kind of the sweet spot of this draft,” Jeremiah said.
“I know there’s been scuttlebutt about them trying to potentially move up, but I like where they’re positioned.”
Chiefs 2022 Draft Picks
Here is a list of Kansas City’s draft picks in 2022:
- Round 1: No. 29 (from SF via MIA)
- Round 1: No. 30
- Round 2: No. 50 (from MIA)
- Round 2: No. 62
- Round 3: No. 94
- Round 3: No. 103
- Round 4: No. 121 (from MIA)
- Round 4: No. 135
- Round 7: No. 233 (from MIN)
- Round 7: No. 243 (from LV via NE)
- Round 7: No. 251
- Round 7: No. 259
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