The 2016 NFL draft could have gone much differently for the Kansas City Chiefs if things had gone according to plan. 

A recent story from The Athletic's Joe Rexrode peeled back the curtains on the Tennessee Titans' selection of Derrick Henry and his rise to stardom in the NFL. There exist alternate realities where Henry didn't end up in Tennessee and landed with any number of other NFL teams. However, if the Titans hadn't stepped in, there was a good shot that Henry had wound up with the Chiefs. 

Here's what we've learned about how the 2016 NFL draft unfolded:

The Chiefs told Henry he was their guy

After trading out of the first round of the 2016 NFL draft with the San Francisco 49ers, the Chiefs had eight picks (37, 59, 105, 126, 162, 165, 178 and 203). They lost their third-round draft pick due to a tampering violation regarding WR Jeremy Maclin. 

At pick No. 37, John Dorsey selected star DT Chris Jones, which turned out to be a home run selection. He had a plan for pick No. 59 as well. 

“The Chiefs told me they were gonna pick me when they had their pick,” Henry said, via The Athletic.

Dorsey felt that Henry would be the most physical running back the Chiefs had seen since the likes of Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson. Others in the building felt it would extend back further in the franchise annals and give them a rusher they hadn't had since "The Nigerian Nightmare" Christian Okoye. There are still people in the building who think highly of the 30-year-old halfback. 

Henry wanted to play for the Dallas Cowboys, and he thought he had a pretty good chance of being selected by the Miami Dolphins, Carolina Panthers, and Seattle Seahawks, with whom he all took pre-draft visits. 

When the Titans came on the clock at pick No. 45, GM Jon Robinson was looking at Alabama DT A'Shawn Robinson. At that moment, the Director of College Scouting for the Titans, Blake Beddingfield, made a strong and convincing push that they should pull the trigger on Henry. 

Robinson and Titans HC Mike Mularkey made the final call and saved the rest of the AFC from what could have been an eventual pairing between Henry in the backfield and Patrick Mahomes as the signal-caller in Kansas City. 

The failures and successes that followed

With the Titans' selection of Derrick Henry at pick No. 45, the Chiefs had to pivot in their usage of pick No. 59. Dorsey opted to keep stacking picks and throwing darts. Unfortunately, the picks that he stacked as the result of this trade didn't yield the most fruitful results.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded up with Kansas City to select K Roberto Aguayo, one of the more inexplicable moves by a team in the 2016 NFL draft. The Chiefs received No. 74 overall pick (third round), and No. 106 overall pick (fourth round) in return. 

With pick No. 74, they selected Notre Dame CB KeiVarae Russell. He was one of the bigger misses during Dorsey's tenure as general manager. He flamed out rather quickly in Kansas City, and despite receiving other opportunities, he never caught on in the NFL. 

With pick No. 106, they selected Minnesota DB Eric Murray. He spent four seasons in Kansas City. He spent 2019 with the Cleveland Browns and has played with the Houston Texans since 2020. He's still in the league, so that's likely enough to consider the pick a success. He was not exactly a difference-maker in Kansas City, though. 

If it weren't for the selection of Tyreek Hill later in the draft, fans could be looking at this one a whole lot differently. 

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