Kansas City Chiefs GM Brett Veach’s final draft clues show strengths, weaknesses, and what’s to come during the 2026 NFL Draft
Breaking down some of what Kansas City Chiefs GM Brett Veach had to say during his pre-2026 NFL Draft press conference.
Kansas City Chiefs GM Brett Veach held his pre-draft press conference on Thursday, April 16.
Veach provided plenty of context and clues about how he sees the 2026 NFL Draft. He spoke with local media members about specific position groups, specific picks, draft themes, and so on. While fans have an inherent distrust of what Veach says in these situations, he’s mostly proven to be genuine in sharing his fire-from-the-hip thoughts.
The latest batch of clues that he dropped paints a picture of some of the things to expect from the Chiefs throughout the 2026 NFL Draft.
What’s Chiefs GM Brett Veach’s read of pick No. 9?
“Yeah, I think it’s certainly a unique draft. And we know we’re at the combine. You know, I had mentioned that when you have a couple of those positions at the quote-unquote, non-premium positions up there being really high, it kind of leads to different paths in regards to what you want to take. I think the position we’re in, we have some talent on our team, and you know our expectation every year is to go out there and try to win our division and make the playoffs and have a chance to compete for a championship. But with that being said, there’s a lot of areas to improve on our roster, on both sides of the football. So I think it does open up that nine pick to go in any one direction, and certainly we see how the first five or six picks go. But I think whether it’s, the defensive backfield, the offensive line, edge rusher, receiver. Again, we need help in all those areas. So I do think that we’ll be in a position there to get one of those players and then add throughout the course of the draft. So I just think where we are with our roster, you really can’t eliminate any one need, because I think there are a lot of them.”
Brett veach
Chiefs General Manager
People will hyperfixate on the position groups he mentioned here. I actually think it’s his latter comments that ring true. You can’t eliminate any singular need on their roster at pick No. 9 because they’ve got holes to fill throughout. It’s not just about 2026; it’s also about 2027, 2028, and 2029. I think the only picks you can really rule out for No. 9 overall are quarterback, defensive tackle, and specialist. Quarterback & specialist is self-explanatory, but Veach also mentioned there’s no clear interior D-Line talent atop the draft. Everything else is on the table in my eyes, should the right player at that position fall to them.
When could the Chiefs target an offensive tackle?
“Yeah, I think there is certainly talent there. I do think that just trying to project this draft, it looks like you have those 5, 6, 7, 8 names that everyone is kind of sharing across the board, and there’s a consensus. And so I think in some of those there a couple linemen creep in. But I do think that if they don’t creep into that first 8, 9, 10 slots, I think you’re going to get a massive run of offensive linemen from 10 to 20-25, so I think there are numbers there. But I think that once you get to pick 35, those numbers quickly diminish. And then there’s a big fall off, where, in some rounds, you had depth throughout the course of the draft. For example, I think the end, I think it’s solid through two, two and a half, maybe even three, where offensive line, there’s some talent there. But I do think it dries up quickly, and by 35, could be slim pickens.”
bRETT VEACH
Chiefs General Manager
I’ve written ad nauseam about the Chiefs’ offensive tackle preferences when it comes to arm length recently. This comment from Veach makes me think he’s fully aware of the drop-off at the tackle position after pick No. 29. I do actually think there’s a bigger pocket of offensive tackles who fit Kansas City’s preferred traits after that Day 1, early Day 2 pocket. However, I think it’s a lot riskier in terms of immediate impact and contribution. I also think they’re probably willing to bend a bit on the arm length requirements. Max Iheanachor, Caleb Lomu, and Kadyn Proctor all fall under 34-inch arm length, but only slightly. I still think there’s some gamesmanship to his comments here. It makes sense that the Chiefs would prefer a run on tackles before they come on the clock at pick No. 9, to push down some other top players.
Where can the Chiefs find pockets of talent this year in the draft?
“I had mentioned the offensive line. I think that there are quite a number of tackles, but I think it does fall off right after that first round. Maybe it extends to pick 35 or 40. I think receivers it’s maybe not as top-heavy as it was in the past. There might be a little break, but I do think that there’s some mid-round depth there at the receiver position. As everyone knows, it’s kind of thinner this year at the running back position. I think corner is just kind of sprinkled. I mean, there’s moderate depth there in one, partly into two, and then, like the receivers, you always get a run of corners and three and four. I think that there’s a mid-to-lower level pack of linebackers that are really deep. So I think, and again, it’s team-dependent too. So, I mean, obviously our board doesn’t look like other teams’ boards. So, you know, I think, just generally speaking there’s mid pocket depth at the receiver position, potentially at the corner position. I think that there’s really good D-End depth right throughout the board. You know, I do think the running back position is a little light this year, and as I mentioned, the offensive tackle position is good in one to early two, and then it kind of thins out there a little bit. So again, that’s just how we see it. Other teams may say differently. And you know, I think having the picks and the amount that we do, it’ll give us a chance to navigate the board a little bit.”
Brett veach
Chiefs General Manager
I don’t doubt that this is exactly how Brett Veach and the Chiefs see the draft board. I do think it’s interesting some of the positions that were omitted from this conversation, though. No talk of safety here, despite suggesting they could take one when he spoke about Alohi Gilman. There was no talk of the tight end position at all throughout his press conference. He mentioned the need for two more interior defensive linemen, yet didn’t reveal much about where they view that group, aside from the fact that there’s no clear-cut top-of-draft talent there. Could those omissions be intentional, or are they perhaps not as top-of-mind as the other positions?
The other takeaway here is his comments about “navigating” the board. Veach loves to trade up in the draft, but not so much trade down. He’s had over a dozen trade-ups during his career, but fewer than five trades down. He later spoke about grappling with the urgency to go get players that he and his staff are excited about. I can see them sitting at 29 or 40 and feeling some urgency to move up, especially to target a position they see as having an expiration date on.