Kansas City Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach spoke with the media on April 16 in advance of the upcoming National Football League Draft, outlining his thoughts on the team’s approach and priorities.
The Chiefs hold nine selections in this year’s draft, including two first-round picks. The No. 9 overall pick is their highest selection in over a decade. This gives Kansas City an opportunity to add key talent following a disappointing season in 2025, which saw their first losing record in more than ten years.
“There are a lot of areas to improve on our roster, on both sides of the football. I think it does open up that No. 9 pick to go in any one direction,” Veach said. “Certainly, we’ll see how the first five or six picks go. I think the defensive backfield, the offensive line, edge rusher and receiver [are all possibilities] – again, we need help in all of those areas. I do think that we will be in a position there to get one of those players, and then add throughout the course of the draft. I think with where we’re at with our roster, you can’t eliminate any one need because there are a lot of them.”
Veach also commented on where he sees depth within this year’s draft class by position group: “I think there are quite a number of [offensive] tackles, but I think it does fall off right after that first round – maybe it extends to pick 35 or 40,” he said. “I think at receiver, it’s maybe not as top heavy as it was in the past… It’s kind of thinner this year at running back… there’s some moderate depth [at cornerback] there in Round 1… you always get a run of corners in rounds three and four… There’s a mid to lower-level pack of linebackers that are really deep.”
When asked about personal growth during his time leading Kansas City’s front office operations for drafts, Veach said patience has become increasingly important: “You spend so much time on these guys … when you do the amount of work and you live in a film room … you get into this mindset where you think everybody sees the board just like you do … Even now … I’m trying to project the first eight picks … but then what happens is that it doesn’t happen because not everyone sees the board like you … it’s just about being patient and being fluid and having an understanding that there will be more guys that you like later on.”
Despite last season’s struggles leading to an unusually high draft slot for Kansas City, Veach emphasized consistency: “For me, it doesn’t [change] just because there’s a high-level of anxiety for every draft – there’s a lot of high expectations around here,” he said.
Veach also described changes made during pre-draft visits due to picking earlier than usual: “In the past … we probably spent most … visits on non-Combine players … This is a unique draft where when you’re picking at No. 9 … grades are so close now with these guys from say [picks] 10-30… We brought in maybe three or four non-Combine guys [this year], where I think in the past we’ve brought in 10-15 non-Combine guys… Again that’s because grades are so close… Just making sure we dot all our I’s and cross all our T’s.”
