Brett Veach dropped a lot of nuggets about the Chiefs’ NFL Draft plans
As the Chiefs embark on free agency each offseason, general manager Brett Veach offers the team’s front office a guidepost, of sorts.
“Pretend there’s no draft,” he says. “(If) we have to go out there and line up Week 1 and play— what do we need?”
That exercise — imagining there’s no draft — is actually a draft strategy itself.
Really.
The most effective way to position themselves for the NFL Draft is to open it unencumbered by specific needs.
It’s idealistic, sure.
Where are they on that? Veach spoke to the media Thursday, a week shy of the 2025 NFL Draft, and that best-player-available mantra made an appearance. So did some other nuggets.
Let’s dig in:
1. The positions the Chiefs are likely to target early
The Chiefs have eight selections in the 2025 NFL Draft, but four of them fall within the top-95 picks.
Some selectivity with those endpoints and all, but this is only the second time since 2011 their fourth pick in a draft will be that early (if they hold onto them).
The other one went pretty well, by the way. It’s the loaded class in 2022.
The Chiefs will be able to address some priorities early.
Which priorities?
Veach views the Chiefs’ top needs as offensive line, defensive line, cornerback and then wide receiver. And he twice mentioned them in that order, probably for a reason.
Here’s what was particularly refreshing about it: He used the phrase “premium positions” on multiple occasions. Since they have quarterback secured, that would be offensive tackle, wide receiver, pass rusher and cornerback.
So, you know, the spots he picked out.
Those are smart places to target atop any draft — you pay a far lower rate for those positions than you’d pay in free agency, even as they’re far more valuable resources. Better to get them here.
“When you get to these picks, you’re going to always stick to the value on the board, but within that value, you’re going to stick to the premium positions,” Veach said. “O-line and D-line, if all things are equal, you’re going to always defer to that and continue to build the lines.”
2. KC wants a running back
It’s not one of the positions he mentioned among the team’s top needs, but there’s a “good likelihood” the Chiefs use one of their eight picks on a running back.
His words.
Veach has running backs graded as the best position group in this draft class, and he became even more specific that the stack of good talent falls between the first and fifth rounds.
“I think there will be a good chance that one of these picks ends up being one of those (running backs), just because there’s so many of them, and they’re all really good,” Veach said.
Oh, and there’s this: It’s a real need.
The Chiefs ran the ball more frequently last season — at least prior to moving Joe Thuney to left guard — than they had in any Mahomes season. Yet they finished dead last in explosive rushes, tallying just 33 carries of 10-plus yards.
It might seem as though the Chiefs already have a crowded running back room — Isiah Pacheco, Kareem Hunt, Elijah Mitchell and Carson Steele — but they don’t have a player who both consistently gets into the second level and then can make people miss once there in the open field.
This draft is flush with them.
The Chiefs could use a running back who doubles as a factor in the passing game. Samaje Perine operated as the third-down back a year ago and signed with the Bengals in the offseason.
3. A hidden-need position
One more thing about a running back — or maybe this will come from a rookie wide receiver.
The Chiefs want a return man.
The NFL implemented a new kickoff rule last year in an effort to increase the number of returns, and then the league upped the ante this year. A touchback will now come all the way out to the 35-yard line, incentivizing kickers to target the landing zone and force the opposing team to return them.
Nikko Remigio finished last season as the Chiefs’ lead returner, and he’ll be back in 2025, but he’s not a lock for the job.
“He did a great job, but again, we’re always pushing the envelope to get 1% better, and if we add another dynamic element to both return phases, that would be something that would make sense,” Veach said. “So it’s not just wanting to continue to add explosive playmaking at the running back or the receiver position — it’s always the return game.”
4. How the Chiefs view the DL class
The expert consensus is that this is a particularly deep defensive line draft class.
Veach agrees.
Kind of.
“In general, it’s good, but it’s probably driven more so by the depth at (defensive) end,” Veach said. “I think interior (defensive linemen) are better than most years, but I don’t think they come close to D-end.”
That could be particularly noteworthy in the first round, because the most likely players to fall Thursday are defensive line prospects, because there are a lot of them.
That includes both interior defensive linemen and edge rushers projected as fringe first-rounders — such as Derrick Harmon (Oregon) and Walter Nolen (Ole Miss) on the interior, and James Pearce (Tennessee), Donovan Ezeiruaku (Boston College), and Nic Scourton (Texas A&M) on the edge.
For what it’s worth, I’ve picked Harmon as a fit alongside Jones inside — he had 55 pressures from the interior, 11 more than any other player in Division I a year ago. But Veach might feel better about a late first-round pick in this year’s edge class.
5. Chiefs still in the LT market
I’ll breeze through this one because I wrote a fuller, much more in-depth column solely on this topic already.
But left tackle is on the board.
Jaylon Moore was the Chiefs’ most expensive free agent of the offseason, and the plan is for him to protect the blindside of Patrick Mahomes.
For now.
That addition puts in place a safeguard, but it won’t preclude them from looking for the position in this draft. And it shouldn’t. Right tackle Jawaan Taylor is entering what’s likely is final year in Kansas City, given his unmanageable cap number in 2026, which could allow Moore to slide over.
The problem? It’s not a great tackle class — maybe half the amount of tackles will go in the first round as did in 2024 — and the good ones are gone early. Even the ones you hope just might fall are gone early.
But there will be some fringe first-rounders and early second-rounders who could intrigue the Chiefs, and that includes Ruskin High graduate Aireontae Ersery.
Or maybe a trade up for Ohio State product Josh Simmons?
About that possibility...
6. A first-round draft night trade?
Veach is known for his aggression in the draft, and especially in the first round.
Which is why this caught my attention.
The Star’s Jesse Newell asked Veach a contrasting question: Could this be a year they trade out of the first round?
The reply? Yes.
“I think that could be in our wheelhouse, and it might make sense to us,” Veach answered the question, and I’d encourage you to read Newell’s full story on the topic.
The Chiefs have given first-round grades to only 12-13 players this draft, as opposed to 15-19 in an average draft.
You might think that makes it more likely they’d trade up to land one, but it actually just increases the difficulty of doing so.
That could be one incentive to trade back. The other? Veach described a “secondary wave” second-round talent.
As it stands, the Chiefs will go 93 draft selections without making a pick — they don’t have a fifth- or sixth-round choice. Can you imagine Veach kicking up his feet and watching 93 straight selections?
Me neither.
If the Chiefs trade out of the first, they could secure an extra pick in this space as well.
Oh, and one more takeaway on this trading down possibility: I’ll believe it when I see it.
This story was originally published April 18, 2025 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Brett Veach dropped a lot of nuggets about the Chiefs’ NFL Draft plans."