B-
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs cashed the board's mistake on Hunter: B-.
by CheeseBurger Fat Man ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 2 steals
· 4 reaches
When a board-topper like Lee Hunter slides to slot 74, you do not overthink it, and the Chiefs did not.
They are betting Thomas proves the room right and everyone else wrong. That tight end hole did not close this weekend, and it was the biggest one on the wall.
Good work on the whole, with tight end the one box left unchecked.
Pick-by-Pick
In No. 9 they get a true top target. The biggest hole, addressed.
In pick 29 they get an island corner, a steep price for the projection. Need was not the driver here.
A market-rate offensive lineman, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Blake Miller. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
They will replay Lee Hunter at the 74th overall pick for years; that is how good the value is. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Bryce Lance at Round 4, Pick 9 is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Charles Demmings in the Round 5 slot is exactly on the number, no argument either way. Pure best-available; the position was not exactly begging.
A premium they did not need to pay, Kaleb Elarms-Orr a notch or two before his time. The roster fit checks out.
A reach on DJ Campbell in slot 176; the board had better options right there. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Zavion Thomas in the 210th pick is a bet on their own eyes over everyone else's grade. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.