After a grueling scouting process (likely to be cut short by celebrating a power Victory), Kansas City general manager Brett Fitch spoke to reporters Thursday. His comments from his annual pre-draft press conference give some insight into the direction his team might go when his time on the clock begins Thursday night.
Gifted pockets
Kansas City fans may not want to hear Fitch’s assessment of where his draft talent lies; Chiefs appear in the three position groups that I highlight.
“I think it’s a good defensive back team,” he claimed. “I think there are a lot of angles. Every year you go to the Combine, and you have a bunch of guys [Round] 1 and a group of men in [Round] 2 – and then they usually do some kind of work themselves either higher in class or lower in class.
“And it looks like all these guys in that second wave of corners went to the Combine and ran a 4.3. The numbers were insane. These are all big, athletic, fast corners. I think it’s a really good experience in the defensive backfield – and I think there’s a depth behind the linebacker, [and the] The narrow end class is good.”
According to Veach, the defensive back is the position that teams will use to judge recruiting talent as a whole.
He predicted “I think it could be seen by some teams as really deep, because if you need a DB, I think you’ll think it’s a really good class – and if you’re good at that position, you might say it’s a weak class.”
In the early part of his tenure at the Kansas City front office helm, Fitch had a reputation for getting past corners. Last year’s draft — in which he traded in the first round for cornerback Trent McDuffie before selecting three more cornerbacks — should thwart that narrative.
Fitch admitted, “I know there was some joking about that we didn’t appreciate the situation—and we’d just find them late, and I think it speaks to us more. It’s a good problem, but we pick late—and sometimes those angles just aren’t there. Either the draft doesn’t have it.” Numbers – or people who fall later in rounds 1 or 2 maybe for some reason they don’t fit our nature or personality [standards]. “
Even though the team loaded on defensive backs one year ago, don’t expect Fitch to shy away from the position if he sees value there.
“If we have opportunities like we had last year with McDuffie, we will because we value the position,” he stated. “If we can’t get a corner, we know how hard it is to find these guys [and] How much does it cost in free agency.
“I think that was part of the process [last year]. Let’s get the numbers on this one. Let’s work with the coaches. Let’s take a look at the angles. Let’s really shorten those numbers and get it [real] Dialogue is here – and don’t be afraid to take several men.”
Player value between teams
For three days next week, 32 teams will select 259 rookies across seven rounds. What makes the process so unpredictable is how different each team’s talent ranking is. Veach has an idea of where the difference is from team to team truly Begins.
He noted that “the first 50 men are probably consensus men”. “I think once you get over 50 there’s a smaller skew – but once you get to round three it’s ‘all bets’ – and there are guys we have in round seven who top three and vice versa.”
The architect of two Super Bowl champions believes the internet has had an impact on the search for top talent in the draft.
Veitch admitted: “You’ll get a few balls here or there in innings 1 or 2, but the numbers aren’t very high. I think maybe it was more bearable back in the day – but now, with social media and all the sarcasm, there are no secrets anymore.” Some guys think, “This guy’s going to steal here in three,” so likely that by the time the whole process is over, there’s a consensus across social media that this guy’s going to go in one.
“Maybe it doesn’t necessarily mean the guy’s jumping three to one, but the guy isn’t asleep, what have you, or a little kid in school. There’s a lot of coverage in every aspect of this. I mean the pro days get the live networks coming down to There to do a live feed. So there’s not a lot of secrets, so it’s been less over the years.”
Top 30 hits
Arguably the biggest misnomer for the draft process is Top 30 hits. The term indicates that it is reserved for elite talent in the draft. In fact, it is simply the number of site draft hits each team is allowed. As usual, the Chiefs used a good portion of their visits to learn more about some of the lesser-known prospects in the draft.
“Most of these guys we brought in weren’t invited to the Combine,” Fitch noted. “The cool part about Combine is that you get to interview guys [and] You get them – but they are subject to comprehensive medical treatment [evaluations].
“Guys who weren’t invited, you don’t really have anything. You don’t have any updated pictures on them — or MRIs, X-rays, what have you. So, all of these guys that we think are recordable prospects, I think, “First, Let’s get them in.”
Top 30 hits for players who He was The Combine sometimes called suggested red flags from earlier in the process.
Fitch explained, “There are also a few guys we like that we might not have had such a great first impression [from them] When we met them at The Combine. So we like to take the time to cross our T and tag the I. And there were times when we brought in men and we weren’t comfortable with them [during the] Pre-merge, we weren’t comfortable with them at the Combine – but we liked the tape so much, let’s check that again.”
Veach shared a recent example of a Top 30 visit changing the team’s opinion of a player — and Chiefs fans should be grateful for Jaylen Watson’s story unfolding as it did.
“He was a guy who I think we met at the Combine — and we weren’t so sure about that [he] Veach remembers. “But we loved him, and we wanted to bring him back. And we had the Combine medical already, but he was a guy we brought him back to the facility last year, and both my crew and coaches did a 180 on him. I just got him out of the Combine environment, and he had a chance to relax—and he’s been through a lot.” in the course of his career.
“But that was a great example there where I don’t think we were comfortable drafting him any round after the combine. [But] We brought him here, and it was a whole different story. We fell in love with the kid and were so excited to recruit him – and he did an amazing job for us.
“So it’s one of those things. Just let’s make sure the players you like. And it can go both ways. It can get a guy off the board — but it can also get the guy back on the board.”