Kansas City Chiefs: Five Year Draft Recap and Grades

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2008

1st round: Glen Dorsey, DL, LSU and Branden Albert, OL, Virigina

2nd round: Brandon Flowers, CB, VA Tech

3rd round: Jamaal Charles, RB, Texas, Brad Cottam TE, Tenessee, Dajuan Morgan, SWill, North Carolina State

4th round: Will Franklin, WR, Missouri

5th round: Brandon Carr, CB, Grand Valley State

6th Round: Barry Richardson, T, Clemson, Kevin Robinson, WR, Utah State

7th round: Brian Johnston, DE, Gradner Webb, Mike Merritt, TE, Central Florida

This draft was immediately lauded with the selections of Glenn Dorsey, Branden Albert, and Brandon Flowers highlighted. Three years later it still seems pretty impressive on the surface.

A good draft to me is three starters, one of which is a high impact player, and some depth (depending on the number of picks).

Let’s break down the Chiefs draft here.

Starters: Glenn Dorsey, Branden Albert, Brandon Flowers, Jamaal Charles, Brandon Carr, Barry Richardson (6 > 3)

Players no longer on the team: Will Franklin, DaJuan Morgan, Kevin Robinson, Brian Johnston, Mike Merritt,

Players not making an impact: Brad Cottam.

The Breakdown: I didn’t love the Glenn Dorsey pick then, and now it’s still not a tremendous pick. Dorsey is not as dominating as you like as a 34 Defensive end in the Chiefs system, and it’s arguably not his best schematic fit. He has four sacks in three years and while he’s a solid starter, could be upgraded.

Their second first round pick Branden Albert was drafted to the left tackle of the future, but that doesn’t seem to be the plan forever, as he is a very solid left tackle, but not great. He has a chance to be a top notch guard thought in my opinion. While he’ll still start for the foreseeable future at LT, the Chiefs would love to see a breakout year for Albert this year at left tackle so they can stop worrying about whether or not to move Albert to guard and just find a guard. Fans also would appreciate that so they could stop reading opinions like mine who suggest that Albert could be a terrific Left guard. Still he’s a solid, Left tackle and could still improve. That’s nothing to sneeze at from a first round pick.

This is where the Chiefs started to strike Gold. Brandon Flowers in the second round has been an excellent pick and the pairing of Flowers with Brandon Carr has given the Chiefs one of the best your cornerback combinations in the entire league. Flowers played at a very high level this past season and though he’s a bit undersized does a good job of limiting an opposing teams number one wide receiver.

After that the Chiefs made their best pick when they selected Jamaal Charles in the third round. All Charles did this year was rush for 1467 yards at an oustanding 6.4 yards per carry. He only got in the end-zone five times, but right now he’s one of the most feared running backs in the entire league.

The icing on the cake was Barry Richardson a guy they drafted in the 6th round. All he did last year was start 16 games last year for the Chiefs.

Draft Grade A

If Dorsey and Albert break out this year this draft could be an A+. Very, very good draft.

2009

First Round: Tyson Jackson, DE, LSU

Third Round: Alex Macgee, DT, Purdue

Fourth Round: Donald Washington, DB, Ohio State

Fifth Round: Colin Brown, T, Missouri

Sixth Round: Quinten Lawrence, WR, McNesee State

Seventh Round: Javarris Williams, RB, Tennessee State

Seventh Round: Jake O’Connell, TE, Miami (Ohio)

Seventh Round: Ryan Succop, K, South Carolina

This is not going to be as pretty as the last draft. Tyson Jackson made 3 starts last year and Chiefs fans (a bit prematurely) are asking if Jackson is a bust. He was considered a reach when he was chosen and hasn’t done enough to make fans change their opinion yet. Donald Washington the defensive back made two starts the past year. Jake O’Connell has two starts this year and 3 catches for 31 yards.

Alex Magee had two sacks in limited playing time.

Colin Brown is no longer on the roster, Quinten Lawrence has one catch over the past two seasons.

The player who sees the most action is Ryan Succop, the Kicker, who had 76.9 field goal completion percentage with a long of 53 yards.

Grade C

If Tyson Jackson doesn’t step it up this grade will drop even lower, but after a couple of years some of the later round picks are still on the roster which means they are developing nicely and still have a chance to make an impact so that’ll bump this grade up.

2010

1st Round: Eric Berry, S, Tenneessee

2nd Round: Dexter McCluster, RB, Ole Miss

2nd Round: Javier Arenas, CB, Alabama

3rd Round: Jon Asamoah,G, Illinois

3rd Round: Tony Moeaki, TE, Iowa

4th Round: Cameron Sheffield, LB, Troy

5th Round: Kendrick Lewis, S, Mississippi

Every player except for Cameron Sheffield made at least one start for a playoff team in their rookie years. That’s very good.

Eric Berry was a stud when he was drafted and just played at a very high level all year. He made plays in all facets of the game vs the run, vs the pass, and attacking the quarterback. 92 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 FF, and 4 INT. Dexter McCluster had 21 catches for 209 yards 1 touchdown and 18 carries for 71 yards, he also had a punt return. McCluster has some work to do be a top slot receiver, but he has good natural ability.

Javier Arenas and Jon Asamoah weren’t big time impact players, but got valuable learning experience.

Kendrick Lewis made 10 starts last year with 3 interceptions for getting injured and showed the Chiefs enough to be the long term future next to Eric Berry in the secondary. The Chiefs now have five very nice pieces in the secondary as building blocks. Brandon Carr, Brandon Flowers, Berry, Lewis, and Javier Arenas. The Chiefs have one of the most promising young secondaries in the entire league.

The Chiefs best pick was probably Tony Moeaki. A pick that not everyone loved and most questioned on draft day had an excellent rookie season for the Chiefs. Moeaki caught 47 balls for 556 yards and three touchdowns while starting five games.

Grade: B+

This looks like a very promising class for the Chiefs. Time will tell if that is the case, but Berry, Moeaki, and Lewis are off to excellent starts. Asmoah was considered great value where he was chosen last year and McCluster can be a very nice and dynamic N.F.L. player.

Overall the last five years the Chiefs have a grade of a B

They have two classes that look exceptional (last year’s and 2008s) one glass that looks solid 2006 and two years that were pretty bad (2009, 2007). Only Dwayne Bowe saves the 2007 class. They seem to be a very hit or miss team.

What are your thoughts about the last five years Chiefs fans?

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