Chiefs Draft Day 3: OPEN THREAD

 

 

 

 

Chiefs Draft Day 3: OPEN THREAD

 

by Laddie Morse | April 27, 2019

 

The picks are in… the picks for the 2nd and 3rd rounds at least. The 4th through 7th rounds take place today from 11:00 AM CT until sometime late in the afternoon. Here are the picks the Chiefs have already made:

 

• 56th Pick WR Mecole Hardman
• 63rd Pick Safety Juan Thornhill
• 84th Pick: DT Khalen Saunders

 

Let’s take a look at each of the newest Kansas City Chiefs.

 

WR Mecole (MEE-cole) Hardman

With the 56th pick the Chiefs chose Mecole Hardman. Hardman comes to the Chiefs after his Junior year at Georgia. He goes 5-foot-11 and weighs 187 lbs. while running a 4.33 40-yard dash, with a 36.5 inch vertical jump and a 9 foot-9 inch standing broad jump which basically means he has pretty good explosion. What the Chiefs will really be interested in is his speed because the 2019 Chiefs will be needing a WR to go long consistently. NFLDraftNetwork offers this evaluation of Hardman, exposing the reasons why Hardman would make a great pick for KC, even if other events had not taken place, if you understand my meaning:

 

 

“Hardman is one of the more explosive athletes at the wide receiver position in the NFL class…. Hardman has a muscular frame that suggests durability won’t be a weakness. He has a rare combination of quickness and speed, and can explode in an instant. Developed on the lateral chain, he can shift his weight at full stride.”

 

Of corse, what Andy Reid needed to do for his offense was to make sure he had a speed wideout to stretch the field. He has that man now and he could be faster than the numbers have shown. Take a look:

 

 

 

 

 

Mecole Hardman also offers the Chiefs a Special Team Kick returner as well. He returned both kickoffs and punts. On punts, he returned 16-for-321 yards and a 20.1average and one TD. On kickoffs Hardman returned 14-for-353 yards and a 25.2 average. If he had one more punt return, he would have been ranked 2nd in all of the FBS in that category.

 

 

 

 

 

Safety/CB Juan Thornhill

With the 63rd pick, the Chiefs selected Safety/Cornerback Juan Thornhill. Thornhill is a versatile defensive back who can both cover wideouts and tight ends, one-on-one or, line up deep and offer CBs help over the top. It’s highly likely that GM Brett Veach was targeting Thornhill from the outset and was able to wait and draft him right where he waited for him to land at #63, and right into their laps. Here’s Thornhill providing that help over the top:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With Armani Watts and Jordan Lucas on the roster, the Chiefs will have one of the youngest groups of Safeties in the league. It means that 3 years from now — or sooner — when Tyrann Mathieu’s contract is over, this core will be ready to step up and step in. What it also means for this season is that it provides exactly the kind of versatile player DC Steve Spagnuolo likes to utilize in his scheme: someone who can do it all. Confusing the QBs that this defense will face, will be an important part of the scheme and Thornhill’s skills feed right into this approach. Here, Juan Thornhill flips his hips quickly and recovers as a WR attempts to turn up field:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you’ve been a Chiefs fan for decades, you may recall that Tony Gonzalez was also a basketball player. The same is true for Juan Thornhill, which also means he’s good when the ball is in the air. Here, there are several examples of his ballhawking skills:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thornhill is 6-foot-0 and weighs 205 lbs. while possessing 4.42 speed and a 44 inch vertical jump — best among all Safeties at the 2019 NFL Combine — important because the vertical jump can inform us of the explosion that a player has.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Defensive Tackle Khalen Saunders

Defensive tackle Khalen Saunders is an athletic freak. He’s been called the Aaron Donald of the FCS. Remember when the Chiefs used to run the “Hungry Pig?” Well, Khalen Saunders may well unearth that play and others like it. So, the selection of this defensive tackle should not be seen purely as a move to get better against the run or to apply pressure up the middle… although he can help the Chiefs with both of those goals but… Khalen Saunders has an offensive side as well:

 

 

 

 

 

Saunders played for Western Illinois University in the FCS (the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. He stands 6-foot-0 and weighs 334 lbs. Thedraftnetwork.com had this to say in their analysis of Saunders:

 

 

 

“Was able to toss blockers out of the way in college and get after the quarterback but will need to develop technique to win in the NFL. Has unbelievable quickness and power but doesn’t have the vision to read pass sets and effectively attack the pocket. Best move is a cross-swim. Has good burst but he’s way late off the ball. Doesn’t have a pass rush plan.”

 

“Doesn’t have a pass rush plan.” Hmm. That won’t be the case while he’s playing on Brendan Daly’s defensive line. Don’t forget that Daly just spent the past four seasons as the New England Patriots defensive line coach which means all of the Chiefs defensive linemen will not only be well coached — during he week — but they’ll be given specific tasks on game day and they will be utilized in the best way that each of their skill sets dictates. Saunders may be a bit raw but his ability level is off the charts and he could well end up in a Pro Bowl one day. Some may complain about the competition he faced in college so, let’s take a look at how he did at the Senior Bowl where he faced the best players that college football has to offer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once Khalen Saunders performed well in the Senior Bowl, he got some positive attention:

 

 

 

 

 

 

A year ago in January of 2018, the Senior Bowl had another performer who did well: TE Deon Yelder. Yelder is already on the Chiefs roster and was a UDFA with the New Orleans Saints but ended up being cut in October of 2018 by the Saints. The next day Yelder was signed by Brett Veach to the Chiefs Practice Squad and two weeks later he was moved to the 53 man roster… presumably to protect him from being taken off the PS. My reason for bringing Yelder up now is that many fans, including myself, were under the impression that the Chiefs would take a Tight End in the 2nd or 3rd round last night… someone high enough in the draft to make an impact when the 2019 season begins., but they didn’t do that. It appears now that Deon Yelder is in the Chiefs plans, so let’s take a look at him more closely.

Tight End Deon Yelder

When initially looking at the middle picture of Yelder above, my first reaction was, “Oh look, a TE who can catch the ball, how novel.” That was my facetiousness shining through a little much too much but the reason for that is the horrendous career of Demetrius Harris. Now he’s gone so Chiefs fans should hope Yelder works out. The above picture on the right comes from an article called, “Deon Yelder: the underrated gem of the 2018 TE class.” Underrated? Now that piked my interest. Deon Yelder stands 6-foot-4 and goes 255 lbs. He played his college ball for Western Kentucky and had 52 reception in his Senior year for 688 yards and 7 touchdowns. While those numbers are less than stellar, there must be a reason why Veach and Reid are interested in him. So, let’s take a look at some of his film. The 2018 Senior Bowl:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Chiefs remaining picks are: #201 (6th round), #214 (the last pick of the 6th round and a Compensatory pick), and #216 (the second pick of the 7th round). Since Day 3 begins around 11:00 AM CT with pick #103, you can tell it will take a 2 to 4 hours before the Chiefs get to select the first of their last three players. The timing of todays rounds are… 5 minutes in the 3rd through 6th rounds, and 4 minutes in the 7th round.

 

Here’s the link to Ransom Hawthorne’s Lazy Big Board Conclusion with links to 60 draft prospects he’s evaluated this spring. Also, here’s the link to David Perkins NFL Draft Resource Guide with an Overall Average for each prospect in the draft from at least 3 different ranking services. Also, below are the links to David Perkins free standing files of his Overall Averages with SPARQ scores. Go Chiefs!.

 

 

 

• NFL2019Long (1PDF)
• NFL2019Long (1NFLN)

 

 

Go Chiefs!

 

Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

 

 

 

 

 

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