The draft class:

2.56. WR Mecole Hardman, Georgia
2.63. S Juan Thornhill, Virginia
3.84. DT Khalen Saunders, Western Illinois
6.201. CB Rashad Fenton, South Carolina
6.214. RB Darwin Thompson, Utah State
7.216. OG/C Nick Allegretti, Illinois

Notable UDFAs: LB Darius Harris, DE Tim Ward

For the complete breakdown of how the Chiefs moved around and got the picks they got, click here:


I think there's a lot to say about this draft class that tells us a lot about (a.) Brett Veach, (b.) the players themselves, and (c.) the Chiefs coaching staff and organization.

Veach peeled off three of the Chiefs picks, including the all-valuable 1st rounder, to go get DE Frank Clark and LB Reggie Ragland. In doing so, he built two players who were instrumental in winning Super Bowl LIV. In the organization's anxiousness over a looming WR Tyreek Hill suspension (which never came somehow), he peeled off another pick to move up for WR Mecole Hardman.

In doing so, he created for himself an insanely high level of difficulty for his 2019 draft class. Aside from trading off the 1st, he gutted the team's resources in the valuable midrounds to super-charge the team's transition to DC Steve Spagnuolo's 4-3 defensive scheme. Making a team better with only 2nd day picks and late rounders is extremely difficult.

But looking back on it, you have to give Veach a ton of credit here. For the first couple of years, you could almost make the case that his three late-round selections were better than his second day picks; Fenton has been at least a spot starter for the entirety of his time in Kansas City, until Veach traded him away at the trade deadline a week ago. Allegretti has been a reliable backup, and started the entire 2020 season, which ended at the LV Super Bowl. He continues to be a reliable backup now who's almost certainly destined for a starter contract this coming offseason from some other team. (Darwin never took flight, and is one of the rare Veach selections who is currently out of football -- which is a shame because I wanted "Natural Selection" to be his nickname.)

But finally, Hardman and Saunders seems to justify the selections, and Thornhill played above his draft position before his injury and perhaps a little under it since. With the cap crunch that swallowed the team this offseason, we can comfortably say that a big reason this team is as good as it is, is because the 2019 NFL Draft class finally developed.

We can always criticize that he could have taken Player A or B, and obviously DK Metcalf would have been the better pick. But that's true of literally every GM every draft, and so I'm more focused on Veach's actual picks succeeding.

Credit also has to go to Hardman, who from the moment he arrived had to bear the unmeetable expectation that he was as fast as Tyreek Hill, as good as Tyreek Hill, or could blow a game open like Tyreek Hill. None of that was possible, and he's been as maligned as anybody over the course of his rookie contract. Now, of course, he gets some separation, showcases usually-reliable hands, has been featured making awesome catches and plays in the most outrageous Mahomes highlights. (He's also the only Veach pick so far to have made a Pro Bowl -- as a kick returner.)

Hardman deserves the credit for working on his game, for keeping his fun personality, and for growing into the Andy Reid system to perfect the role he has on the squad. We haven't heard anything other than his usual positive feedback out of Mecole following the WR Kadarious Toney acquisition. We're lucky to have the player he is now, and I think all of us expect that he's priced himself out of Kansas City with his play this year, which I'm not sure was true leading up to the season.

Saunders has also finally developed this season, rising to the re-signing of Derrick Nnadi and the signing of Danny Shelton with the proper motivated play. He isn't the brick wall that Prime Mike Pennel was in 2019, but he was the sturdiest lineman we had against the Titans rush attack and gives you some passrush juice as well. Saunders likely should have been the starter all season, and likely will be going forward as the 1-tech with some passrush juice. That's a good pick for a third round pick out of Western Illinois.

The coaching staff consistently kept each of these guys, giving them every chance to emerge, keep feeding them snaps and giving them opportunity. Allegretti gets on the field several times a game as a 6th lineman. None of the guys have ever been at risk of being cut. There's a great conversation to be had as to whether Dorsey/Veach were/are brilliant drafters or if it's the Andy Reid coaching system that maximizes their talent. But we've seen enough failed former 1st rounders cycle through Kansas City without getting their talent magically unearthed.

The 2019 Chiefs Draft class is now, four years later, a Veach master class of using the resources of the draft to give you talent to win now (Clark, Ragland, Thornhill) while building for the intermediate future (Fenton, Allegretti) and distant future (Hardman, Saunders, Thornhill again, Harris).

It gave us what we needed at the time, and is giving us what we need now.
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