When the Kansas City Chiefs first hired Andy Reid, our Eagles blog, Bleeding Green Nation, wrote this in their new owner's guide to Andy Reid: "Learn to love big men as top picks. Andy Reid has made 14 top picks. 9 have been offensive or defensive lineman."
That was back in 2013 before the Chiefs selected Eric Fisher and Dee Ford in the first round of the past two NFL Drafts. I come back to that around draft season every year and this year is no different. There aren't a lot of big linemen who can play on offense or defense. The league always needs more of them.
So that takes us to the 2015 NFL Draft. The Chiefs had three major issues last season: 1) wide receivers 2) offensive line 3) run defense. The Chiefs began to shore up the receiver position with Jeremy Maclin and added to the o-line with Ben Grubbs and Paul Fanaika. So ... the run defense?
That's one of the reasons we should consider a defensive lineman for the Chiefs first round pick on April 30 as ESPN's Bill Barnwell says here ranking the Chiefs top need as a defensive end.
While nose tackle Dontari Poe is a freak of nature who somehow manages to play nearly 90 percent of Kansas City's snaps, the ends around him include question marks like Jerel Worthy, Vaughn Martin, and Mike DeVito, who snapped his Achilles last year. The Chiefs badly need an athletic end who can hold up against the run, and they would likely be thrilled if Armstead fell to them at no. 18.
Dontari Poe is under contract this year and will probably have his fifth year option picked up for 2016. Allen Bailey signed a four-year deal during the offseason. That leaves one more position on the Chiefs 3-4 defensive line, which was manned in the last two years by Mike DeVito and Jaye Howard. Both of those players are heading into the final year of their contracts.
I've said that the Chiefs could go just about anywhere in this draft and it would be a logical pick. That includes a defensive lineman.