The Kansas City Chiefs were active participants in free agency, but they still have work to do in the 2025 NFL Draft.
They entered the offseason with six selections—their own picks in the first, second, third, fourth, and seventh rounds, plus the Titans' third-rounder from the L'Jarius Sneed trade. However, they later picked up two extra seventh-rounders when the NFL handed out compensatory picks. For those trying to keep up, that brings the total to eight picks—enough to work with, but not exactly a king’s ransom.
Kansas City's first selection (barring a trade) will come at 31st overall, putting them in a tricky draft range where they’ll have to balance talent, value, and positional need.
The draft is always unpredictable. Some players free fall like an unexpected rollercoaster drop, while others are taken sooner than anyone expected. The challenge for the Chiefs will be finding the right fit without reaching.
To build this first version of the Chiefs' big board, I used The Athletic’s consensus Big Board and focused on players ranked between 15th and 47th—16 spots in either direction of Kansas City’s first-round pick. That way, the board reflects realistic options rather than pipe dreams or panic picks.
With that in mind, let’s dive into a practical ranking of the top 15 first-round targets who could help the Chiefs shore up their biggest positions of need.
1. Kelvin Banks Jr., OT, Texas
Kelvin Banks Jr. would immediately patch up the Chiefs' left tackle woes. With plenty of starting experience at Texas, he has the tools to step in and contribute from day one.
Banks does his best work in the run game, using a blend of power and technique to bulldoze lanes like a snowplow in January. His biggest area for growth is in pass protection, where bull rushers can sometimes put him on skates.
That said, his positional versatility gives Kansas City options—whether they want to plug him in at left tackle right away or shuffle him around the line early in his career to find the best fit.