Kansas City Chiefs: Grading Each Selection in 2017 NFL Draft
Georgia Southern. UKEME ELIGWE. B+. The Chiefs finally grabbed a linebacker at the end of the fifth round.. LB
Maybe it was because I had the Chiefs drafting Ukeme Eligwe in one of my mock drafts, but there was just something I really liked about this pick. For one, Eligwe is a linebacker, which the Chiefs needed to address in the draft (albeit, earlier on).
Here's your scouting report on the #Chiefs fifth-round pick, ILB Marcus Eligwe: https://t.co/D8Rhsj0B0E
— RIP Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) April 29, 2017
Terez Paylor had tweeted that the Chiefs planned on using Eligwe as an inside linebacker, despite him being listed as an outside linebacker. Kansas City needs to seriously start finding a replacement for Derrick Johnson, who is going to be 35 years old in November. Perhaps Eligwe will be the future run stopper after DJ.
Nevertheless, I really couldn’t fault this pick. It was a fifth round pick that the Chiefs had acquired when they traded James O’Shaughnessy to New England. O’Shag never did much in a Chiefs uniform, so Kansas City made the right choice in sending him off and in return, addressed a position of need on their team.
While I’d like to see Ukeme Eligwe play right out of the gate, he probably won’t be ready until 2018.