With a week to go before the 2026 NFL Draft kicks off, Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach sat down at his desk and fielded questions from reporters in a Zoom press conference.
He prefaced his preview of the draft with a state of the team, coming off a 6-11 season that was the first losing season for the Chiefs under the leadership of head coach Andy Reid.
“The position we’re in… our expectation every year is to go out there and try to win our division and make the playoffs and have a chance
to compete for a championship,” Veach said. “With that being said, there are a lot of areas to improve on our roster, on both sides of the football.”
“I think it does open up that ninth pick to go any one direction,” Veach declared. “Certainly, we’ll see how the first five or six picks go, but I think whether it’s the defensive backfield, offensive line, edge rusher, receiver… we need help in all those areas. I do think that we’ll be in a position there to get one of those players and then add throughout the course of the draft.
“I just think where we are with our roster, you really can’t eliminate any ‘one’ need because I think there are a lot of them.”
The team, as it tends to do every year, enters the draft with a roster that could take the field on paper. However, the following positions’ starters represent more patchwork than they do cemented roles.
- Right tackle (Jaylon Moore)
- Cornerback (Nohl Williams and Kristian Fulton)
- Wide receiver (Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy and Tyquan Thornton)
- Defensive end (George Karlaftis and Ashton Gillotte)
As Veach put it, this opens up many paths to take for the Chiefs with the first pick of the organization’s draft, even if it doesn’t occur at pick No. 9.
Whenever a draft card is first turned in next Thursday night, Kansas City’s general manager has a clear objective with the decision.
“I think our goal is to just make that selection and add a player that is going to be an impact player on our team,” Veach pointed out. “I know it’s cliche… but to really just add the best player available. You hear that all the time, but I don’t want to overthink that, and I don’t want to take a lesser player. Someone that’s just going to come in here, be an impact player, help us from Day 1, I think that’s extremely important to us.”
With his draft strategy in mind and his knowledge of the other teams drafting at the top of the board, Veach stirred up excitement among spectators.
“I think that the fans will be in for a treat next Thursday,” Veach said. “I think the grades are going to be so close from some of these tackles and [defensive] ends and receivers, that a lot of these guys that are mocked high may go a little lower, and a lot of the guys getting mocked low may go higher, because I think they’re so close this year, it’s not this huge gap and big fall off.”
An exciting draft night usually means teams moving up and down the board, and Veach acknowledged that.
“There will probably be a lot of trades,” Veach pointed out. “With a draft like this, when you don’t have two or three franchise quarterbacks, or a Will Anderson or a Myles Garrett, it does lend itself to open up to a lot of fun and a lot of excitement. I think, from a fan’s perspective, it should be a lot of fun next Thursday.”
For Chiefs Kingdom, or any collection of football fans, one of the most exciting picks in any draft would be an offensive weapon to boost the abilities of a franchise quarterback. Patrick Mahomes could use another pass catcher to pair with Rice, Worthy, tight end Travis Kelce and the revamped running game.
There are three receivers projected to be picked near the Chiefs’ No. 9 pick: Carnell Tate from Ohio State, Jordyn Tyson from Arizona State and Makai Lemon from USC. Veach provided some insight into the thought process behind choosing one of those three players, including comparisons to Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Emeka Egbuka and Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
“Tyson and Tate have the size and the intermediate and deep-field creative playmaking,” Veach began. “Makai Lemon is just so dang productive inside, he’s such a savvy route runner, and I know there are a lot of Egbuka and JSN comps, and we’ve seen how successful those guys have been in the NFL.”
Veach continued raving about Lemon, but also mentioned Indiana wideout Omar Cooper Jr. as he rounded out his thoughts on “a good collection of wideouts.”
“When you get just a highly instinctive player, that maybe has some limitations in regards to just an outside receiver, but they’re so effective in there that they still cause havoc for other defenses,” Veach said. “They’re still players you want on your team.”
As next week draws closer, Veach has made sure the organization is ready to make the most of one of the most important drafts in franchise history.
“I don’t think there was a day this week where I didn’t meet with (defensive coordinator) Steve [Spagnuolo] for 45 minutes or meet with Andy for 45 minutes and just review everything. As the weeks go by, the process kind of opens up, and I think the picture becomes more clear, and I think we’ve identified exactly what we want to do.”
“Now, it’s on me and my staff… we have the game plan now, so we have to go out there and execute it. That’s the fun part of this, that’s the exciting part of this, but I think as we get closer to Thursday, we all feel good.”
