Laddie Morse
First of all, I have to say that I LOVE the NFL Draft and every pick the Chiefs make is like candy in my stocking at Christmas. There were 257 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft and the Kansas City Chiefs came away with seven (7) of those gentlemen (which works out to be 2.7%). That’s important to note since they are about to start a run-it-back campaign in which they’ll be trying to win their third Lombardi trophy in a row. Now, that’s important because the players they’ve chosen in this draft are critical for that cause and goal. The Chiefs 2024 Draft Class looks like this:
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BTW… Mr. Irrelevant — the very last guy taken in the draft — was Jaylen Key, a Safety from Alabama. Let’s take the five newest members of Chiefs Kingdom, one at a time.
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TE, Jared Wiley
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Wiley stands 6-foot-6 and weighs in at 249 lbs. and that’s a big man. What Wiley already does well is… block.
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With Hollywood Brown and Xavier Worthy stretching the field and Jared Wiley providing Isiah Pacheco — Pop — some extra room and blocking to go with it, I’m expecting Pop to have his best year yet. However, blocking is not all Jared Wiley is good at (4:38):
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Guess who had the most TDs by a Tight End in college last year? You guessed it, Jared Wiley (0:43)!
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Aside from providing Patrick Mahomes more protection, Wiley looks like an A+ pick.
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Safety, Jaden Hicks
Jaden Hicks went to Washington State college which is the same school Jaylen Watson played at.
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Hicks is 6-foot-2 and weighs in at 211 lbs. and Bleacher Report describes his positives as:
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“Very good athlete with good body control and excellent size. Shows great physicality and strength. Shows the instincts and vision to read and react to the quarterback. Also shows the ball skills necessary to get a good break and react to the ball in the air. Physical player who throws his body around and delivers hard, bone-crushing hits.”
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“Bone-crushing hits” are what Steve Spagnuolo will love. So will Dave Merritt, the Chiefs DB coach.
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Some have suggested that the Chiefs were attempting to replace L’Jarius Sneed and Jaden Hicks and was the choice for that purpose, but there is no replacing Sneed. Besides, the Chiefs simply couldn’t afford to keep him. Sneed was a 4th round pick at #138 back in 2020 and Hicks was a 4th rounder as well with pick #133. That’s about as close to a comparison as you’ll find, as they are very different players. Please don’t expect Hicks to be Sneed. While Sneed played some Safety in college, Hicks played mostly Safety… and Sneed ran a 4.37 40 while Hicks is in the 4.5 range.
Here’s a great play by Jaden Hick. I love it when a Defensive Back becomes the receiver and ends up making the catch:
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IOL, Hunter Nourzad
Some may be wondering what are the Chiefs doing drafting a player who has mostly played OC when K.C. already has a great OC in Creed Humphrey? To begin with, Creed Humphrey is on a contract-year and next offseason the Chiefs will be faced with either re-signing Creed Humphrey or Trey Smith. I doubt they’ll be able to afford both since LB Nick Bolton will also be up for a new contract as well. Fans of this O-line need to start asking themselves the question of who they’d rather keep now, so we can sort things out and be more comfortable with the answer prior to the next offseason.
The Addition of Hunter Nourzad makes he answer much more palatable. Nourzad also gives us an upgrade to Nick Allegretti. I’m not dogging him in any way, not in the least bit, but Hunter Nourzad is an excellent — starting quality — Interior Offensive Lineman, and will give the Chiefs some valued backup services when needed in 2024. Brett Veach has finally figured out that protecting Patrick Mahomes is job one, and drafting Hunt Nourzad works to secure that goal.
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Do I see Nourzad competing for a position this year along the O-line? No, not really, but he’ll be a welcome addition to Andy Heck’s OL room. Here’s Nourzad, from Penn State chatting on a zoom call (0:25):
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CB, Kamal Hadden
Hadden was an exceptional Corner in the 2023 season… then… he was injured and had season ending shoulder surgery following game seven. He had 3 INTs in those first seven games before going down. ESPN says of Haden:
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“Hadden’s 90.5 coverage grade ranks first among
SEC defensive backs, according to Pro Football
Focus, and he’s tied for third in the FBS with 11
passes defended.”
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We’ll have to wait and see if Kamal Hadden makes it all the way back from a season ending injury before we can make any kind of judgement on this pick.
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OG, C.J. Hanson
C.J. Hanson played his college ball at Holy Cross. He stands 6-foot 5 and weighs in at 300 lbs. but, (and I never thought i’d say this about a 300 pound man), that’s a little light in the britches. Hanson will go on a high protein diet with the Chiefs of that I’m certain. If some of you are wondering exactly where Holy Cross is, take a look at this map:
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Holy Cross plays most of their games in the Patriot League which includes: Bucknell, Lafayette, Lehigh, Boston College and Loyola, among others. The point is, the teams that C.J. Hanson has played against are not Division II teams and he should be taken seriously. Plus, running a 5 second flat 40 yard dash for a man his size, is an incredible accomplishment. DraftBuzz.com has this to say about C.J. Hanson:
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“In the run game, Hanson plays with a mean streak and does a nice job generating a push at the initial point of attack. He can get outside and does a decent job landing blocks in space. Hanson will have a chance to develop as a right tackle or possibly inside at guard, where he could be an interesting prospect for a zone-blocking team. If nothing else, that versatility is enough to make him at least a quality reserve. Dips [his] shoulder and moves his feet to get outside leverage when needed. Strong and low coming out of his stance, effective in short-yardage situations.”
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The weaknesses that DraftBuzz lists all sound like things that can be coached out of him. If Veach has found a diamond in the rough with Hanson, we’ll all be calling for him to get a gold jacket one day.
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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