Chiefs GM Brett Veach previews the deepest positions of the 2020 NFL Draft
Depth has been the name of the game this offseason for the Kansas City Chiefs and general manager Brett Veach.
Veach and company have looked to add more options to numerous positions in years past, and this season is no different. As the Chiefs have had a relatively quiet but productive offseason, Kansas City will hope to fill most of its backup roles via the draft.
Thankfully for the Chiefs, there are plenty of talented prospects in many of their position groups of need. As much of the offseason discussion of Chiefs’ targets has revolved around a variety of linebacker prospects, Veach said he was impressed with the options that could be on the board.
“I have names and tags and stuff written all over my basement wall here,” Veach said during his teleconference on April 16. “The linebacking corps, there’s a lot of intriguing prospects. There’s a lot of good athletes, a lot of guys that can really make a difference in space, in the coverage game early on.”
With the re-signing of cornerback Bashaud Breeland, the cornerback position slides down a few spots on the priority list. Linebacker Reggie Ragland’s departure to the Detroit Lions makes the linebacker position weaker.
With talented linebackers such as LSU’s Patrick Queen and Oklahoma’s Kenneth Murray possibly falling to the 32nd spot, it would be hard for the Chiefs to find a better option. But if those two linebackers come off the board before Kansas City’s turn, Veach is prepared to look at other position groups at 32 and beyond.
“I think the offensive line is a group that is pretty good, I think we’re really excited about the depth of the offensive line, really rounds one through four,” Veach said.
Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Hanson has the Chiefs taking Michigan IOL Cesar Ruiz with their selection in his most recent mock draft.
Hanson explained why he had Kansas City taking an offensive lineman.
Even though there are already six corners off the board and the team has re-signed Bashaud Breeland since my last mock, Utah’s Jaylon Johnson is squarely in the (late) first-round mix. If they wait until later (Round 2 in this mock) for a corner, Ruiz makes sense here as the Chiefs could use an upgrade at center and left guard. A three-year starter at both center (26 games) and guard (five games), Ruiz sits atop my interior offensive rankings and has allowed just 19 pressures on 895 pass-blocking snaps since 2018, per PFF.
Protecting star quarterback Patrick Mahomes will be paramount for the future and a pass protecting interior lineman such as Ruiz will be important. Another factor in the appeal of Ruiz is center Austin Reiter is in the last year of his contract.
Ruiz won’t need to play in his first season if he doesn’t have to, but will add competition to the already-competitive guard slots.
Veach expressed interest in an additional offensive position — wide receiver.
“Receiver seems like there’s depth throughout the draft,” Veach said. “I would say the cornerback position is fairly deep, offensive line and receivers are probably the three positions that there’s a lot of depth that we’re excited about.”
The Chiefs currently have five picks, with one coming in each of the first five rounds. With those picks, Kansas City could potentially draft a wide receiver after the first round and be able to come away with a talented prospect.
The 2020 NFL Draft will take place virtually April 23-25 with the first round starting at 7 p.m. Arrowhead Time. It can be found on ABC, ESPN and NFL Network.
