The Kansas City Chiefs used pick No. 103 to select Wisconsin LB Leo Chenal.
The Chiefs already have a pretty stout linebacker room, so a player like Chenal wasn’t on many people’s radar. However, the team still lacked a strongside linebacker, who also has the ability to slot in at MIKE linebacker in case of an injury.
Chenal wasn’t expected to test as well as he did at the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine and his pro-day workouts, but he blew it out of the park. He’ll go down as one of the most athletic linebackers in draft history.
Leo Chenal was drafted with pick 103 of round 3 in the 2022 draft class. He scored a 9.99 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 3 out of 2419 LB from 1987 to 2022. https://t.co/unnXwkfpiT #RAS #Chiefs pic.twitter.com/YdwWEkOnmR
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 30, 2022
On the field, he plays like a throwback-style two-down thumper. He’s going to get some big tackle numbers, but he wasn’t exactly the flashiest player in coverage. There is some stiffness to his game that needs to be worked through there. He’s also a big-time special teams player, so you can rest assured that Dave Toub had some say in this pick, especially after losing some guys like Dorian O’Daniel and Ben Niemann.
Overall this feels like a really good value pick for Kansas City. Many had Chenal as an early Day 2 player as opposed to late Day 2, especially after his highly productive 2021 season at Wisconsin. This was the final pick of the day for the Chiefs on the defensive side of the ball to wrap things up on Day 2.
