Kansas City Chiefs: Way Too Early 2018 NFL Mock Draft
ROUND 7: PICK 15 (234TH OVERALL) – COLE MADISON, OT (WASHINGTON STATE)
To be honest, I wanted to draft an offensive lineman much earlier, but there just never was a lot of options whenever the Chiefs were on the clock. They finally got an o-lineman, but it came in the final round of the draft.
The Chiefs have put a lot of money into their offensive line, so this pick is purely for depth sakes. Eric Fisher is going to be the left tackle for years to come, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif will be at right guard, and Mitchell Schwartz is locking down that right tackle spot.
Mitch Morse, if he could stay healthy, would be a nice piece at center, but Zach Fulton plays well as a backup there. In fact, a case could be made that the Chiefs line is almost better with Fulton in at center.
Anyway, with their first pick in the final round, the Kansas City Chiefs add depth to their o-line by drafting Cole Madison out of Washington State. Madison played 36 straight games at Wazzu at right tackle, but has enough athleticism that he could probably be plugged in at left guard if needed.
WSU doesn’t just protect the QB based on wide splits and quick plays by the QB and receivers; Cougars have legitimate NFL talent on OL. In fact, I wrote a full profile on Senior Bowl invite RT Cole Madison today... Good player. Better than I thought...
— Rob Rang (@RobRang) December 29, 2017
Madison played tight end in high school and switched to offensive line when he got to college, according to a story written about him in The Seattle Times in November. He became one of Washington State’s top players this past year and while not the flashiest player in the world, he could be just what the Chiefs need depth wise.
Kansas City has turned two former sixth rounders into pretty good linemen in LDT and Fulton, so perhaps Madison could do more than expected as a seventh round selection. The need for offensive linemen is always there and the Chiefs need to make it a point to draft at least one this year, especially with a young quarterback likely taking over in 2018.