KC Chiefs: Grading AFC West 2020 NFL Draft first round picks

The KC Chiefs and the three other teams in the AFC West made their first round draft choices on Thursday. How did each team do in round one of the 2020 NFL Draft?

*EDITOR’S NOTE – Cameron Black, the staff member who wrote this, is blind, but has a great feel for the game, even without his vision. This article was written with the help of a screen reader.*

For the last month, things have been… strange in the sports world and indeed in every other facet of life to say the least. In these times where so much in sports and in life itself is uncertain, for many of us the NFL draft was a beacon of hope and happiness, something that in these uncharted waters, people could look forward to.

Now, the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, the first major live sporting event in quite some time is in the books. Let us take a look at how the teams in the AFC west fared in the first round.

This will be a simple grading system with an  A-F scale, with no plus’s or minus’s.

• With the 6th pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Los Angeles Chargers select Justin Herbert – Quarterback, Oregon
• With the 23rd pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Los Angeles Chargers select Kenneth Murray – Linebacker, Oklahoma.

With their first pick, which was number six overall, the Chargers chose quarterback Justin Herbert. Honestly my first reaction was that it was good for the Chiefs and – well, we will see how it is for the Chargers.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying Herbert is a bum, but frankly I found him to be the most overrated quarterback in this draft. Being a huge college football fan, I watched several of Herbert’s games and other than a splash performance or two, I was never very impressed.

The Chargers could find success with Herbert, but it will be fascinating to see if he will ride the bench behind Tyrod Taylor for a year or so, or if there will be a quarterback battle in LA. I can’t fault the Chargers too much for this pick because had Tua Tagovailoa still been available, they would have selected the Alabama product (and should have at that point).

At pick 23, the Patriots traded out of the first round, giving their pick to the Chargers. With that spot, the Chargers took Kenneth Murray, a linebacker out of Oklahoma.

Now, those of you who read one of my previous pieces on OU Sooners in the draft, know how I feel about Kenneth Murray and I stand by what I have already stated in that article. While I believe Murray to be talented and could be molded into a very valuable piece, I don’t believe him to be a first round talent.

I don’t necessarily think he is a bad selection, but rather that the Chargers jumped the gun to get him sooner than they would have to. The Chargers traded their second and third round picks to take a player that would have still been available in at least the second round.

Eventually Murray will find success in the NFL, but I will be surprised if he sees the field too much in the upcoming season. It’s silly to trade to draft a player in the first round if he will not contribute right away.

For all these reasons, I give the Chargers a B.