Chiefs take a safety and a new wide receiver in NFL.com mock draft

On Monday, NFL.com analyst Bucky Brooks published his third mock draft of the offseason. In this one, Brooks concluded that with the flurry of pre-draft trades and big free-agency moves, we’ll see something very unusual in the draft.

I think we will not see a quarterback come off the board in the first round with teams resisting the urge to “push” quarterbacks up the board due to positional value. While I am ready for the host of barbs that will accompany a mock draft without a quarterback, this could be the first time since 1996 that Round 1 passes without a QB being picked.

But Brooks thinks that with their two first-round picks, the Kansas City Chiefs will go with a safety we’ve seen many times before — and a wideout we haven’t seen in any of the mocks we’ve covered.

29. Kansas City Chiefs: WR Skyy Moore, Western Michigan

There is not a single receiver out there who can replace all of traded-away veteran Tyreek Hill’s production, but Moore is a dynamic weapon with the explosiveness and versatility to pop in an Andy Reid offense.

30. Kansas City Chiefs: S Dax Hill, Michigan

Hill is a prototypical nickel defender with the kind of hit, run and cover skills that will make him a hot commodity for a team that loves to attack with pressure.

Now that the Chiefs have traded their star wide receiver to the Miami Dolphins — giving them back-to-back first-round picks — it’s not surprising that national pundits will expect the team to take a wide receiver with one of them. Since the trade was announced, we’ve covered six national mock drafts. In five of them, a wideout was selected with one of the Chiefs’ first-round picks.

So while this is the first time we’ve seen this Western Michigan wide receiver go to Kansas City, it’s easy to understand why Brooks chose the position. But his idea to take Hill with the 30th selection is perplexing. Before the Chiefs acquired Justin Reid and Deon Bush in free agency, the Michigan safety was a common choice at 30 (he’s still the most-selected player in the 53 mock drafts we’ve covered), but in the last 16 mocks, no one has selected him for the Chiefs.

Most national writers continue to move toward sending an edge rusher to Kansas City — and increasingly, Purdue’s George Karlaftis and Minnesota’s Boye Mafe have been getting the nod.