KANSAS CITY, Mo. — No one would blame Chiefs chairman/CEO Clark Hunt if he let loose a sigh of relief upon the drafting of quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the first round Thursday night. After all, the last time the Chiefs drafted a quarterback in the first round, Hunt was a senior in high school.
Kansas State defensive end Jordan Willis makes a play on Texas Tech quarterback and Chiefs first-round draft pick Patrick Mahomes.
Hunt said he doesn’t remember much about about that day in 1983 when the the Chiefs drafted Todd Blackledge from Penn State.
“I think I was worried about final that were coming up,” Hunt joked.
General manager John Dorsey ran through the trade scenarios with Hunt leading up to the draft.
“All things considered, it was not a hard decision,” Hunt said. “The chance to get a quarterback who can be a franchise quarterback for the Chiefs in the future made it a pretty easy decision.”
Hunt hears all the criticism of his family’s franchise, and knows how long fans have clamored for a quarterback to call their own.
“It’s not why we made the decision we made yesterday, but I do know there were a lot of happy fans in the Chiefs kingdom,” Hunt said with a smile.
CHIEFS BYPASS K-STATE’S JORDAN WILLIS
The Chiefs selected defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon with the No. 59 pick overall in the second round while Kansas State linebacker Jordan Willis remained on the board.
The Cincinnati Bengals eventually selected Willis in the third round No. 73 overall.
Dorsey said the Chiefs choosing Kpassagnon over Willis had to with where he projects both players to play. Dorsey sees Kpassagnon as a defensive end lining up on the outside shoulder of the tackle. Defensive line depth is where the Chiefs need the most help.
But Dorsey projects Willis in a linebacker role.
“We had projected him as an outside linebacker and not a defensive end,” Dorsey said. “With Kpassagnon, what we’re going to do is use him as a five technique. We made the decision on the defensive line to go that route.”
Willis visited the Chiefs during the local pro day for area players. Dorsey struck up a relationship Willis, and texted him with him afterwards.
“I think Jordan Willis is a heck of a football player, great kid,” Dorsey said.
NUMBER FIVE
Mahomes wore No. 5 at Texas Tech as well as in high school. Chiefs kicker Cairo Santos currently wears No. 5 however, and the new quarterback gave no indication that he wants to swap numbers with Santos.
Instead, Mahomes mentioned he’s looking at taking a new number, rattling off several in the single digits.
“I’m thinking of a number to get here soon,” Mahomes said. “We’ll see I’ll try to find my own number that I can get and be a part of the team.”
———-
Matt Derrick is the lead beat writer for ChiefsDigest.com. Use the contact page to reach him or find him on Twitter: @MattDerrick.
———-
