{"id":776327,"date":"2026-02-25T22:15:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T22:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/776327\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T22:15:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T22:15:16","slug":"chiefs-brett-veach-breaks-down-draft-philosophy-at-nfl-combine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/776327\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs\u2019 Brett Veach breaks down draft philosophy at NFL Combine"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Kansas City Chiefs <\/a>shift fully into offseason mode, general manager Brett Veach is in unfamiliar territory with a top-10 pick. After years of selecting near the bottom of the first round, often at No. 31 or No. 32 following deep playoff runs, Kansas City now finds itself at No. 9.<\/p>\n

Veach admitted the perspective feels different when he met with reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny, you know, every year when we were picking 31, 32, I\u2019d always say, man, if we were just at 24 or 25, we\u2019d be exactly where we wanna be,\u201d Veach said. \u201cAnd now we\u2019re at nine, I\u2019m like, man, if we were just at four or five, we\u2019d be exactly where we wanna be.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the head of the Chiefs\u2019 front office, the draft remains an exercise in patience. Unless a team holds the first overall selection, nothing about the process can be counted on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think every GM kind of has that mindset where, you know, unless you have the first pick, there\u2019s a certain element that you can\u2019t control, and you have to let the dominoes fall,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Still, Veach is \u201cexcited\u201d about the opportunity \u2014 not just at No. 9, but throughout the first two days. He pointed specifically to improved flexibility in the second and third rounds \u2014 something Kansas City hasn\u2019t often enjoyed while drafting at the end of each round.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just the first round,\u201d Veach explained. \u201cI think we have an opportunity to really capitalize here and add a lot of talent throughout the course of the draft weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond positioning, Veach addressed another factor reshaping roster construction: the impact of NIL in college football and how it is altering the age and profile of draft prospects. When underclassmen\u2019s decision deadlines passed, Kansas City adjusted its draft strategy significantly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe we moved over 25 guys off our board that we had top 75, top 100,\u201d he stated. \u201cSo it\u2019s really impacted, I think, the draft, and then you\u2019re getting older, older prospects as you go on.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Veach, that shift has changed the type of player traditionally available in the middle rounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically, the second and third round would be those guys that maybe they didn\u2019t play a lot, but they were young,\u201d he said. \u201cWell, now these guys are just bouncing and getting paid by another school and getting paid and playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result, he acknowledged, is a smaller pool of younger developmental prospects.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re getting a little bit more already finished product,\u201d Veach continued. \u201cAnd so that\u2019s challenging, but I think it\u2019s, again, what we have to adapt to.\u201d<\/p>\n

That adaptation also extends to how Kansas City balances draft strategy with free agency \u2014 particularly when evaluating positional value.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s the old school\u2026 you\u2019re always gonna O-line, D-line,\u201d Veach said. \u201cThose positional values are there; you see them in free agency.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, he pointed out that some of the top prospects in this class play positions traditionally viewed as less premium.<\/p>\n

\u201cArguably, some of the best players in this draft are maybe at non-premium positions,\u201d Veach observed. \u201cThose are really, really good players. It\u2019s hard to find faults with their tape.\u201d<\/p>\n

The challenge lies in long-term roster construction and positional scarcity.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of those more premium positions, interior D-line, edge rushers, you know, they\u2019re hard to find,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd with those guys, the problem with those guys is they\u2019re hard to find, and then they don\u2019t really become available in free agency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conversely, certain positions may be easier to address on the open market.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of those other positions, they\u2019re good players, you\u2019ll probably eventually get a chance to get some of those positions in free agency,\u201d Veach added.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, he made clear that the guiding principle remains unchanged despite a shifting draft landscape.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, I think, is when a guy is going to come in here and be a great contributor on the field, off the field,\u201d Veach said, \u201cstick to that old mantra, take the best player available.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a franchise navigating an uncommon draft position while adapting to a rapidly evolving college system, the objective remains steady: maximize value, account for positional scarcity and continue building a roster capable of returning to contention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the Kansas City Chiefs shift fully into offseason mode, general manager Brett Veach is in unfamiliar territory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":776328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2063],"tags":[346,7,118,110,923,2439,922,2438,2437,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-776327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kansas-city-chiefs","8":"tag-chiefs","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-kansas-city","11":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","12":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs-draft","13":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs-free-agency","14":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs-news","15":"tag-kansascity","16":"tag-kansascitychiefs","17":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116133582061757236","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}