Kansas City Chiefs Draft Class of 2016 |
||||||
Round |
Overall |
Position |
Player |
Height |
Weight |
College |
2 |
37 |
DL |
Chris Jones |
6-6 |
308 |
Mississippi State |
3 |
74 |
CB |
KeiVarae Russell |
5-11 |
196 |
Notre Dame |
4 |
105 |
OL |
Parker Ehinger |
6-7 |
318 |
Cincinnati |
4 |
106 |
DB |
Eric Murray |
6-0 |
199 |
Minnesota |
4 |
126 |
WR |
Demarcus Robinson |
6-1 |
204 |
Florida |
5 |
162 |
QB |
Kevin Hogan |
6-4 |
218 |
Stanford |
5 |
165 |
RB |
Tyreek Hill |
5-10 |
185 |
West Alabama |
6 |
178 |
DB |
D.J. White |
5-11 |
185 |
Georgia Tech |
6 |
203 |
LB |
Dadi Nicolas |
6-3 |
223 |
Virginia Tech |
With the three-day NFL Draft wrapped up, we have compiled some interesting things to note regarding the Kansas City Chiefs and their 2016 draft class.
1. Kansas City's 2015 first round was very different from its 2016 first round
Last year, the Chiefs started the NFL Draft with a bang, selecting cornerback Marcus Peters at No. 18. As we know, Peters went on to finish tied for the league lead in interceptions with 8 and he later won the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year Award.
This year was much different.
Sitting at No. 28 on night one of the draft, the Chiefs traded their first-round pick, in addition to their seventh-round pick (249), to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for their second-round pick, fourth-round pick (105) and sixth-round pick (178).
"We thought it best within the organization to move back to acquire some picks," Chiefs general manager John Dorsey explained of the move, "because as we target this thing, we think the true depth of this draft lies in between the second and third and fourth rounds itself."
The 49ers selected Stanford guard Joshua Garnett with what would have been Kansas City's selection.
2. The first 2016 selection for the Chiefs came on day two of the draft, when they selected Chris Jones, a defensive lineman out of Mississippi State
Defensive lineman Chris Jones was one of the top 25 prospects invited to walk the stage at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University in Chicago, and when he wasn't selected on night one, he tweeted the following:
Jones returned to the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University for night two of the draft, and in the second round with the 37 overall pick, Dorsey drafted Jones to the Chiefs.
Needless to say, commissioner Roger Goodell felt Jones' excitement in being drafted to Kansas City
That's one HUGE hug for @nflcommish!
Welcome to the #NFL, Chris Jones. 珞 pic.twitter.com/Ek604PDSEw
— NFL UK (@NFLUK) April 30, 2016
That's one HUGE hug for @nflcommish!Welcome to the #NFL, Chris Jones.
"He's just fun to be around," Dorsey said of Jones. "He likes football. You can see guys that really like football, like being around the locker room. And then you watch them move around, you can see his degree of athleticism and you go 'My God, this guy's really athletic.' And then you combine that with his drive. All these things, they kind of work in your favor here and now we got him in the second round."
3. After trading out of the first round entirely, the Chiefs also traded out of another pick late in the second round
As a result of the night one trade, the Chiefs were set to pick twice in the second round, but they traded the latter of the two picks at 59th overall.
Instead of making a selection, Dorsey traded the pick to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who selected kicker Robert Agayo.
The Chiefs received Tampa Bay's third and fourth-round picks at 74th and 106th overall, respectively.
The Chiefs stared the 2016 NFL Draft with seven picks and after two trades, had nine total picks.
4. The Chiefs improved their cornerback depth by selecting Notre Dame's KeiVarae Russell with their third-round pick
Russell, who shared that he comes from a background of poverty later in a conference call with the Kansas City media, was very emotional when he received the call from Dorsey and the Chiefs.
"Thank you **@chiefs*. Mom, our lives just changed.. Ready to work towards greatness.*#ChiefsKingdom* what's up!!!!"*
"When you combine all the different matrixes of studies, you formulate that into a score – I would put him as a red level a‐score guy, meaning he has a lot of attributes that are really good," Dorsey said of Russell. "You combine that with his person, his competitiveness. He has a great deal of toughness. You got a guy that can play through a stress fracture and play through that and practice on that on a daily basis, is pretty mentally tough to me."
5. With their first pick on day three of the draft, the Chiefs drafted a former teammate of tight end Travis Kelce
The Chiefs opted for a Cincinnati offensive guard named Parker Ehinger for their first pick of day three. The Chiefs used one of their two fourth-round picks on Ehinger.
Ehinger played college football as a teammate to Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who reached out to him nearly immediately to being selected to the Chiefs.
"Seeing the type of athlete [Kelce] was and being in college with him a couple years and seeing him grow as a player, as a leader and everything, I wasn't surprised that he was able to take his talents and thrive in the NFL," Ehinger explained. "I just knew it was a matter of time before he got his time and he took full advantage of it.
Read more on the Ehinger selection via B.J. Kissel here.
A look inside the Chiefs Draft Room as we make our pick for Chris Jones.
6. The Chiefs drafted a quarterback in the fifth round
The Chiefs selected Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan with the first of two fifth-round picks. Hogan has the most wins of any starting quarterback in Stanford history.
Here are his career college statistics:
Kevin Hogan Stanford Statistics |
||||||||
Year |
G |
Cmp |
Att |
Pct |
Yds |
TD |
Int |
Rate |
*2012 |
10 |
109 |
152 |
71.7 |
1096 |
9 |
3 |
147.9 |
*2013 |
14 |
180 |
295 |
61 |
2630 |
20 |
10 |
151.5 |
*2014 |
13 |
232 |
352 |
65.9 |
2792 |
19 |
8 |
145.8 |
2015 |
14 |
206 |
304 |
67.8 |
2867 |
27 |
8 |
171 |
Career |
727 |
1103 |
65.9 |
9385 |
75 |
29 |
154.6 |
With Chase Daniel gone to Philadelphia, Hogan becomes the fourth quarterback for the Chiefs headed into offseason workouts and eventually training camp.
7. The positional breakdown
Here is the Chiefs positional breakdown for the 2016 NFL Draft:
Positional Breakdown |
||
Position |
Quantity |
Players |
DB |
3 |
KeiVarae Russel, Eric Murray, D.J. White |
DL |
1 |
Chris Jones |
LB |
1 |
Dadi Nicolas |
OL |
1 |
Parker Ehinger |
RB |
1 |
Tyreek Hill |
WR |
1 |
Demarcus Robinson |
With their nine picks, the Chiefs took five (5) defensive players and four (4) offensive players.
8. The conference breakdown
Here is the conference breakdown for the 2016 NFL Draft:
Conference Breakdown |
||
Conference |
Qty |
Player(s) |
ACC |
2 |
D.J. White, Dadi Nicolas |
SEC |
2 |
Chris Jones, Demarcus Robinson |
AAC |
1 |
Parker Ehinger |
Big 10 |
1 |
Eric Murray |
Gulf South (D II) |
1 |
Tyreek Hill |
Independent |
1 |
KeiVarae Russell |
Pac-12 |
1 |
Kevin Hogan |
It should be noted that before Saturday, Dorsey had never drafted a player from the Big 10. That changed when the Chiefs selected Minnesota cornerback Eric Murray in the fourth round with the 106th pick overall.
9. NFL.com graded the Chiefs with A's across the board
NFL.com came out with some rapid draft grades on Saturday and the Chiefs scored rather well.
You can read more about it here.
10. The attention now shifts to undrafted free agents
All those draft hopefuls that weren't selected in the 2016 NFL Draft are now officially free agents.
NFL Media senior analyst Gil Brandt is keeping a list of remaining free agents updated here.
A Look at the 2016 Chiefs Draft Picks.