Who are analysts selecting for Chiefs at pick No. 30?

With defensive needs taking center stage in 2022, the Kansas City Chiefs are likely to assess any and all options in the draft to get back to championship contention next season. Their gut-wrenching loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at Arrowhead Stadium in the AFC championship is sure to be a catalyst for change in the coming months as they look to reshuffle the roster to find a competitive advantage.

For Kansas City, that all starts with the draft. If they can find some young talent to contribute early in their careers, as they managed to do last year, the Chiefs should be able to get back in position to make a run at another Super Bowl. As NFL draft season is coming into full swing, here are some of the prospects being mocked to Kansas City by experts who know where the team needs to improve:

Mock draft roundup

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Bolstering secondary remains primary focus

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Whether they choose to upgrade at cornerback or safety, experts seem to agree that the Chiefs need the most help in their secondary. Florida corner Kaiir Elam and Michigan safety Daxton Hill are popular picks, and rightly so, as Kansas City is primed to make big decisions about Mike Hughes, Charvarius Ward and Tyrann Mathieu in the coming weeks. If they want to re-shape the way they defend against passing attacks as they faced against Cincinnati in the playoffs, the Chiefs would be wise to reinforce their secondary with some new talent that might be able to put the clamps on opposing receivers.

If they don’t re-sign Mathieu in particular, they’re going to have to take a safety somewhere in the draft, and chances are high that the pick would be in the first two rounds. General manager Brett Veach has had good luck finding value at the cornerback position in recent seasons, snagging Rashad Fenton in the sixth round and the aforementioned Ward in a low-risk trade with the Cowboys in 2018. His track record on safety talent isn’t quite as successful, though. This could be the year he finds a premium talent at the position in the first round to complete the back-end of the Chiefs’ defense.

If the Chiefs draft an offensive player, it is likely to be a receiver

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After very few experts mocked a receiver to Kansas City last week, it seems that some are coming around to the idea that the team is still a piece away on offense heading into the 2022 season. As if the Travis Kelce-Tyreek Hill duo of receiving machines wasn’t exciting enough, some prognosticators have mocked the Chiefs to draft another wide receiver to help Patrick Mahomes move the ball at all costs. Though it might not be the team’s most pressing need, the idea of the rich getting richer offensively is certainly exciting, especially given the dysfunction fans saw in the AFC championship game collapse that ended Kansas City’s season.

There are a number of receivers that Veach and the coaching staff might take a look at as first-round prospects, but the most intriguing has to be USC’s Drake London. If he is available, the Chiefs would be getting a big-bodied wideout to contrast with the shorter and faster Hill on the outside, which could present unique matchup opportunities for the offense to take advantage of against an array of alignments by opposing secondaries. London would be a clear upgrade to Mecole Hardman as the team’s number-two receiver and has a proven track record of getting in the end zone on the boundary.

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