Oddly, a fellow in a Rams uniform walks in and goes to the Chiefs table to pick up their card. He goes to the microphone as a low buzz of speculation reverberates around the room.

The Ram takes the podium.

"The Chiefs have the 177th pick in the draft," he says, "if you don't count those two extra picks that the 49ers just made. Only one Chief has ever been drafted with the 177th pick, and he was my former college teammate Chris Golub."

"My name is Nolan Cromwell, and you may remember me from my 11-year career as a safety with the Los Angeles Rams, featuring four pro bowls. But before that, Chris and I were part of the powerhouse 1976 Kansas Jayhawk team that saw seven players get drafted into the NFL's first eight rounds of the draft. I was the quarterback of that team and I was drafted in the second round as a free safety. My teammate Chris was our free safety at Kansas, and he went to the Chiefs with the 177th pick of the draft."

"Unfortunately, Chris did not make the team in 1978, and a year later he was killed in a car wreck. So we'll have much better wishes for the Chiefs' next #177, and I think he'll be great."

"With the 177th pick in the NFL draft, the Kansas City Chiefs select Antonio Gibson, WR, Memphis."

A familiar song starts, and Cromwell dances off the stage singing his iconic lines from the Rams promotional video, "Let's Ram It".

"I like to ram it, as you can see, nobody likes ramming it more than me."


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The actual Chiefs are strongly linked to Gibson. Would not at all be surprised to see him get drafted by us
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Oh, really? Once I started looking at him, I thought he'd be a perfect fit for our offense. I'm intrigued by the guy. Some of the stuff I was reading commented that he might be moved from WR to RB in the NFL, which is a very unusual move. I could see Andy using him to great benefit.
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They've talked to him. Some dude at AP was really high on him.

https://www.arrowheadpride.com/2020/...antonio-gibson

I mean, it's hard to argue against. He screams Andy Reid.

Shit, he's tall for a RB. Teach him how to throw, and he's probably a better QB than Taysom Hill. The guy could do absolutely anything.
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I'm officially on the Gibson bandwagon. I want a whole team of sub 4.4 offensive skill players.
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Gibson caught my attention with a 4.39 for a guy who weighs 228. He'll be a fun new toy for Reid and Mahomes. I probably would've drafted this guy earlier if I had known about him.

And the 1976 Kansas Jayhawks are pretty interesting. They averaged 11 passes and 63 runs per game. Cromwell was a western Kansas kid who was recruited as a safety, but they moved him to quarterback in their wishbone offense. He got injured his senior year, but to that point he had 43 passing attempts and 113 rushing attempts. He then moved back to safety when he got to the NFL. In turn, Golub took Cromwell's place at free safety. Golub was a local kid who went to Shawnee Mission High School, but as Mr. Cromwell noted, he lasted a year with the Chiefs. He got cut from the Bears in 1978 and later that fall his car collided with a tractor trailer near Olathe and he was killed.

Overall, the 1976 Jayhawks had 117 pass attempts on the season and 666 rushes. Times have changed.
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Holy cow. Nolan Cromwell is a really accomplished guy. Why has ubeja not told us about his track exploits?

He was raised in a tiny west Kansas town (Ransom) and then check out his resume.

High School

State champion in basketball.
National AAU junior champion in the decathlon
Three-time state champion in track
Consensus All-State honors in football
Consensus All-State honors in basketball.
He was named the Wichita Eagle's high school football player of the decade for the 1970s.

College

Honorable mention all-american at quarterback (despite starting his career at safety)
Ran for 1,223 yards in 1975
All-America honors in the 600-yard run and the 440 intermediate hurdles
Set KU records in the 600-meter and 400-meter yard runs, the intermediate hurdles (a record he still holds at 49:47) and the decathlon
Qualified for the US Olympic trials in the low hurdles.
Inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

Professional football

11-year career at free safety
NFC defensive player of the year in 1980
Four straight pro bowls from 1980 through 1983
Football Digest's NFL Defensive Back of the Year in four consecutive years: 1980 through 1983
Member of the NFL's 1980s all-decade team
One Super Bowl appearance as a player and three as an assistant coach, with one win as an assistant coach
One of the stars of the "Let's Ram It" video

Personal life

Married to a former Rams cheerleader and Miss Hollywood USA 1980–81 who is the woman on the left here (not a real gun - he's an actor):


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The Denver Broncos select Carlos Davis, DT, Nebraska
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The Chiefs' draft is complete. We frittered away our 6th and 7th round picks on some guys who won the Super Bowl. So we end our draft with these new future champions.

1-32. Zach Baun, LB, Wisconsin
2-63. Noah Igbinoghene, CB, Auburn
3-96. Ben Bredeson, G, Michigan
4-138. Eno Benjamin, RB, Arizona State
5-177. Antonio Gibson, WR, Memphis

We addressed a few needs in the first three rounds, but couldn't resist adding some weapons to the Mahomes arsenal later in the draft. I wanted to add a defensive end, but we didn't have enough picks for that. All in all, we added a bit of strength to almost every position group.
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I wouldn't bitch at a draft like that. Every pick addresses and area for improvement from last year's Super Bowl team, so theoretically it's not so much reloading as it is evolving the team.

Looking at how the Chiefs have drafted the past several years, I really see only two players that were taken with the intent to immediately plug them into the starting lineup-- Nnadi and Thornhill. If the draft went this way, you've for sure drafted 3 immediate starters, and possibly 4. I don't think Veach's board will work out that way, but you never know.
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While I philosophically like the 'best available athlete' approach, I find that my real-life philosophy is to try to increase the overall starting lineup, which pushes me toward prioritizing needs. I don't track free agency well enough for this exercise, but I also like to think about who the 47th through 53rd players are on the roster, and who's going to get cut based on what I draft. I want to draft in a way that cuts the least strong players.
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The Dallas Cowboys select Anthony Gordon, QB, Washington State
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The Cincinnati Bengals select Carter Coughlin, OLB, Minnesota
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I heard about Gibson from Memphis rumors are out there he’s one of the guys we have talked to via FaceTime or whatever that technology is.
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The Denver Broncos select Antoine Brooks Jr., S, Maryland
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