Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach has become known for making trades in the NFL draft. 

Since taking over as GM shortly after the conclusion of the 2017 NFL draft, Veach has made 32 trades involving a draft pick or conditional draft pick. In all of those trades, there has been at least one type of trade that he's yet to pull off.

NFL Network's top draft analyst, Daniel Jeremiah, spoke to media members in a conference call earlier this week. During the call, he said that he wouldn't be shocked to see Veach finally pull off the type of trade I'm hinting at, but that's only if the player that they want doesn't happen to be available when they come on the clock.

Who could the Chiefs pick if they stay at 32?

The question that Jeremiah was asked was specifically about the wide receiver position. Chiefs fans are thirsty for new weapons for Patrick Mahomes after his wide receivers struggled during the 2023 NFL regular season. That didn't stop them from winning Super Bowl LVIII, but it's no less a valid concern from fans. 

Top-tier players like Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr., Washington's Rome Odunze, and LSU's Malik Nabers are expected to be well out of reach for Kansas City. In the eyes of Jeremiah, LSU's Brian Thomas Jr. could also be off the board well before they come on the clock.

"Brian Thomas, Jr., look, I am really high on him," Jeremiah explained. "He's a top-15 player in the draft for me. I didn't have him going to the Chiefs because he was off the board by the time they were picking. So I had them taking (Troy) Franklin, who I really like as well."

I, too, chose Oregon's Troy Franklin for Kansas City in my mock draft 1.0, but Jeremiah seems to think that it's entirely reasonable that the Chiefs could trade down and out of the first round for the first time in the Brett Veach era.

Will Chiefs GM Brett Veach trade out of the first round of the 2024 NFL draft?

Veach has traded first-round draft picks for players before, but he's never used one to trade down and accumulate more draft picks. 

With some fringe first-round quarterbacks in 2024, a team could look to move up like the Ravens did in 2018 to secure Lamar Jackson and a fifth-year option. That could prove to be an opportunity for the Chiefs to stock up on draft picks in a year where they only have three in the top 100 selections. 

"I wouldn't be surprised if you saw them even move back," Jeremiah explained. "They just continue — they've done such a good job drafting. I think if you are going to take a receiver, there's a bunch of them. They could easily slide back from where they're picking and go get another one."

The depth of the wide receiver class certainly is a valid reason to stockpile picks. We've already heard that the Chiefs are high on Western Kentucky WR Malachi Corley, but several talented receivers could be available on Day 2. Players like South Carolina WR Xavier Legette, Georgia WR Ladd McConkey, USC WR Brenden Rice, Florida WR Ricky Pearsall, and Washington WR Ja'Lynn Polk all ring a bell. 

There's also the fact that Kansas City might need to replace a lot of players on their 53-man roster from just a season ago. Even with a larger-than-expected salary cap for the 2024 NFL season, they could find themselves seeking to fill over a dozen 53-man roster spots compared to a season ago. That's given all of the pending unrestricted free agents ahead of the 2024 NFL free agency period. Accumulating picks in some of the rounds where they've been most successful in finding talent in recent years could prove to be the right call.

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