The Kansas City Chiefs do have a need at cornerback, but it would be a shock if they used a top pick on Colton Hood.
The Kansas City Chiefs do have a need at cornerback after losing most of their secondary to free agency and the Trent McDuffie trade, but it was still surprising to see them meet with top cornerback prospect Colton Hood in the final days of pre-draft visits. The visit was reported by Sam Robinson of ProFootballRumors.com, who cited multiple sources in his report.
There’s certainly nothing wrong with Hood’s bona fides. The Tennessee cornerback is expected to be taken in the first round, according to Robinson, and he’s also done visits with the Dallas Cowboys, New York Jets, Las Vegas Raiders, Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans.
He was a second-team SEC player last year for the Volunteers, and Hood chose to forego his last two years of eligibility to declare for the draft, which could be part of the reason the Chiefs are doing this visit.
Hood was supposed to team with fellow cornerback Jermod McCoy to form a stellar secondary duo, but McCoy missed all of last year due to an ACL tear. The Tennessee cornerback is also well-traveled, having played at Auburn, then Colorado and finally Tennessee.
The surprise here is that the Chiefs don’t usually use high draft picks on cornerbacks, as they prefer to grow their own with players taken in later rounds. Hood’s decision may have surprised several of the teams that are doing visits, but one thing that’s certain is the Hood won’t be available in the later rounds.
The Chiefs have made several signings to replace McDuffie, cornerback Jaylen Watson and safety Bryan Cook. They’ve added Kader Kohou at corner and Alohi Gilman at safety, and they have depth players like Chamarri Conner and Nohl Williams who did reasonably well in late-season auditions for a starting job when the Chiefs’ season went south.
But the Chiefs have other needs that are far more serious, and GM Brett Veach has already said the positional priorities would be edge rusher, tackle and receiver. Most of Kansas City’s draft visits have been done with those positions in mind, so this is a bit of a late departure from that strategy.
At this point, though, many of these final draft visits are basically a cross between due diligence and tire-kicking, and that could be what’s happening here with Hood. It would be a shocker to see the Chiefs take him, but given the fact that the Chiefs have two first-round picks, there could be some draft day maneuvering in mind if another team values Hood enough to want to move up to grab him somewhere in the second half of the first round.