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Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach approaches the upcoming NFL Draft much like coach Andy Reid approaches an NFL game, but with one important distinction — he only gets one crack at getting it right, while Reid has a 17-game season.
“There's a number of different ways we can approach this,” Veach said Thursday in a pre-draft Zoom with reporters. “... As the weeks go by, the process kind of opens up, and I think the picture becomes more clear. We've identified exactly what we want to do. Now, it's on me and my staff to figure out — we have the game plan, then we have to go out there and execute it. That's the fun part of this, and that's the exciting part of this.”
Coming off its first losing season under Reid and its worst campaign since 2012, the Chiefs are armed with two first-round picks — Nos. 9 and 29, with the latter acquired from the Los Angeles Rams in the Trent McDuffie trade — and nine picks overall to reshape the roster in an effort to return to Super Bowl glory.
“There's a lot of areas to improve on our roster, on both sides of the football,” Veach said.
Kansas City, which finished 6-11 last season, shored up a few deficiencies already in free agency — adding reigning Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III to the backfield and safety Alohi Gilman, the sort of Swiss Army knife secondary player Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo loves, among others.
But glaring holes remain at edge rusher, cornerback, wide receiver and defensive tackle entering the 2026 NFL Draft, which begins next Thursday in Pittsburgh.
The Chiefs’ roster also could use reinforcements at offensive tackle, tight end and safety.
With the top of the draft class packed with similarly graded prospects, Veach said it’s harder to forecast how things will fall.
Additionally, some of the best players in the draft class — Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles and safety Caleb Downs, and Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq — are at “non-premium” positions.
That leaves Veach feeling unsettled as the draft approaches, which he expects will be fun for fans but only compounds the anxiety for him.
“When you have a couple of those positions at the ‘quote, unquote’ non-premium positions up there being really high, it kind of leads it to different paths in regards to what you want to take,” he said. “... I think it does open up that [No.] 9 pick to go in any direction. Certainly, we'll see how the first five or six picks go, but — whether it's the defensive backfield, the offensive line, edge rusher, receiver — we need help in all those areas.”
If there’s a position Veach sounded most eager to address in the first round, it was probably offensive tackle, which he described as top-heavy with a steep dropoff in talent after the first tier of talent.
Alternatively, Veach said there’s mid-round depth at receiver and corner. He also said he liked the edge depth through the first two to three rounds.
Trading up or down in the first round from either spot is an option with the surplus of picks, according to Veach.
“Our goal is to just make that selection and add a player here that is going to be an impact player on our team,” he said. ‘I know it's cliche-ish, but I mean to really just add the best player available, right? You hear that all the time, but I don't want to overthink that, and I don't want to take a lesser player.”
Rather than force a need, Veach wants to add an impact player.
Even with Patrick Mahomes working his way back from a serious knee injury, the Chiefs’ goal hasn’t changed — it’s to add another Lombardi Trophy to the team’s collection.
“When you have Pat, there's that mindset that you always have a chance to go out there and compete for a championship and compete for a division title,” Veach said. “The tricky part is trying to maintain that standard, but also keep an eye on the future. Knowing that Pat’s still going to be here for a long time, we always have to build this thing out and build through the offense and defensive lines. That's where it starts.”
Patience and a willingness to pivot will be key to executing Kansas City’s game plan over the three-day draft.
“The more picks you have, the more fluid you can be,” Veach said.
That’s his sweet spot, especially with only one crack and the most critical weekend for shaping next season’s Super Bowl hopes.
“It feels like every season it’s a make-or-break draft, and that's because it is in this league,” Veach said. “It's like that for every GM across the league. No one really remembers or cares what you did last year — and that's a good and a bad thing. [I’m] just looking forward to next week and using this as an exciting opportunity to add some talent to this team and hopefully get us back in the playoffs and hopefully another title run.”
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