Chiefs Draftmas: How do the Chiefs replace Marcus Peters through the NFL Draft?

Chiefs Draftmas List

EDGE Dorance Armstrong, Kansas | EDGE Hercules Mata’afa, Washington State | Guard Isaiah Wynn, Georgia | Safety Kyzir White, West Virginia | WR D.J. Moore, Maryland | S Jessie Bates III, Wake Forest

I had a nice little intro planned for the Draftmas List. I found a good analogy. I found this gif...

...it was supposed to symbolize my frustration with not knowing the compensation for the acquisition of Marcus Peters.

And then we got the compensation. A fourth-round pick in 2018 and a second-round pick in 2019 for Peters and a 2018 sixth-round pick. Less than what I hoped for.

I’m tired of speculating about what went down to push the Chiefs to move on from an incredible talent. It’s over. It happened. What does this mean for the 2018 draft?

Here are the current selections the Chiefs have:

2nd: 54
3rd: 78 (Alex Smith Trade)
3rd: 86
4th: 122
4th: 124 (Marcus Peters Trade)*
6th: 196 or 209 (One of these picks is being sent to the Rams with Peters)

*Draftek has the Rams fourth-round pick as 123. I’ve got mixed results trying to confirm. We’ll go worst-case scenario at the pick today. If you know for sure, please let me know.

I have a theory about the delay in the compensation announcement. I believe the Chiefs are giving the Rams the sixth-round compensatory pick they received for Nick Foles (pick 209). The Peters trade was announced around noon on Friday. The compensatory picks were announced near the end of the day. It would make sense for us to not know the compensation if the Chiefs didn’t officially have the compensation. A few hours after the league office was back open for business on Monday, we found out the terms.

Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

The bright side (if there really is any) is that this does open the Chiefs up to be a little bit more flexible in the 2018 draft. If there’s a player they love in round two, they should be able to move up more comfortably. For instance, the Chiefs could trade 54 (360 points) and 78 (200 points) to the Giants for pick 34 (560 points) per the draft trade chart. An additional fourth-round pick could get them into the back of round one, even.

If they’re interested in volume, this makes it easier for them to trade back with one of their third-round picks. They could trade pick 86 (160 points) to Cincinnati for picks 100 (100 points) and 108 (70 points). I expect them now to maneuver up or down at least once. They could feasibly do both if they wanted.

We’re rooting hard for the Rams to regress this year. The game in Mexico City against the Rams is also pretty critical to the 2019 draft capital the Chiefs receive.

Also, I’m bummed I didn’t get to use my Marcus Peters bike analogy I had dialed up for this Draftmas article.

Switching gears...

I’m excited to announce that this Friday will be the first ever episode of the AP Draft Show. I’ll be doing a weekly podcast about draft prospects and how they might fit with the Chiefs through draft season. We’ll be adding prospects to the Draftmas List on the show and also going more in depth on some of the prospects from the weekly article. It should be a lot of fun. We plan to run it up until the week after the draft.

Also, I’ll be heading to Indianapolis this weekend for the NFL Combine. I’ll be going up on Saturday and will be at Lucas Oil Stadium for the Sunday session (defensive line and linebackers). Chances are, one of the participants is in Kansas City come April. I’ll report back what I see.

Let’s look at a couple players that can help fill the new void in the Chiefs secondary:

Tarvarus McFadden, Cornerback

6’ 1” 200, Florida State

Projected Draft Range: second round

Games watched: Clemson 2016, South Florida 2016, Alabama, North Carolina State, Southern Mississippi

Prospect grade (out of 100): 84.5

I would take him in the: second round

One sentence bio: After leading the NCAA in interceptions in 2016, McFadden’s disappointing junior year has seen him slip from his first-round projections this summer.

One sentence scouting report: Long, athletic corner with ball skills that is still putting it all together.

One play:

Why he fits in KC: McFadden isn’t that far removed from being perceived as a first-round lock. He was one of just 10 prospects NFL.com profiled this summer. After leading the NCAA with eight interceptions his sophomore year, most expected McFadden to build off that success and continue his ascension as a prospect. The problem is, the growth didn’t happen at the rate everyone expected. In fact, his 2016 tape was better than his 2017 campaign.

McFadden has excellent length and size. He flashes the ability to develop into a very good cornerback. He displays great ball skills, good speed, quickness and fluidity for a man his size. He showed good route recognition and click and close ability. He has all the traits you want.

Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images

The issue for him is consistency. He still hasn’t been able to put it all together. He has lapses of losing the play and biting too hard on fakes and double moves. His struggles with his jam at times and needs to better understand leverage.

Kansas City would be an excellent place for McFadden to develop, and this is a place he could reach his enormous potential. He just turned 21 in January. He would benefit from being around Eric Berry and a film junkie like Kendall Fuller. This is the kind of calculated risk the Chiefs could make to improve their defensive backfield.

Jaire Alexander, Cornerback

5’ 11” 195, Louisville

Projected Draft Range: second round

Games watched: Clemson 2016, Florida State, LSU, Purdue, Syracuse

Prospect grade (out of 100): 86

I would take him in the: second round

One sentence bio: Team captain, who was originally committed to Charlotte before opportunities with South Carolina and Louisville came late.

One sentence scouting report: Tough, energetic corner with ball skills but injury concerns.

One play:

Why he fits in KC: Attitude and ball skills are two things the Chiefs defense needs. Jaire Alexander has both. There’s no fear in his game. He’s got some Marcus Peters to the way he plays. Alexander is always looking to make a play on the ball, including trying to strip it from runners. He plays receivers and QBs well from a variety of alignments.

He has the quickness and long speed to recover from his aggression. He shows loose hips in coverage with the ability to play inside and outside. He’s a willing tackler, and shows great football character with his toughness.

Photo by Tyler Smith/Getty Images

Alexander may not even make it to where the Chiefs will be selecting. There’s been first-round buzz on him in the past. The issue keeping him in range is injuries. Alexander’s fearlessness and lack of regard for his body forced him to miss time this season. He also appeared to hurt his shoulder in the Clemson game in 2016.

Alexander would be an ideal addition to this defense and is probably the best corner in this class to help them reclaim some of what they lost moving on from Peters.