The Kansas City Chiefs have lined up a pre-draft visit with Carnell Tate, and he could be their next top receiver.
Premium wide receivers are always in demand going into the draft, so it’s not exactly surprising that Carnell Tate of Ohio State is visiting with plenty of teams. But the Chiefs are on Tate’s pre-draft itinerary, according to a report by Connor Byrne of ProFootballRumors.com via Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN, but they’ll have plenty of competition to land the OSU star.
Tate’s list of teams also includes the Tennessee Titans, New Orleans Saints, Washington Commanders and the New York Giants, and Tate has already met with the Cleveland Browns. All of the teams he’s visited will be drafting in the top ten, and the big question right now is exactly where the 6’2” 192 pound receiver will land.
The Chiefs may have other plans given GM Brett Veach’s statements about positional priorities, but it’s hard to go wrong drafting an Ohio State receiver these days. The Buckeyes receiving group was so strong during Tate’s college career that he was never the top option, with Emeka Egbuka and Marvin Harrison Jr. leading the pack during Tate’s freshman year in 2023.
Last season he played “second fiddle” to Jeremiah Smith, as Byrne put it, but Tate still manage to catch 51 passes for 875 yards and nine touchdowns in just 11 games, and he did it without dropping a single pass according to Pro Football Focus.
Color the scouts impressed, too.
“You watch his route running and his body control, and tell me that’s not Justin Jefferson at LSU,” an NFC area scout told Matt Miller of ESPN.
As for the Chiefs, the real question is where they want to go with their receiver group, which was effective at times but also erratic. Drops plagued the group late in the season, which makes that stat about Tate not dropping any passes especially noteworthy.
The Chiefs have taken receivers with top draft picks before, but they haven’t gotten great results. Skyy Moore was a second-round pick in 2022, but he’s now off the roster. Fellow second-rounder Rashee Rice has been productive, but he was plagued by drops late last season and has also faced significant off-the-field issues. Xavier Worthy was a first-rounder, but he’s struggled with injuries, and the Chiefs haven’t quite figured out a way to harness his blazing speed.
Will Tate be the Chiefs’ next attempt to solve their receiver riddle? Veach has also identified the pass rush and the offensive line as areas of need, but with two picks in the first round, the Chiefs have more maneuverability than their competitors if they decide Tate is their guy in April.