The Kansas City Chiefs need an edge rusher, and GM Brett Veach is dropping hints about multiple possibilities.
The Kansas City Chiefs need an edge rusher, and GM Brett Veach is doing a fine job of playing pre-draft poker with his comments so far. He’s somehow managed to hint that the Chiefs could use their two first-round picks to move either up or down on Thursday, and Veach has also talked about the depth of the talent in this draft class at edge rusher.
Which is interesting, because the Chiefs have already done a visit with edge rusher Malachi Lawrence, who’s getting a lot of interest as draft day draws closer. Lawrence played for UCF, and according to Connor Byrne of ProFootballRumors.com, his college career took off back when he was a redshirt freshman in 2023. He had 10.5 tackles for loss to get with 7.5 sacks that year, and he was an All-Big 12 selection last year.
Some of the interest was driven by his excellent performance at the NFL combine, where Lawrence ran 4.52-second 40-yard dash. He also placed high among edge rusher in his vertical jump, broad jump and ten-second splits. He’s currently ranked between 36 and 46, depending on which draft expert you’re relying on.
Malachi has also visited a lot of teams, so the Chiefs would have considerably competition if they were to make a trade to add him. He’s made visits to the Raiders, Arizona Cardinals, Kansas City Chiefs, Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, Los Angeles Chargers, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Tennessee Titans and the New York Jets, according to a source Byrne cited.
This week’s visits will included the Indianapolis Colts, San Francisco 49ers, and the Seattle Seahawks, so it would almost be easier to list the teams he hasn’t visited.
Would Veach make a move back to get Lawrence? It’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility. Veach has also talked about this draft possibly featuring multiple trades, so it really depends on which hint you decide to take more seriously.
The Chiefs haven’t been drafting this high in the draft for quite some time, so this is their first chance in years to add a marquee player. That usually isn’t Veach’s style, especially with so many positional holes that need to be filled, so it will be interesting to see what happens this week as the rumor mill goes into high gear before teams take to the podium on Thursday night.