Grading the Chiefs Draft - Every Pick

[jmlamerson]

These are my draft grades, pick by pick. Feel free to add your own.

1(3) Tyson Jackson - DE

Love this pick. We obviously couldn't find a GM dumb enough to trade up to #3, and we needed a big body on our DL. He's a big five-technique DE who can provide the run defense we badly need. He won't be a 10-sack guy, but he'll provide pressure on the QB and stout run defense.

Grade: A

2(2) Matt Cassel (QB) and Mike Vrabel (OLB)

We got our first young QBOTF in decades and a solid veteran OLB to be our field marshal for this pick. Perfect.

Grade: A+

3(3) Alex Magee - DE

Ty Warren to Tyson Jackson's Richard Seymour. Again a nice big 3-4 DE who can bring pressure and stop the run.

Our 3-4 DL should be Jackson/Dorsey/Magee. I think the Turk/Tank/Hali/Boone/Edwards era is pretty well done.

Our run defense can finally stop being ranked in the 30s every year.

Grade: A

4(2) Donald Washington (CB)

I hated this pick when we made it. I thought we should have gone OG or OT with this pick. I get the reasoning though. We're going to face a lot of spead offenses and we need a big fast CB who can guard the big WRs. It gives us the best young CB corps in the league, with Flowers starting and Carr in the slot. Still, we had much bigger needs.

Grade: C

5(3) Colin Brown (OT)

Everyon hates this pick but me. He isn't the fastest guy and he'll need help against speed rushers, but he'll be a mountain in the rush offense. An upgrade over McIntosh and Taylor for certain.

Grade: B-

6(2) Quinten Lawrence (WR)

Our new return man. He has great speed and shouldn't be called on to do a lot except return kicks and punts. He might be a good WR one day, but he lacks a lot in his route running now. We badly needed a KR/PR, and he was the best available.

Grade: B+

7(3) Javarris Williams (RB)

Again, I understand the pick. We'll need a RB with some size, and we can't trust any of our guys to stay healthy. Still, Williams is too slow to be an every down back, and a LB or OL would have made a whole lot more sense.

Grade: C+

7(28) Jake O'Connell (TE)

Another pick I understand without liking. Why trade into the 7th to get this guy? We need a legitimate pass catching TE, sure, but he isn't a blocker and he's too short to be a great red zone threat. I think this and our other TE signings does mean that our current staff has no trust in Cottam.

Grade: C-

7(47) Ryan Succop (K)

I'll wait until camp to see how he does. We could have picked a whole lot worse for Mr. Irrelevant.

Grade: Incomplete

All in all, we did as much in this draft as could be expected with the picks we had. Pioli/Haley dedicated this draft to (1) stopping the run; and (2) filling in some need spots at skill positions. Stopping the run is the big one, and the reason we reached for Jackson and Magee. Until we can stop the run, our team will never win more than 4 games.

I expect Jackson, Magee, Washington, and Brown to be starters for us in 2009. Lawrence will see work at KR/PR and on special teams, O'Connell will be given every opportunity to win the starting TE spot, and Williams will inevitably see some carries.

I wish we had paid more attention to OL and LB, but I understand that there's only so much that one team can do in one draft.

We're trying to rebuild this team into a contender without signig long term free agent contracts that will eat up our cap. We have upgraded this offseason at almost every position (except TE obviously). Things are a lot brighter than the naysayers believe.

Overall Grade: B

[yashi]

I guess I'll have to agree to disagree with you on this one, overall. I don't see how we're supposed to run a 3-4 with the heaviest guy being 297 lbs, and that person being Glenn Dorsey who isn't a player that eats space or holds his own against double teams. That's really setting him up to be a huge bust, in my opinion.

For me, if our run defense is improved next year I personalyl believe it will be more of a combination of better coaching and experience in the linebacking corps with Thomas and Vrabel.

Ty Warren was the 13th overall draft pick, not a 3rd rounder. I don't think it's fair to compare Magee to him.

[jmlamerson]

I guess I'll have to agree to disagree with you on this one, overall. I don't see how we're supposed to run a 3-4 with the heaviest guy being 297 lbs, and that person being Glenn Dorsey who isn't a player that eats space or holds his own against double teams. That's really setting him up to be a huge bust, in my opinion.

For me, if our run defense is improved next year I personalyl believe it will be more of a combination of better coaching and experience in the linebacking corps with Thomas and Vrabel.

Ty Warren was the 13th overall draft pick, not a 3rd rounder. I don't think it's fair to compare Magee to him.

Magee and Jackson are exactly the right size for 3-4 DEs. Maybe they'll put on five pounds or so, but our issue is now NT. Glenn Dorsey will be the big question mark of this year. I don't know whether he'll succeed or fail at NT. I wish him success.

Sure, our better LB corps and the fact that our DC isn't senile should improve our run defense. But getting big, high motor DEs is also a huge factor. We were going to be in the bottom-5 again without some real size in our DEs, no matter how good our LB corps was.

I was comparing Magee to Warren in terms of their role on the team, not their talent level.

I understand that people loved Curry, even if I didn't. But we could have the best LB and DB corps in the league, and we'd still be a 4-win team without size on the DL. I can't see the argument against our 1st and 3rd round picks.

[Vanilla Garilla]

I agree with you on almost every front, good job!

Rep

[pbatrucker]

As I stated in another trend, Haley stated in his Q&A this weekend that Dorsey would line up as a DE. Since we drafted 2 DE, they must not think too much of him.
Jackson I could understand, but was a reach at #3, but we needed someone to stop the run.

The rest of the draft . I saw players to fit our needs better. As McShay stated in his analysis" Pioli's first draft was uninspiring and disappointment for chiefs fans". I'm still being supportive and only time will tell, but I did take note that Belichek kept rolling along.

[yashi]

I understand that people loved Curry, even if I didn't. But we could have the best LB and DB corps in the league, and we'd still be a 4-win team without size on the DL. I can't see the argument against our 1st and 3rd round picks.

My argument is that a team with Aaron Curry playing linebacker and still having Magee with Dorsey as the other DE is a better than a team with no additions at LB, with Tyson Jackson, Magee, and Dorsey on the DL. How many good 3-4 teams are under 900 lbs on the defensive line?

The Magee pick makes sense to me, just not when our first pick was also a 3-4 DE. For me, good drafting doesn't involve putting your 1st round pick the previous year in a position to fail.

[Sn@keIze]

My main thing is with this draft is:

Why did we prioritize a CB over a Tackle in the draft?

Other than that its nice to see that this was a Defensive oriented draft considering how horrid our D was, especially D-line.

Worst pass rush in NFL history, and he addressed that by our first two picks..

[jmlamerson]

My argument is that a team with Aaron Curry playing linebacker and still having Magee with Dorsey as the other DE is a better than a team with no additions at LB, with Tyson Jackson, Magee, and Dorsey on the DL. How many good 3-4 teams are under 900 lbs on the defensive line?

The Magee pick makes sense to me, just not when our first pick was also a 3-4 DE. For me, good drafting doesn't involve putting your 1st round pick the previous year in a position to fail.

I know people like Dorsey and feel that we shouldn't waste the 5th pick of 2008. But he clearly doesn't fit our team's future plans. As we can't cut or trade him for a couple of years without massacring our cap, we're going to try to work him in as a rotational DE/DT and get something for our money. In a way I feel bad for Dorsey, as he was brought into be Warren Sapp and will instead be Jarvis Green, but its just the way it is.

Right now, Dallas's 3-4 DL is under 900. As is Pittsburgh's. Not much under, but neither is ours.

You are right, we need some more bulk at the NT position. But we've only had one draft. We had a team without much talent at the end of 2008 and we've improved it across the board. There's only so much you can do in one offseason.

And our LB situation isn't that bad. We have DJ/Williams/Thomas/Vrabel as our starters, with Beisel as a decent rotation ILB. Could it be better. Sure. Do I think our 2010 draft will be LB focused, especially as we won't be pick (please God) in the top-5? Sure.

But our high draft position and complete lack of DE size made the Jackson pick an easy call.

[jmlamerson]

As I stated in another trend, Haley stated in his Q&A this weekend that Dorsey would line up as a DE. Since we drafted 2 DE, they must not think too much of him.
Jackson I could understand, but was a reach at #3, but we needed someone to stop the run.

The rest of the draft . I saw players to fit our needs better. As McShay stated in his analysis" Pioli's first draft was uninspiring and disappointment for chiefs fans". I'm still being supportive and only time will tell, but I did take note that Belichek kept rolling along.

Hadn't heard that about Dorsey. Thanks.

McShay is a fool. His grades every year turn out to be wildly off.

[pbatrucker]

Looking forward to next years draft. The Kansas City Chiefs select out of the university of Alabama, Cody a 365# monster NT.