Veach Gets Flowers for Chiefs' 2021–22 Drafts, with Caveat

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – In eight weeks, prognosticators and analysts will dish out grades for each NFL team’s effort to improve in free agency and the draft – a full four months before the season.

Brett Veach shouldn’t listen to what they say about the Kansas City Chiefs. Instead, he should focus on stacking drafts like he did in 2021 and 2022.

“I think what Chiefs S Bryan Cook and CB Jaylen Watson get next week in free agency,” Sports Illustrated insider Albert Breer wrote Monday, “will be a nice tribute to the job GM Brett Veach and his department have done stocking that roster on defense over the past half-decade.

“They’ve paid some of those guys already—Nick Bolton and George Karlaftis are two—and have Trent McDuffie up next. But it goes beyond the front-line guys, and Cook and Watson are good examples.”

Stacking exceptional drafts leads to Super Bowls in Kansas City

Every one of those players – as well as do-everything linebacker Leo Chenal, Pro Bowl guard Trey Smith and the NFL’s best center in Creed Humphrey – came from those 2021 and ’22 drafts. Those groups formed the nucleus of the Chiefs’ three straight Super Bowl berths from 2022-24.

Watson and Cook should set the market at their respective positions, cornerback and safety, when free agency opens Monday. It’s a tribute to Veach, yes, but it’s also a reminder that the shelf life of an excellent draft class generally lasts just four years in the NFL.

bryan coo — Dec 21, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Kansas City Chiefs safety Bryan Cook (6) runs to the field against the Tennessee Titans during pre-game warmups at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

Veach said last week he hasn’t ruled out finding a way to keep Watson, Cook or any of the team’s impending free agents, even if they’re released as cap casualties and re-signed down the road, such as Mike Danna.

“Everything's kind of a puzzle,” Veach said last week at the combine, “with a lot of our players. I don't think that there's any one of our free agents that we look at and say we don't want these guys back. They're really good players; we won a lot of games with them. It's just a matter of trying to put the puzzle together and what else is going to be out there, their price points and kind of fit in the whole thing together. So, I think what we do is we just kind of remain in contact and keep that dialogue open.

leo chena — Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is able to get then ball over the end zone line for a touchdown despite Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Leo Chenal trying to push I’m back during first half action against the Kansas City Chiefs at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park on Nov. 2, 2025. It took the officials a long minute to call it a touchdown. | Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“The Chenals and the Cooks and Watsons, I mean, all these guys we’re monitoring and we're trying to get as many back as we can. Obviously, it's unrealistic to think you will, but we have to be able to go in different directions.”

Regardless of what happens in free agency, the Chiefs have to win this draft. They can’t afford to invest valuable capital – the Chiefs are drafting higher than they have in 13 years -- another half-dozen or so players who don’t impact the team like the 2021 and ’22 classes.

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