Laddie Morse
It’s that time of the year when we all want to know… who the Kansas City Chiefs will be selecting in the 2023 NFL Draft — and this year it’s in Detroit — which is now just 30 days away. Why? Because we want to know who will be joining our Super Bowl LVIII winning team. The point of an article with this title is… mocks are done around the clock in my house. In other words, at all times of the day and night. In each of the last few years, I’ve done no fewer than 100 mocks prior to the draft. Some of them are only the first three rounds, and some of them are all seven rounds. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Here is a mock (below) where I used a trade backwards, which is very much a possibility with Brett Veach. If he can pick up more picks, I’m all in favor of that. I believe this is a very strong draft.
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I took Xavier Worthy because that’s what many Kingdom fans on Twitter are hoping for. I don’t believe he’s the best choice at #32, but with a trade back, he was still available at #37, so I took him.
DT Ruke Orhorhoro is 6-foot-4 and weighs in at 294. If he remains available at pick #69, I hope there’s a way K.C. can move up to take him late in the 2nd round. He runs a 4.89 – 40 yard dash which is very fast for a big guy like him. He’s from Nigeria but doesn’ have much more than a bull rush as a pass rushing move. Joe Cullen should be able to fix that right away. His hand strenght is less than ideal but a good weight training program should be able to fix that too.
The next mock come to us from FanSpeak.com and looks like this:
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WR Adonai Mitchell seems much more appropriate as a pick if the Chiefs stay at #32. Appropriate because, he’s much bigger than Worthy at 6-foot-4, and 196 lbs. plus he is still very fast and runs a 4.34 – 40 yard dash. At that size, he’s be a much superior down field blocker so the Chiefs running game can still flourish if they choose to go this route. Apparently, Mitchell’s performance has been less advertised than Worthy’s and that’s because Xavier Worthy set a new record for the best 40 time with a 4.21. However, Adonai Mitchell has caught the eye of a lot of NFL scouts at the Combine as well:
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OT Javon Foster, out of Missouri, is 6-foot-5 and weighs in at 306 and he seems to be the perfect size for an OL in Reid’s system. Here’s a great analysis of Javon Foster as a mid-round choice.
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I know I took him as a second round choice, but when you are doing a mock, sometimes you have to take what’s there. Foster was there and after checking him out more, I was happy with the pick (0:24).
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I’ll be surprised if Foster doesn’t go much higher than what DrafTek has him listed as, which is as a third round choice.
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Here’s another mock done at FanSpeak.com and this one has an Edge Rusher taken first over all with the #32 pick:
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Laiatu Latu is ranked the #18 best over all prospect by DrafTek.com and the 16th best over all prospect by CBSSports.com. The idea is, that Felix Anudkie-Uzomah is not yet ready to be a full time starter at that position and the Chiefs don’t (for some reason) bring back Mike Danna, so an Edge Rusher with size, is a number one priority. Latu is 6-foot-5 and weighs in at 265 lbs.. He’s tall enough to help batting down passes at the line of scrimmage, which is as good as a sack, in my mind.
Next on the list is WR Xavier Leggett out of South Carolina. Leggett is rated as the 62nd best over all prospect on both of the prospect lists by CBS Sports and DrafTek. Leggett is 6-foot-3 and weighs in at a hefty 227 lbs.. Veach loves players who weigh in at 220+ pounds so that may have an influence here especially since he runs a 3.39 – 40 yard dash. If Leggett is available when the Chiefs time to pick in the second round comes up and he’s still on the board — provided no WR has been taken in the first round — I’d expect Veach to pull the string on this one and send the draft card to the podium asap.
You may have noticed a pattern with these mocks, in the first three rounds. In most cases, each of them is focused upon taking a WR, an OT and/or a DL. What do you think of that idea or these three mocks? Have a favorite… or a least favorite? Let me know what you’re thinking.
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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