Chiefs' Veach Reveals How Players Can Prove Themselves at Combine

The NFL Scouting Combine is here, and the Kansas City Chiefs aren't the talk of the town as Super Bowl champions or runner-ups this time around. They sit with the No. 9 overall selection in the NFL Draft after missing the playoffs, but in a good position to make moves and select the best available player as they have done for years.

General manager Brett Veach is on hand at the combine in Indianapolis, Indiana, to interview and evaluate the top prospects while narrowing down their draft board ahead of April's draft. Many teams won't have 300 prospects like you may see from draft pundits online: their lists are much shorter, sometimes narrowed down to under 100 prospects.

Veach had a chance to speak with the media on Tuesday, providing some insight into the team's approach and how prospects at the combine can help prove themselves in interviews and throughout the pre-draft process.

Veach on how players prove themselves in interview process

Veach Chiefs — Feb 24, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach speaks at the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Every team has a different process for how they interview and evaluate draft prospects in each cycle. It changes every year based on feedback from the organization, players, etc. Veach explains that every position group is different when it comes to interviews and processing information, especially with the limited 20-minute window teams have.

"Every position group is different, right?" Veach said. "And so, I'm sure most GMs would tell you that, and most coaching staff would tell you that, but there are certain positions that, how they process information, and, look, this is only 20 minutes, so we're not going to throw a kid up there or overwhelm a kid, but it's a start. Then, you have your informal time here, you have potentially formal time here, you have Zoom opportunities now, and then you have in-house “30” visits, and our coaches go visit them."

Teams will continue to have specific questions around prospects that need answering that won't be public, specifically regarding football intelligence at different positions. Veach gave an example of how they had those questions for prospects they interviewed on Monday (could one of them be Ohio State pass-catcher Carnell Tate?), understanding they could only use their 20-minute time window that all teams must adhere to.

"I think sometimes when there's a question, I don't think anything's determined here, I think it's part of the process," Veach said. "We had a couple of guys yesterday who just had some of the football knowledge stuff we weren't sure on, and they kind of nailed it, and we were really impressed.

"Only 20 minutes on the other side there, we're gonna make sure that that is what it is, but our college scouts do a great job of painting the picture, and having me, the coaching staff, everyone in that room prepped for, ‘here's the player, and here's the background situation, here's where he's from, and here are the things some of these guys are smart, they just don't articulate it well."

It is all part of the puzzle coming together, as Veach explains. They won't cross off a significant amount of names from their draft board in a single combine, but plenty are taken off to help narrow the focus down on which specific prospects fit the Chiefs' culture, environment, systems, and more. All of this is just a tiny piece of a massive evaluation process for not just Kansas City, but all 32 teams in the NFL.

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