Chiefs get surprise grade for first round of NFL Draft

On Friday, NFL.com’s Chad Reuter published his grades for NFL teams for the first round of the NFL Draft on Thursday night. He even chose to assign grades to teams who didn’t have a pick in the opening round — including the Kansas City Chiefs:

Kansas City Chiefs
Draft picks: None
Grade: A-

Analysis: It’s very hard to fault the Chiefs for making the trade to acquire left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., given the way the Super Bowl played out last season. Moving from 31 to 58 in this year’s draft and sending third- and fourth-round picks (with a late-round swap) was not a small price to pay for Brown, but the guy blocks out the sun and will help give Patrick Mahomes the time he needs to find targets downfield.

Reuter wasn’t so kind to some other teams that didn’t pick on Thursday. The Houston Texans got a D for giving up their 2021 first and second-round picks for offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil two years ago. Saying the jury is still out on safety Jamal Adams, Reuter gave the Seattle Seahawks a B for trading two first-round picks for him. But the Los Angeles Rams got an A for giving two first-round selections for cornerback Jalen Ramsey, whom Reuter called “one of the top defenders in the NFL.”

There weren’t many NFL analysts who thought the Chiefs would be able to draft a first-year starter at offensive tackle. In that way, Reuter’s evaluation makes sense. But since it turned out that the Chiefs would have been able to select Oklahoma State’s Teven Jenkins if they had stayed with the 31st pick, neither would it have been a surprise for Reuter to take a different view of the deal.

Much will depend on how Brown ends up playing as the team’s left tackle. But it’s nice to see a positive reaction to the trade after one of its unknown factors — which tackles would be available to the Chiefs with the 31st pick — is finally known.