Kansas City Chiefs: Revisiting the 2018 NFL Draft

It’s been three years since the 2018 NFL Draft. How does the Kansas City Chiefs’ class from that year look now that several years have passed?

The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t have a first-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft due to trading up to nab Patrick Mahomes the year prior (totally worth it), meaning the Chiefs weren’t on the clock until pick No. 46. They ended up taking six players in this draft and, well — Let’s be real, this group wasn’t great. The picks were:

• No. 46 – Breeland Speaks, DE (Ole Miss)
• No. 75 – Derrick Nnadi, DT (Florida State)
• No. 100 – Dorian O’Daniel, OLB (Clemson)
• No. 124 – Armani Watts, S (Texas A&M)
• No. 196 – Tremon Smith, WR (Central Arkansas)
• No. 198 – Kahlil McKenzie, DT (Tennessee)

That’s a whole lot of yikes right there. This is easily the worst draft class Brett Veach put together though it is worth noting that half of this group are Super Bowl champions.

The Kansas City Chiefs struck out with their draft class in 2018.

Let’s start with Speaks. He’s not only the worst pick out of this bunch but one of the Chiefs’ worst early-round picks ever. He started just four games as a rookie in 2018, collecting 24 tackles, eight quarterback hits, and 1.5 sacks. Speaks did not play in 2019 due to injury and was surprisingly cut before the 2020 season. I say surprisingly simply because of how high he was selected in the draft.

Nnadi was the best pick of this draft and enters the final year of his rookie deal. Hopefully, the Chiefs can find a way to keep the nose tackle in Kansas City because he’s been a nice anchor along that defensive line.

O’Daniel was another disappointment, but unlike Speaks, he’s at least kept himself on the roster, which led to him getting a Super Bowl ring. The hope for O’Daniel was that he could be a versatile option defensively, but he’s mostly been a special teams contributor. He’s started just one game in his three-year career.

Watts had a ton of hype surrounding him when the Chiefs took him in the fourth round. What L’Jarius Sneed did as a rookie is what Chiefs fans were expecting from Watts, but that never came to fruition. He’s had 39 tackles and two defended passes in three seasons and has only made one start.

The final two picks of the draft were players who the Chiefs transitioned into other positions. Smith was a wide receiver at Central Arkansas, but he was used more as a defensive back and return specialist in the pros. He was placed on waivers early on in the 2019 season where the Packers scooped him up. Since then, he’s been on a few different teams.

McKenzie was a defensive lineman at Tennessee, but the Chiefs hoped to turn him into an offensive lineman. The most memorable thing about McKenzie, who was the son of the Raiders GM, was when the Chiefs selected him and seeing how disappointed his family was that he’d be wearing Chiefs red. McKenzie didn’t pan out in KC but spent the 2020 season with the Bengals.

Aside from Nnadi, this draft class was not good. Speaks was a terrible pick, O’Daniel and Watts failed to live up to the hype, and Smith and McKenzie couldn’t make the transition to different positions. It wasn’t a good start for Veach as the Chiefs’ GM (draft-wise, that is), but he’s proven in recent years that he can put together good draft classes.

What are your thoughts on the KC Chiefs’ 2018 draft class?