Chiefs: Mock Drafts and Trade Aways

Chiefs: Mock Drafts and Trade Aways – mock drafts can be fun, but they are just a game. As fans, we just simply do not have enough information about what our favorite team is looking for in a draft candidate, or enough about the draft eligible players themselves. Plus there are so many players, many from smaller schools, that most of us have never heard of, but are still suitable to draft.

We shouldn’t let that stop us from our fun. I enjoy trying to improve the roster by “drafting” players that I believe could help the Chiefs. The one single thing that simply cannot be predicted are trades, and general managers apparently like to trade draft picks. After a little research, I was actually surprised at how many trades happen, both before and during the draft.

Trades, Trades and More Trades

Only looking at the last two drafts, since the last two are the only ones Chiefs GM Brett Veach has been in charge of for our team, there are many, many trades taking place.

Before and during the 2018 draft, there were 140 out of 256 draft selections traded, almost 55%. 140 is not the number of trades, that’s how many different draft selections that were involved in at least one trade. Of those 140 selections, 59 of them were traded multiple times. The craziest thing I came across, is that there were 107 trades, involving draft picks and that happened before the draft even started. 107 is not the number of draft picks traded, but the number of trades that included a draft pick.

Trading draft selections for the 2019 draft was a little less prolific, there were 133 of the 254 draft picks involved in trades, just over 52%. Of those 133 draft picks, 46 were traded multiple times and there were 66 trades involving draft picks that took place prior to the start of the draft.

The Lion King Trade (Circle of Life)

The most times I’ve seen a single draft selection traded, in the past two drafts, was five times. Four of those trades happened before the draft even started. Draft selection number 250 in the 2018 draft initially belonged to the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles traded the pick to the Seattle Seahawks, who then traded the pick to the New England Patriots. The Patriots, in yet another pre-draft trade, sent the pick back to Seattle, who later traded this pick back to the Eagles. Believe it or not, the Eagles traded pick 250 to the Patriots on draft day, when New England used the selection for Ryan Izzo, a tight end from Florida State.

I believe that the reason the 2018 draft was a little trade happy, 2018 was just the second draft that compensatory draft selections were able to be traded. The rule for trading comp picks went into effect for the 2017 draft.

Brett Veach Likes to Trade

For the 2018 draft, Chiefs didn’t have a 1st round selection. As we all remember, that pick was traded away in the 2017 draft in order to acquire a quarterback. This was a trade that many at the time thought was a horrible move. Isn’t 20/20 hindsight a wonderful thing. I think we can all agree that this was a trade that turned out to be reasonably successful (hehehe).

 Even without a 1st round pick, the Chiefs went into the draft with 8 selections, numbers 54, 78, 86, 122, 124, 196, 233 and 243:

• • Pick 78 was acquired from the Washington Redskins in the trade that involved Alex Smith (to Washington) and Kendall Fuller (to the Chiefs).
  • Pick 124 was acquired from the Los Angeles Rams in the Marcus Peters trade.
  • Pick 233 was acquired from the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for Marcus Cooper and pick 243 was acquired from the Tennessee Titans in exchange for DL David King. 

Entering the 2018 draft, fully half of the Chiefs picks were involved in pre-draft trades. Brett Veach worked three trades in 2018, moving up thrice and back once, finishing the draft with six players selected. Only selections 124 and 196 were not used in a trade.

At the start of the 2019 draft, Kansas City had 7 draft picks, numbers 61, 63, 84, 167, 201, 214 and 216.

• • Pick one in the first round pick last year, along with pick number 92, was traded to the Seattle Seahawks for Frank Clark and pick 84.
  • Pick 63 was another draft selection as part of the Marcus Peters trade.
  • Pick 216 was acquired from the San Francisco 49ers as part of the Rod Streater trade.

I’m sure this has been noted before — but it’s the first time that it’s dawned on me — that both of the draft picks acquired for CB Marcus Peters were used to select defensive backs. Armani Watts in 2018 and Juan Thornhill in 2019, I would say that was a “Good Trade” (insert the voice of the character ‘Wind in His Hair’ from the movie Dances with Wolves, after Kevin Costner loses his cavalry hat on the plains).

The 2020 Draft

The upcoming draft is next month, April 23-25, and has already been replete with trades. Our 2nd, 6th and 7th round selections have been traded away for players, while we have acquired the 2nd round pick from the San Francisco 49ers for LB Dee Ford.

The Brett Veach Propensity

Two drafts isn’t enough time to discern any tendencies from our General Manager, but that is all we have had to observe. Over the two drafts combined, Veach had started with 15 draft selections and condensed that into 12 drafted players, a 20% reduction. Of the 12 players drafted over the past two drafts, only three (25%) were drafted with the Chiefs original draft selections.

Brett Veach: Picks for Players

The Chiefs GM hasn’t been shy about trying to improve the team by trading with other teams for players. 

• • In 2017, he traded a 2018-5th round pick for OL Cam Erving.
  • Also in 2017 he traded a 2019 4th rounder for LB Reggie Ragland.
  • In 2018, Veach traded our 2020 7th round pick for S Jordan Lucas.
  • Also in 2019, Veach traded the 2020 6th round selection for LB Darron Lee.