GM Brett Veach details how Chiefs pondered making a significant move up in NFL Draft

Heading into last month’s NFL Draft, it was well-known the Chiefs were targeting a wide receiver or offensive lineman in the first round.

The Chiefs traded up four spots to No. 28 and selected Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy. But Chiefs general manager Brett Veach and assistant general manager Mike Borgonzi reportedly tried to move up even further in the draft to get a lineman.

This is from The Athletic’s Nate Taylor: “Midway through the first round, Veach and Borgonzi began calling teams to find a trade partner that would allow them to move up more than 10 spots. The first prospect the Chiefs targeted was Amarius Mims, the tackle from Georgia. Although Mims played right tackle in college, many teams believed he had the talent to be a starting left tackle. The Cincinnati Bengals selected Mims with the 18th pick.”

Veach joined Bob Fescoe and Josh Klingler on KCSP (610 AM) on Wednesday and talked about his efforts to move up in the first round of this year’s NFL Draft.

The Chiefs entered the draft with a pick in each of the first four rounds, two fifth-round choices and a seventh-round pick. Moving up would have required packaging draft picks this year and possibly one in 2025.

Trading cornerback L’Jarius Sneed to the Titans landed the Chiefs a third-round pick in next year’s draft.

Veach said the Chiefs looked into moving up 10 spots in the first round last month. If someone the Chiefs really liked was available a little higher than at pick No. 22, they possibly could have tried to make a bigger deal.

“Going into Thursday night, our game plan was we targeted a handful of guys with the ability to potentially get up into that 22 to 24 range as a starter,” Veach said. “So anything higher than that 22 to 24, you’re looking at twos (second-round picks) either this year or next year, and we had decided that our threshold may be a three or potentially combining that three in the Sneed trade — so a three this year and a three next year. And if you look at any chart across the league, I mean, I think both threes would have got you up to maybe 20, 21, somewhere around there.

“So that wasn’t our ideal move to move a three this year and a three next year, that was maybe the max limit we had. So really, we just focused in on about pick 24, 25. That would be kind of the target area for us if there was a guy that we liked to move up there and let the draft play out and start to lock in and get focused once you got around pick 17 or 18.”