F
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs overdrafted Steele and paid the price. Grade: F.
by CalvinylG ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 19 picks
· 3 steals
· 7 reaches
The Chiefs bet big and early on Carson Steele, 74 picks ahead of the board. Bold does not always mean right. Little went right, and the F does not pretend otherwise.
The trades bled value they could not afford to lose. Spending an early pick on cornerback with quarterback open is the decision the grade keeps circling back to. They punted on quarterback, and it is the miss that keeps the grade honest.
That Vaki pick is the receipt they will wave around later. The bill for those future picks comes due whether the class hits or not.
About as rough as a weekend gets on paper, with quarterback still staring back at them.
Pick-by-Pick
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing Brian Thomas Jr. in slot 37. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
They paid sticker price for Darius Robinson in pick 38, and that is fine. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A market-rate interior defensive lineman, with the board and the slot shaking hands on T'Vondre Sweat. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
By-the-book stuff, Patrick Paul at No. 64 squarely in line with his ranking. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
No edge and no loss on Max Melton in the 69th overall pick; it is a wash and a sensible one. It adds depth where they could use a little.
The board had cheaper options than Renardo Green at the 70th pick, and it noticed. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
Austin Booker in slot 83 is fine work, a shade of surplus and no downside. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Johnny Wilson at pick No. 95 is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They took Christian Mahogany at par in the Round 3 slot, which is nothing to complain about. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Matt Goncalves at pick 114 is right where the board had him, plain and simple. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A reach on Ben Sinnott in No. 116; the board had better options right there. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
A surprising call. With quarterback still to address, they spent the 132nd pick on Jarrian Jones, a cornerback they were not short of.
They read the board right and Tommy Eichenberg was the payoff at Round 5, Pick 17. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
They jumped the gun on Grayson Murphy, taking him earlier than his grade liked. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
Value with a capital V on Sione Vaki in the 173rd overall pick, a genuine coup. A want more than a need, though you can never have too many.
Jordan Jefferson in No. 181 is exactly on the number, no argument either way. The roster fit checks out.
A premium they did not need to pay, Javontae Jean-Baptiste a notch or two before his time. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
A wild overpay on Bub Means in the 213th pick, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Carson Steele well ahead of where he belonged. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.