Chiefs Part II: Brett Veach Is Building Position Groups to Strength, Room by Room – by David Bell — getting the Chiefs nod is important and that happened in this draft. I am adding these most recent draft picks as we go through the roster room by room and this has expanded to a three-part series with part three coming soon. Part I dealt with bringing aboard Clyde Edwards-Helaire to the RB Room. Other picks here and the remainder in the third part of this series.
The Chiefs have already begun building their 90-man roster by bringing UDFA’s on board. There are
I covered the Running backs in the previous article that was published Friday. We are in excellent shape with the Running back group. Clyde Edwards-Helaire(LSU) was a great addition to the roster and a tight fit as an RB for Reid. Damien Williams and Brett Veach signed RB DeAndre Washington. This trio is your basic RB unit for 2020. However, Darrel Williams needs to be considered here too. We’ll see how that shakes out but, it is a strong group.
The Quarterbacks Room ► Strong
What else could it be? The Chiefs have the QB room in very great shape. How could it not be with Pat Mahomes and back up Chad Henne, an experienced Vet, isnow in his 2nd full year with the Chiefs, Reid, Bieniemy and the Playbook. Veach signed UDFA QB Kyle Shurmur was added as a UDFA in 2019, a development QB is back for his 2nd season. Veach then went to get Veteran Jordan Ta’amu whose play style is similar to that of Mahomes.
Wide Receivers Room ► STRONG!
Back in a timeframe that we were all second guessing the wisdom of Brett Veach, he went out and drafted a player in a late round(6) that most said should not be a Chief. He had flags and baggage. Furthermore, in 2019, the Chiefs were forced to add a top speed type of Wideout due to a legal problem faced by that same 6th round pick: Tyreek Hill. Mecole Hardman was brought aboard due to the uncertainties with legal issues surrounding Ty Hill. In the previous year, Veach also signed WR Sammy Watkins back with a CAP friendly contract which maintains the front 3 WR’s on the Roster. Veach had Byron Pringle under contract and re-signed Demarcus Robinson to a team friendly 1 year contract. The Chiefs WR group is very strong for 2020 and even beyond. In the background are receivers who await a shot. who had some question marks due to his injury history. When the legal and social discord fell to the wayside, the Chiefs now had three top WR’s and all of them ran the 40 in less that 4.0 seconds. In 2019, the Chiefs WR group is back together for a repeat run at the Super Bowl. Good stuff!
Meanwhile Veach went to work on the Safety Room.
The Safety Room ► Strong
And oddly enough, it got even stronger. This has turned out to be a a wonderlic effort by the Chiefs GM. He signed a UDFA Dan Sorensen who is a very intelligent safety who can “hybrid up as well, a Swiss Army Knife type guy, deep, up in the box or even as a quick To get deeper at the position Veach traded to get Jordan Lucas who spent 2018 and 2019 with the team. He is now departed but it shows how players can be used to keep things stable even in short term situations. While with the Chiefs he was a depth player at safety and added to the special teams effort under Coordinator Dave Toub’s Special teams.
In 2019 Veach added the Landlord, Tyrann Mathieu, a decision which will go down as one of Veach’s best moves of a career when someone writes it up. Mathieu turned out to be so valuable that I cannot say enough — better than Eric Berry in my view. I love the guy. For 2018 the Chiefs traded to get Lucus.
So a quick review of other actions by Brett Veach 2018 Brett Veach drafted Armani Watts who lost his rookie season due to a core muscle tear but he was a very good pick for the room as it stood after this, Veach pulled in another great pick with Juan Thornhill in 2019. Juan immediately took over the FS role and Watts had to sit and watch more than I wanted to see. Thornhill immediately turned in great performances, game by game and got better as the season came and went. Unfortunately he suffered a season ending injury and missed the playoffs but will back in 2020 ready to rock. He was playing well enough to earn the Chiefs RoY award and consideration at the NFL level as well.
In the 2020 draft he added no pure safety but did use the 6th round pick of 2021 to trade for the 2020 7th round pick to get another DB. This will be covered on Monday for the Cornerback Room.
For safety? The Chiefs got even stronger when they added with their 4th round pick, L’Jarius Sneed(S), Louisana Tech. I think they will use Sneed very quickly in the Spagnuolo defense. He is fast, long and a ball hawk. He has weaknesses as you would expect but he is a good fit with what the Chiefs run at safety. At this point I expect Sneed to have high utility and be a contributor with growing participation and contribution as the season opens and rolls on.
The Front Four ► Strong and Versatile
You cannot say enough about what happened switching from a 3-4 to the 4-3 base. We no longer have Justin Houston, which caused a hue and cry with the Chiefs faithful when he left. At the same time, the Chiefs turned lose of his playing partner who was traded to Frisco. For defensive tackle Veach drafted Chris Jones (this was one of my guys that year). Stone Cold Jones has turned the NFL on its ear with top DT play and it showed big time in the Super Bowl win. Brett Veach then brought in a truly great player in DE Frank Clark, with a trade. He then added DE Alex Okafor, Emmanuel Ogbah, drafted DT Breeland Speaks (we will see him fit in 2020) and Veach added draft picks Derrick Nnadi and Khalen Saunders who both added solid contributions at DT.
At midseason, Veach brought in DT Mike Pennel. Fans and pundits alike applauded both the signing and then the resigning of Pennel. Former GM, John Dorsey, drafted Tanoh Kpassagnon and it has taken time to develop the player who finally showed up in 2019. Dorsey observed at the time of Dee Ford coming aboard that it took four years to train up an OLB for the job at hand. The same thought existed with Kpass and the switch to the 4-3 aided him tremendously. I think 2020 is going to see him as a major contributor who has shown versatility as well during the 2019 campaign.
We had to lose Emmanuel Ogbah but he was a great addition for one year, as was the late season addition of Terrell Suggs. The moves turned out to have been timed well to bring Spagnuolo’s 4-3 Defense to a top 10 rating by the end of the 2019 season.
Veach has added DE Mike Danna out of Michigan and the group was strong without the addition. The Front Four has versatility as shown in 2019’s play and how players lined up with Spagnuolo’s defense. Hanna adds to defensive player depth and coaches say he will be a good contributor to Special Teams right away. How Hanna fits is not yet resolved. He may be a special case with good feet and pass rush skills. Special Teams will see him every week but he might be considered for a run stopping linebacker as well. We’ll have to wait and see.
The Chiefs also added L’Jarius Sneed, a Safety, from Louisiana Tech in the 4th round. I think they’ll use Sneed quickly in the Spagnuolo defense. He is fast, long ,and a ball hawk. He has weaknesses but for the Chiefs purpose he will have high utility. The Chiefs then traded a 6th round 2021 pick for a 7th round pick and drafted CB Thakarius “Bopete” Keyes, who is a strong player with good length who can also play Safety. This is another good move by Brett Veach.
Before Round 2 was selected, I had two major rooms that needed to get fixed in a hurry: the Linebacker and Cornerback Rooms were the scariest thing the Chiefs were facing in the 2020 season. I will cover this and the remaining position rooms in the Part III of this three part series which looks at both CBs and LBs. True. We won’t know how it shakes out until practices occur along with preseason has games. Remember, when the season opens so we can see the 66 players on the roster.
Last Thoughts
I’m less concerned now about both Linebackers and Cornerbacks than I was prior to the draft. I really like the round 2 pick of Willie Gay, Jr., as well as the round 1 pick of Clyde Edwards-Helaire. Both are ace draft picks for 2020 and the fourth round selection of BoPete Sneed too plus adding a CB in round 7. I had a sense of relief with these choices. Adding Lucas Niang (TCU OT) was another great pick. On some teams he would be a starter out of the Gate but, Reid and Bieniemy will bring him to a participation level quickly probably as a SW/T. All Six Picks by the Chiefs have a role to play. Thank heavens for Brett Veach’s leadership from the executive side of things!
David Bell – ArrowheadOne
Coming UP? OT, IOL, LB, CB, TE and S/T
Come back at noon to read a piece by Laddie called,
“Veach Summons the Three-in-One: A Trio of Corners in a Solitary Draft”
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