KC Chiefs Awarded Compensatory Pick in 2024 NFL Draft
The 2024 NFL Draft is less than two months away, which means general managers and scouting personnel around the league are ramping up their preparations. The Kansas City Chiefs are no different, and Brett Veach now has a clearer picture of which selections he'll have to work with in April.
Compensatory picks were released on Friday afternoon by the league. Kansas City was awarded one selection, a fifth-rounder (No. 172 overall).
Compensatory picks for 2024 are based on the prior offseason's free agent period. During that window, teams lost free agents and signed others to contracts and those values either awarded them net gains or cancellations in the compensatory formula. For the Chiefs, they missed out on a significant handful of opportunities to factor into those calculations in a positive way. Offensive tackles Orlando Brown Jr. and Andrew Wylie, wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman, defensive tackle Khalen Saunders and safety Juan Thornhill all signed compensatory-worthy contracts elsewhere.
After the number of compensatory-level free agents the team brought in was accounted for, Kansas City originally qualified for two added selections. Hardman being acquired during an in-season swap with the New York Jets, however, dropped that total. It'll be just a single pick for the Chiefs stemming from the three-year, $24 million deal Wylie signed with the Washington Commanders.
In addition to Nos. 32, 64 and 95 overall, the Chiefs will have four picks outside the top 100 in the 2024 NFL Draft. That includes a fourth-rounder, two fifth-round offerings (one being the newfound compensatory pick) and a seventh-round pick. That final draft choice is due to conditions of the Lonnie Johnson Jr. trade with the Houston Texans not being met.
As Veach and company move forward, getting back to having an array of seven chances to land controllable talent is a decent spot to be in.
