April 24, 2015; Kansas City, MO; Screen grab of Chiefs general manager holding his annual pre-NFL Draft presser. Credit: KCChiefs.com
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Chiefs general manager John Dorsey and his player personnel staff enter the home stretch with less than a week before the NFL Draft.
The Chiefs currently sit at pick No. 18 to add a quality first-round prospect, but whether the player has an immediate impact remains to be seen.
“Of course, there’s going to be 32 players getting selected in this draft,” Dorsey said of the first round during Friday’s press conference. “From the total number of impact players, I would say from impact players there’s probably 10 to 12 impact players in this draft.”
The Chiefs, of course, have ammunition to potentially move around the three-day event, up or down, when considering the 10 draft picks.
But even that presents obstacles, namely a trading partner, as Dorsey pointed out. The other consideration for the Chiefs is how a trade would affect the future.
“I think what you do when you get a chance to look at your board and you look at the players on that board,” Dorsey said, “and then you have to think long-term strategy of what can happen if we do this trade. You have to begin to weigh those different options, that’s the hard part of the judgment part of what is best for the organization. The simplest way to put it is this – never pass up a good player.”
To no surprise so as not to offer pre-draft strategy to other teams, Dorsey wouldn’t go into the players the Chiefs are potentially interested in, except to say “best player available.”
But the general manager mentioned he’s seen anywhere between 150 to 220 players on a draft board during his career.
“They say if you really do it right, you can hit 140,” Dorsey said. “There’s quality over quantity.”
The Chiefs have immediate needs at inside linebacker, cornerback and could add depth at wide receiver, offensive line and defensive line.
Nevertheless, the Chiefs are likely to stick with the draft plan.
“I don’t think you have to base your grade solely on need,” Dorsey said. “That’s not the best way to do this. I think what you do is evaluate the person of how he plays the game of football and how best he can help this organization.”
Dorsey said a player also goes through a filter process designed to look at a player’s makeup and how he would fit schematically within the Chiefs’ schemes.
In the meantime, the Chiefs will apply finishing touches to the draft board, and part of that method involves meetings with the various coaches in the coming days.
Dorsey said he already met with the offensive coaches, and will meet with the defensive and special teams coaches before sitting down with head coach Andy Reid on Monday.
“What it accomplishes is what you want to do is get as much input as you possibly can with regards to how people see specific players, especially coaching staff because they’re going to coach them,” Dorsey said. “You listen to everybody; you filter through everything and see if it fits the best interest of the organization.”
NOTES: Dorsey said the Chiefs have had discussions with linebacker Justin Houston’s representative “in the last three days” … Dorsey wouldn’t disclose the general nature of the negotiations, except to say, “We’ve had conversation” … Houston, the Chiefs’ non-exclusive franchise player, is not present for Phase I of the team’s voluntary offseason workout program.
