General Manager Brett Veitch discussed why Kansas City retained the final draft pick on Opening Night.
the ruler power The Kansas City Chiefs selected sharp-edged Felix Anodic-Uzuma with the 31st — and final — pick in Round 1 of the NFL Draft Thursday evening.
The 21-year-old Lee’s Summit native (w Kansas State The producer) immediately assumed a role on defense, considering some snaps left open due to the departures of veteran defensive ends Frank Clarke and Carlos Dunlap.
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Late Thursday night, general manager Brett Veitch confirmed that the Chiefs had explored trading — especially since the entire wide receiver class for the draft was available up to the 20th pick. But starting from Seattle Seahawks to choose Ohio StateJaxon Smith-Ngigba The Arms have been taken with four straight draft picks – leaving the Chiefs on the outside looking for pass catchers.
Veach wasn’t surprised that the trade failed to materialize.
Fitch asserted, “Running was up there with the bad guys.” “We came out in front of that, though — and I think we kind of knew where the market was. Obviously, there were a few teams that were AFC elected — and they weren’t interested in talking to us and trading us.”
In the end, the bosses weren’t willing to overpay for moving to one position.
Fitch explained, “After you get banned in there,[and] Not being able to trade, and then it’s like, ‘Okay, we’ll do that – but the ask price will be equal more than you thought. So [it’s] Just one of those things where you have to stay disciplined – and know the goal is to fill out a deep, talented roster.”
Chiefs coach Andy Reid praised his counterpart’s patience – and the overall roster build.
Reid claimed: “I thought Brett did a great job of staying disciplined with what the council was showing him, and he didn’t go somewhere out of sheer need. So some of it’s because we don’t have a lot of those [needs]. “
Fitch identified the defensive end as a situation he wanted to address.
“Just look at our roster,” Veitch acknowledged, “There were checkboxes we wanted to tackle all weekend — whether it’s defensive end, skill position, offensive line or what have you. We just wanted to get one of those premium positions right off the bat. ..when we were sitting there on the 31st, [Anudike-Uzomah] He was the top guy on the board. [He] Make this decision easy.”
While the Chiefs didn’t find an opportunity to move up, they could trade down from the selection. The Chief Brass considered it, but they chose to stay and take the player they wanted.
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Of his newest player, Reed said, “We felt comfortable enough in the first round to take him, not give ourselves away in the first round – which we had the opportunity to do. But we felt we wanted to stay there and take him.”
By consensus, Veach laid out what the trade-off would look like.
“[Anudike-Uzomah] He was the better guy.” “And we had some calls — I think the coach might have mentioned that. It’s a situation, though, when you have a guy who’s obviously the top guy on the left. Then the calls we had were talking in the mid 40’s. It’s a long way to go – and then you end up just trading those shots to try to get up and get a guy like Felix.
So we thought, ‘Let’s not get too sweet here. There is a man we love [at a] need position. We’ll go ahead and choose.
“[I’m] Definitely glad we did.”
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