The Kansas City Chiefs made the defensive line their immediate focus with their first-round pick of the 2023 NFL draft. Felix Anudike-Uzomah is the newest member of the roster without having to travel far after a successful college career at nearby Kansas State.
The temptation to move up was a rumor circulating the Chiefs for weeks leading up to Thursday’s opening round. Teams possibly trading back for more assets or trying to get an extra pick in the first round were scenarios general manager Brett Veach expected. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was in the team’s war room throughout the process, telling reporters there were calls made to them regarding Pick No. 31.
“Yeah, well I don’t think he would have risked that if we felt like we wanted to trade out, but you get to that point and if you’re that pick, you’re going to have opportunities to trade out and so people were calling us,” said Reid. “But again, we felt very comfortable taking him.”
Several first-round deals occurred for a few teams jockeying for positions to take a coveted prospect. Thousands of Chiefs fans at the draft site remained vocal, patiently waiting for Kansas City to select last for the night or for any surprise moves.
Reid didn’t reveal the Chiefs’ offers from specific teams as he wrapped up his first-round press conference, but one can assume that teams exploring a trade were targeting the best-remaining quarterback, Kentucky’s Will Levis.
Brett Veach later elaborated, explaining that Felix Anudike-Uzomah was atop the team’s draft board and they didn’t want to get “too cute” by trading out.
“We did have some calls, I think (Head) Coach (Andy Reid) maybe mentioned that,” Veach explained. “It’s a situation though when you have a guy that is clearly the top guy left and then you know the calls that we had were – you’re talking mid‐40’s. It’s a long way away and then you’re going to end up just trading those picks to try to get back up and get a guy like Felix, so we thought let’s not get cute here. There’s a guy we like (at a) position that we need, and we’ll just go ahead and make the pick and certainly glad we did.”
The goal was to reinforce the defensive line following the departure of Frank Clark, and the addition of Anudike-Uzomah may have fulfilled the role of a long-term starter opposite George Karlaftis.
