The Kansas City Chiefs say they got the player they wanted, but all of their pre-draft comments say otherwise.
The Kansas City Chiefs had three priority needs, according to GM Brett Veach when he spoke recently at the spring meetings, so they were expected to take an edge rusher, a receiver or an offensive lineman with their top pick last night. Instead, Kansas City gave up a lot of draft capital to trade up with the Cleveland Browns to get from No. 9 to No. 6, and they ended up with cornerback Mansoor Delane of LSU.
Kansas City sent the Nos. 9, 74 and 148 picks to Cleveland, and after the selection Veach claimed that everything went according to plan.
"Every model that we ran kind of said, looking at the stack of players, we figured [edge rushers David Bailey and Arvell Reese would go [off the board]," Veach said after making the selection in a followup written by Nate Taylor of ESPN. "The predictive model said that the Saints are going to be the biggest obstacle. I've been doing this for a few years now. Cleveland made it obvious early on that they were interested in trading, so we had some traction.
"I know [Saints general manager] Mickey [Loomis]. If there's one guy more aggressive than me, it's Mickey. I have that experience where we're kind of eyeing the same guy. We had Mansoor Delane as a top-five guy on our board. We felt it would come down to us and New Orleans."
Reports had Delane going somewhere in the top of the first round, and Mel Kiper of ESPN had Delane rated 14th in his prospect board. He had two interceptions and 13 pass breakups last season at LSU, and Delane didn’t surrender a touchdown in coverage. Delane was a unanimous All-American selection, and he’s the first LSU player to do that since quarterback Joe Burrow.
The cornerback definitely fits a need, but Delane’s surprised reaction definitely hints at a sudden and unexpected change of plans.
"They weren't really on me too much in this process, but they said they just wanted to keep it quiet and make that sneak move," Delane said right after being selected. "They made the best move in the draft. I'm excited."
The report stated that the Chiefs did their final interview with Delane on Tuesday, claiming the decision not to do a draft visit was based on input from defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, which feels like a stretch given the DC’s normal thoroughness.
"I thought we did a good job; I think a lot of people thought we might go offensive line there, but this was our guy the whole time," Veach said.
"He's super fluid, he's athletic, he plays [patiently], he's super aware and he's got great ball skills. He's tough and he'll tackle. We think he can play inside and outside. He was the most complete corner. When you're picking at nine and you're right there -- and you can get the No. 1 corner in the draft -- you just go get him."
Now they have him, but Delane has already been labeled a reach by many draft experts. Selecting a top corner goes against the grain for the Chiefs, and it’s hard to believe this is what they had in mind when they traded up.