With the 2023 NFL Draft now in the books, Kansas City Chiefs' General Manager Brett Veach spoke to the media on Monday and answered several questions regarding the state of the roster. Overall, despite just winning Super Bowl LVII a few months ago, Veach made sure to highlight that the Chiefs' goal is always to get better and that there is constantly room for improvement.
With that sentiment in mind, here are four things that stood out from Veach's press conference on Monday.
1. Veach spoke about second-round pick and former SMU wide receiver Rashee Rice, who joins the Chiefs after a strong career with the Mustangs.
The 6-foot-1, 204-pound Rice caught 96 passes for 1,355 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2022, making him one of only three FBS players to tally at least 1,300 receiving yards last season. He also led the FBS with 112.9 receiving yards-per-game, earning Second-Team All-America recognition for his efforts.
Veach spoke about the selection and what he expects out of the Chiefs' young wide receiver corps this season.
"I think the cool thing about [Head] Coach [Andy Reid] is that he's going to highlight [any receiver's] skillset and get the most out of them," Veach said. "I think that's the value in staying true to the board…Let's get good players here and then allow Coach and his offensive staff to do their thing and just put these guys in the best position possible to utilize their skillset."
2. The Chiefs are reigning Super Bowl champions, but the work is never done.
Despite coming off a Super Bowl victory, Veach knows that this league is a highly competitive and that the work is never complete. Simply put, just because the Chiefs won it all last season doesn't guarantee anything for the 2023 campaign. Knowing this, Veach is constantly refining the roster in order to put the Chiefs in the best position to succeed this upcoming season.
"I mean, we're always trying to improve this roster," said Veach. "If we can improve the 90th person on our roster, we'll do that. [That's how] we'll approach this summer...I feel like we have a competitive roster that can go out there and compete to win games, but I also feel like there's always room for improvement and we'll continue to do that from now until the end of the cut-down day."
3. Veach was also asked about the Chiefs' scouting and evaluation process that has resulted in so much late-round success recently.
The Chiefs' victory in Super Bowl LVII was of course rooted in the performances of All-Pro talents such as quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce, but it also hinged on the efforts of players like tailback Isiah Pacheco, cornerback Jaylen Watson and offensive guard Trey Smith. The commonality shared between those three players and numerous other contributors is that they were selected on Day 3 of the NFL Draft, demonstrating a clear ability by the Chiefs' scouting staff to identify undervalued players.
It's a trend that Veach hopes continued with this past draft.
"[It's about] just trying to get better with every draft and every acquisition period," Veach said. "I think we've always done a good job of blending the tape and making sure that we utilize analytics and making sure that we don't miss anything. Then, I think it's just a matter of fine-tuning that process over the years and making sure that we can be more locked in and better informed in all of our decision-making processes...We also believe in the outstanding work that our scouts do throughout the course of the year, so it's really just every year, trying to fine-tune this process and get better and better and better."
4. Another area Veach spoke about was the situation at right tackle, which is shaping up to be an interesting competition to follow throughout the offseason training program.
The Chiefs selected former Oklahoma offensive tackle Wanya Morris in the third round on Friday, adding a versatile and talented player to the mix at right tackle. That group also includes veteran Lucas Niang, Prince Tega Wanogho and second-year player Darian Kinnard in addition to offseason acquisition Jawaan Taylor, who will likely take over at left tackle.
Here's what Veach had to say about the Chiefs' current group of tackles on Monday.
"I think there'll be a degree of mixing and matching. I'm sure it's safe to say that as we sit here today, Jawaan Taylor will be able to go out there and run left tackle with the ones," Veach said. "Then, I think we'll have good competition between Niang and Wanya. We just brought Wanya in here and Kinnard has some flexibility, too. I think, at least for sure, Kinnard will go back and forth between tackle and guard. I think Wanya has some tackle-guard flexibility, too. I think you'll see [Offensive Line] Coach [Andy] Heck do a great job of mixing and matching, and then when we get to training camp, [we'll] just let the competition speak for itself."
