B-
Kansas City Chiefs
Good, not great, for the Chiefs: B-.
by CheeseBurger Man ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 1 steals
· 4 reaches
They will call it conviction in the building and a reach everywhere else: Zavion Thomas, 43 picks early at Round 5, Pick 36. A dependable weekend that grades out a B-.
A whole weekend of picks and tight end is somehow still a want. The Stukes pick is fine in a vacuum, less so with tight end, quarterback and other spots still on the board.
If one pick saves this weekend, it is Stukes.
Not a headline-grabber, but a perfectly good weekend's work.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick 9 they get protection for the quarterback. Exactly the need they had to hit.
In the 29th overall pick they get a true top target at fair value. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
By-the-book stuff, D'Angelo Ponds at pick No. 41 squarely in line with his ranking. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
They paid sticker price for Mike Washington Jr. in slot 74, and that is fine. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A curious use of No. 109. Tight end, quarterback and other spots needed the pick; a cornerback in Treydan Stukes did not.
A premium they did not need to pay, Beau Stephens a notch or two before his time. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They went early on DJ Campbell in the 169th pick, and the value did not follow. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
A real head-scratcher, Zavion Thomas in slot 176 is miles ahead of his ranking. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
No drama and no debate, Kaelon Black went about where he belonged in pick 210. A need, and now a little less of one.
Josh Moten at the Round 7 slot is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. A want more than a need, though you can never have too many.