Chiefs meet with 2025 NFL draft outlier, potential Nick Bolton replacement at East-West Shrine Bowl
The Kansas City Chiefs are already working hard on building their 2025 NFL draft board. They had scouts at the top College Football All-Star games, including the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl in Arlington, Texas. There, they met with numerous prospects. We've got our first confirmed meeting with a player at a potential position of need. A […]
The Kansas City Chiefs are already working hard on building their 2025 NFL draft board.
They had scouts at the top College Football All-Star games, including the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl in Arlington, Texas. There, they met with numerous prospects. We've got our first confirmed meeting with a player at a potential position of need.
A friend of the site, Justin Melo, recently interviewed LB Chris "Pooh" Paul Jr. out of Ole Miss (not the 12-time NBA All-Star). He confirmed that he met with at least 13 teams at the Shrine Bowl, including the Chiefs.
Kansas City has a big-name pending free agent at the linebacker position in Nick Bolton. He wants to be back with the Chiefs, but will they be able to keep him? They're doing their diligence on the position group if they can't agree on a long-term deal with Bolton, who Steve Spagnuolo has described as the "Patrick Mahomes of the defense."
Chiefs talk to Ole Miss LB Chris "Pooh" Paul Jr. at Shrine Bowl
Pooh is a player that teams will want to do a lot of pre-draft work on. On one hand, his strengths are clear as day. His range, speed, and athleticism pop, with major sideline-to-sideline coverage ability. His production in 2024, his junior season, was outstanding, with 88 total tackles, 11 tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks.
The questions will be about his size: At 6 feet and 224 pounds, does he have the size to stack and shed bigger blockers in the NFL, or will he get bullied? A to Z Sports' Ryan Roberts says that Paul is an outlier worth taking a chance on.
The problem for Paul is he’s very small for NFL standards. He weighed in at just 224 pounds, which would put him in the 4th percentile for the position since 1999. Paul also measured with just 30 ⅛ inch arms, and that would be the smallest of any linebacker drafted in that timeframe. The good news is that his speed does make up for that lack of range in terms of tackle radius, but it will be something to monitor closely. – Ryan Roberts
For a team like the Chiefs to remain competitive, you've got to win in the margins in the draft. Taking a swing and potentially hitting on a size outlier like Paul Jr. is the move that could make or break a draft class. Paul is ranked 69th on the A to Z Sports aggregate mock draft database. That is shortly after Kansas City makes their first pick atop the third round from the Titans-L'Jarius Sneed trade at No. 66.
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