Chiefs Clips
At least one General Manager is expecting some significant movement during the first round of the draft next week.
Chiefs G.M. Brett Veach told reporters in his pre-draft video conference on Thursday that he’s anticipating several deals happening on Thursday night.
“I think it should be an entertaining night. There will probably be a lot of trades,” Veach said. “And I think that’s what a draft like this — when you don’t have two or three franchise quarterbacks — I think it does lend itself to [opening] up to a lot of fun and a lot of excitement. So, I think from a fan’s perspective, they should have a lot of fun next Thursday.”
Why so many deals?
"[T]he grades are going to be so close from some of these tackles, D-ends, and other positions — receivers — that a lot of those guys that are mocked high may go a little lower and a lot of these guys that are getting mocked lower may go a little higher because I think they’re so close this year,” Veach said. “It’s not this huge gap and big fall off.”
With two first-round picks in tow at No. 9 and No. 29 overall, the Chiefs could be one of those teams to move around the draft board. Kansas City currently has nine selections — two in the first round, one in the second, one in the third, one in the fourth, three in the fifth, and one in the sixth.
“The more picks you have, the more fluid you can be,” Veach said. “When you enter a draft and you only have a few picks, you’re kind of sandwiched in, and the ability to trade up is limited. … This is unique because we still have a volume of picks but we’re at [No.] 9 and [No.] 29. So I think there’s ability to maybe move back at 9 and maybe up at 29. Or maybe move up at [9], and back at 29. So I think, like the ’22 draft, it’s exciting because you come in there with flexibility. But I also think there’s even more flexibility.”
The Chiefs used their two first-round picks in 2022 to select Trent McDuffie at No. 21 overall and George Karlaftis at No. 30. We’ll see what kind of haul the team can get this year next week.
Cornerback is seen as a need for the Chiefs heading into the draft and they spent some time with one of the top prospects at the position this week.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that former Tennessee corner Colton Hood visited the team. Hood has also visited with the Jets, Cowboys, Seahawks, Texans and Raiders.
Hood played at Auburn and Colorado before heading to Knoxville for his final college season. He had 50 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, an interception return for a touchdown, a fumble return for a touchdown and a forced fumble for the Volunteers.
The Chiefs traded Trent McDuffie to the Rams for a package that included the 29th pick in this year’s draft and Jaylen Watson joined McDuffie in Los Angeles as a free agent. They signed Kader Kohou and Kaiir Elam to go with Kristian Fulton and Nohl Williams.
The Chiefs are set to meet with one of the top edge rushers in this year’s draft class on Thursday.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Rueben Bain will be visiting the AFC West club. The Chiefs have the ninth overall pick in this month’s draft and Bain has spent time with other teams at the top of the first round, including the Titans and the Dolphins.
Bain shot to the top of draft boards during an All-America season at Miami in 2025. He had 15.5 tackles and 9.5 sacks for the Hurricanes and finished up his three-year college run with 20.5 sacks.
It’s unusual for the Chiefs to be picking this early in the draft and landing the right player at No. 9 would be a good way to keep it that way for years to come.
After Kaleb McGary announced his retirement, the Falcons have found a veteran candidate to slot in at right tackle.
Jawaan Taylor has agreed to a one-year deal with Atlanta, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
Schefter notes the deal is worth $5 million with another $1 million in incentives.
Taylor, 28, was released in March after three tumultuous seasons with the Chiefs. While he won Super Bowl LVIII with the club in 2023, he also amassed a whopping 54 penalties in his time with the club.
Taylor started all 17 games in 2023 before starting 16 in 2024 and 12 in 2025.
Taylor’s presence on the right side will be particularly important with lefty quarterbacks Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa atop the Falcons’ depth chart.
Wide receiver Makai Lemon is expected to be a first-round pick in this month’s draft and he’s making the rounds with some of the teams that could add him to their lineup.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Lemon visited with the Chiefs on Thursday. Kansas City has the ninth overall pick this year.
Lemon is also slated to meet with the Jets, Giants, Commanders and Dolphins. The Jets have the second and 16th picks, the Giants are slated to pick fourth, the Commanders are at No. 7 and the Dolphins have both the 11th and 30th picks. Lemon also spent time with the Saints, who pick eighth, in March.
Lemon had 79 receptions for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns at USC during the 2025 season. He was given the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top receiver.
The Good Friday inconvenient news dump from the NFL regarding Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice has dusted off an old topic.
As noted at the tail end of the item from Nate Taylor of ESPN regarding the league’s decision to clear Rice from potential scrutiny under the Personal Conduct Policy despite a pending civil lawsuit accusing him of domestic violence, a lawsuit against Rice arising from the March 2024 street racing incident is due to go to trial on June 9.
The driver of the other car, Theodore Knox, recently had a default judgment in excess of $2.8 million entered against him. A default judgment happens either when the defendant never responds to the lawsuit or as punishment for failure to cooperate with the litigation.
Unlike Knox, Rice makes NFL money. Rice is eligible for a second contract. He becomes an obvious target for compensation as to the injuries suffered in the crash sparked by Rice and Knox racing on a Dallas highway.
Here’s a Good Friday afternoon news dump that counts as good news for the Chiefs and receiver Rashee Rice.
Via Adam Schefter of ESPN, the league concluded today that Rice “has not engaged in conduct that violates the personal conduct policy” regarding allegations of domestic violence made by his former girlfriend.
Said Rice’s attorney, Sean Lindsey: “Mr. Rice wants to thank the NFL for their thorough investigation, and looks forward to the start of the 2026-27 NFL season.”
The investigation opened in January, when social-media allegations surfaced regarding Rice. In February, Rice was sued by the alleged victim.
The lawsuit remains. If Rice ultimately loses, that could prompt the NFL to take another look at the situation. For now, though, the league has decided there’s no basis for imposing discipline for Rice.
And the stakes were high for him. After missing six games in 2025 due to a Personal Conduct Policy violation resulting from a street racing incident that happened just over two years ago, Rice would have been subject to enhanced penalties as a repeat offender.
Arvell Reese may not make it past the second overall pick in the draft later this month, but other teams at the top of the draft order will be ready if he does slip past the Jets.
NFL Media reports that Reese has visited with four of the next seven teams on the draft board, including the three teams slated to pick directly after the Jets at No. 2. The edge rusher has spent time with the Cardinals, Titans, and Giants as well as the Chiefs. Kansas City has the ninth overall pick.
Per the report, Reese has also met with the Cowboys, who have the No. 12 pick.
It seems unlikely that Reese will be available if Dallas stays put, but the Cowboys do have a pair of first-round picks this year — the Chiefs do as well — so they could try to make a jump up the board if they are convinced Reese is their guy.
Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey is one of the top prospects in the 2026 draft, a likely top-10 pick.
He spent the week visiting with the Cowboys and the Chiefs and took a top-30 visit to the Cardinals the week after the Scouting Combine, NFL Media reports.
The Cardinals draft third, the Chiefs ninth and the Cowboys 12th.
Dallas, though, also has the 20th overall pick, so it could seek to move up to select Bailey, who would fill a big need.
Bailey has also visited the Titans, according to Jim Wyatt of the team website. The Titans draft fourth overall.
Bailey, 22, began his collegiate career at Stanford before transferring to Texas Tech for his senior season. He earned unanimous All-America honors and was Big 12 defensive lineman of the year.
In his four-year college career, Bailey totaled 163 tackles, 42 tackles for loss, 29 sacks and 10 forced fumbles in 46 games.
Offseason programs will start getting underway around the NFL next week.
The ten teams that hired new coaches this offseason will be eligible to start working with their players on Monday, April 6. The Ravens are the only team that has set that as their first day of work while the Cardinals, Falcons, Bills, Browns, Raiders, Dolphins, Giants, Steelers and Titans have set Tuesday as their opening day.
All of those teams will also be able to hold a voluntary minicamp later in the spring. Every team is also scheduled to hold a rookie minicamp and a mandatory minicamp over the course of the next few months.
The first two weeks of work for all teams is limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation only. The three-week second phase allows for on-field work, but no full-speed team drills while the third OTA phase allows for team drills, but there is no live contact allowed at any point in the offseason.
Most of the 22 teams with returning coaches will be opening their offseason programs on April 20 or 21. The Broncos have set May 4 as their first day.
