The Kansas City have earned fairly decent marks across the board from their overall draft haul from the 2012 NFL Draft last weekend. But as NFL.com's Bucky Brooks makes his way to finally analyzing the AFC West, it's clear that he believes they are the class of the division.
Brooks gives the Chiefs a solid "A" and says that Scott Pioli has done it again by adding a few new starters and guys who should put their head down and do the work that needs to be done.
Scott Pioli has rebuilt the Chiefs by deftly selecting productive, hard-working players in every stage of the draft. This year, Pioli appeared to deviate from the philosophy when he selected Dontari Poe in the first round, despite questions about his productivity at Memphis. However, it's impossible to find 346-pound defenders with this combination of size, strength and athleticism, so it's a worthwhile gamble with the unique upside.
Jeff Allen, Donald Stephenson and Devon Wylie are classic "hard hat and lunch pail" guys with the potential to fill key roles as rookies. Cyrus Gray and DeQuan Menzie are promising Day 3 picks. Bottom line: This looks like another stellar class that should keep the team in contention in this division for the foreseeable future.
The Chiefs definitely made the biggest investment along the lines and those are moves that will be key for the long run. The teams with the most solid foundations generally are the ones playing deep into the winter, so the Chiefs can only hope for the same outcome. At least on paper, Pioli's group did a very solid job.