Only Weird Game 4/16: What Did Brett Veach Reveal About the Chiefs' 2026 Draft Plans?

It's good to be back after my brief absence and I'll say that the time away from the show has

actually made me genuinely a little bit reflective. This is really earnest for a cold open,

but there have been a number of times over the last couple of years that I've thought like

this show has really become so self-sufficient, so self-referential often and so built on

the personalities and insight that Nate and Seth bring to every show that I've had a few times

in the last year or two of the show thinking like, you know, what's my role? What's the value

that I bring? What is what I do important here compared to what you guys bring as really the

foundational load bearing pillars of this show? And I'll say having reflected on that and having

listened to the last couple of shows that I wasn't a part of, I am no longer self-conscious about

where exactly I need to be. Coming up, the latest episode of Only Weird Games. Here, on KC Sports

Network. Spit some time on the beach. I've touched

some ocean water. I've had some good times with friends and family and I am happy to be back for a

full crew edition of Only Weird Games. Joshua Brisco, Seth Kaiser and Nate Taylor. I'm happy to be back,

but if the first five minutes of every show I wasn't on have been in any indication, you guys are

even happier to have me. It does, it does feel good. Tucker did an admirable job on the show with

just him and Seth. So I don't want to throw Tucker onto the bus. Everyone knows that he is an

incredibly talented and capable host. But man, sometimes, sometimes your guys as we'll start

spinning and it's just, all you can do is hold on for dear life. And that's what I was doing as a

listener. Oh, it's nice to be on the other side, isn't it? It is. It's really fun. There's like no

no defense there. There's no what else. Yeah, that's a wild ride, huh? That is like that reminds me

of like just like accepting who you are, what you can do, what you can't do. Like I actually felt

like there was like there was like a 20 minute time period during the middle of the show where

because Nate and I took turns, I'm sure you listened one episode, he held the baton, one

episode, I held the baton. And there was one at like the first one when I had the baton, there

was like a 20 minute time span where I was like, you know what? I think I can do this. And I

can for like 20 minutes and understand who you are and what you're about is important. It reminds

me like when like, I don't remember what it was, but like relatively recently, Jazz like said

some version of something to me or like something was like, that is not a great start. I'm aware.

Jazz had asked me after I'd gotten done saying something, you know, whatever. And she's like,

some version of like, is that true? And I was like, I would need you to read it back to me. I don't

know. Like who knows whether or not that's true. And just understanding who you are and what

you can and can't do is important. I cannot host a show because when in doubt, I always just default

to bits. And it's not great. I would argue that the viewers more so than anyone really did host

one of those episodes. I would agree. I would agree with that sentiment. Yes.

And in case anyone was ever wondering whether or not a show should run off of comments,

even the best, in my opinion, live stream comment section on the internet. The answer is, no,

no, it shouldn't. It's a bad idea. But boy, we had fun. And I'm just, I'm relieved to see both of you

guys. I'm surrounded by so much facial hair right now. I'm not sure what to do with myself.

Also, I do now have the, I have my usual home setup here again, obviously. So I have all the

logins and info that I need here. So I will be permabanding anyone who comments about my mom,

or either my parents, that matter, including Seth and Nate. If I can just, I have the ability to kick,

I see the face that's making right now. How about Boop? Boop. He's gone. Boop. Uh-oh. Uh-oh, Nate,

you have anything to say? I am a perfect. Oh, well, I guess we're going to never get a no. They're

gone. I am a professional. That's what I thought. That's what I thought. Listening to the last

couple of episodes, just a, just a couple of pros here. Get it done. Uh-uh. Guys, I will, I will

say, I, I know it's early. I know I'm getting real, real big for my bridges as a host again. But

the general manager of the Kansas City Chief spoke today for about a half hour about the NFL draft.

And what they intend to do, Seth has a film review nearly on its way to your inboxes. We actually

have stuff to talk about here a week away from the NFL draft. It feels like it came, it was

screeching to a halt through so many just indefensible mock drafts over the last month or so.

And now suddenly, it's right around the corner. I kind of want to get into it. So let's,

let's talk about Brett Vich. He, he had his pre draft, uh, zoom meeting with you, uh, professional

journalists, Nate and, uh, and your fellow, uh, colleagues there. I have a bunch of things that I,

I noted, going through his presser, just spin the wheel, Nate. What, what was the most interesting

thing to you? If you're just picking one angle to start with from Vich's presser today?

Yeah. Uh, it's great to see you by the way. I, uh, I love having you back as well. Um, I just want

people to understand that like, uh, I can't remember someone said it in the comments here, uh,

that this is this line season. We are in peak line season when it comes to the draft. And I'm glad

that our audience understands that because, um, by rule, every general manager is supposed to

have a press conference before the draft. Usually the deadline is Friday or tomorrow in this instance.

Like, hey, you, you got to be able to talk, got to tell the fans where the team is, got to answer

some questions about where your team is entering, you know, next week's draft. And so look,

I think for a number of years now, Brett has always done it the Thursday before the big Thursday.

And I think the most interesting thing league wide, um, because that's one of the things that I

have to consider now at ESPN is just like him. And I wrote about this, him telling us that he expects

a lot of trades or more trades than usual seems to indicate. I'm ready to make a deal. Come on,

ready to make a deal. Get on the phone and call me. Okay. I got 29. I got nine. I'm, I,

I'm ready to dance. Are you ready to dance? Like, you know, I have a history of doing this. So

if he thinks that there are more general managers now, um, with the potential of being ready to

make a deal, either before the draft or on draft day, I find that to be compelling considering

the chiefs have more flexibility than they may have ever had in the Brett Beach era considering

they have two first round picks and they're in different ranges. Top 10 and obviously the bottom

of the first round and an extra third round pick next year already to play with and knowing that

they're almost certainly going to get really good comp formula stuff next year with the contracts,

the Watson sign, the Cook sign, Hollywood Brown Resign, even though it was a Lola like they

multiple guys left the chiefs and signed elsewhere on expiring contracts. Correct. That's a big deal

because they, they, I wouldn't be surprised that they ended up with like a couple of lower or even

like a third round comp pick next year, which would be that, that, that gives you so much room to,

to play around with. I'm sure Kent Swanson knows way more about that than I do. Sorry for cussing,

Josh, but the, the, sorry, I like the draft guys. Great. Bit.ly slash Swanson sucks. If you haven't

picked it up yet, at least do me the courtesy of using that URL. You know, he, that's his one use in

this world is to explain to us, comp pick formula stuff. And so I, they've got more flexibility

with that too because you can trade comp picks now and you already have a third round pick next year.

I mean, there's, there's a lot of room to go and to play and to just do all sorts of things.

That's one reason I told someone where like, if it's like, okay, you know, Ruben Bane and Carnale,

Carnale, Carnel Tate, drop to nine. What do you do? I'm like, you, you draft Bane and trade up to

10 and draft eight. And they could do that, which that would be wild, by the way. Right. And so

I just like the flexibility, I just wanted to point that it's not even just having those two

first rounders this year. It really is a situation where they could play around all over the place

because they've also got, you know, they've, they've got a good second and third round pick. I

mean, this is just an entirely different thing. This is why the draft has stunk for us for so

long to follow, except in 2022 is like, ooh, what are they going to do? But they're always like

picking like 30 second and then I'm not picking it again till 64th. And now it's like they could

do anything. They could end up selecting the number one player on your personal bigboard.

Not just you, Seth, you listener. Like, there is a chance that they take anyone other than Mendoza.

There's a, the chiefs are in play for anyone else. They could trade up one of those guys you

pencil in at two through five could easily fall to nine. That was one of the things kind of in

if we're just talking about the pockets and the flexibility of it all, one of the most interesting

little things that, look, obviously, Brett Vich knows he's on camera. And this is being sent not

just to Kansas City reporters and fans, but also around the league. One thing I thought that he

said that might have been giving just a smidge more than he intended to. And maybe he's,

maybe, maybe I'm not giving him enough credit. But he talked about the, he said, this is when I got

the exact quote, the great needs are so close now with these guys from say 10 to 30, 10 to 35.

I thought that was interesting. He's saying players 10 through 30ish on the, on the bigboard.

Those are all guys you probably have that kind of late first early second round grade on. We talk

all the time when just a time for a refresher. You don't have 32 first round grades. You have

a certain number of players. You think are true first round grades. And I've wondered how many

true first round grades do the chiefs have? How many players do they think really sit above the

cutoff line? And I think Vich told you there it's nine or 10. Now, maybe that's just a headspace.

They have to be in because they're picking at nine. Maybe that's just a, uh, uh, easy number

because we got 10 fingers and 10 toes and they're picking at number nine. But I did think that was

intriguing. Although I did not get a real read on where they're leaning at nine. We can talk about

tackle and end and receiver more specifically. I think there are at least if you play in the game

of well, if Brett Vich was telling the truth, I could tell you where they're going to take a tackle

in a defensive end. He told you right. If he's telling the truth, but nine because of the flexibility

with non premium position players being high achievers or having premium position players

bigger question marks, I don't feel like I got a real understanding of what he'd like to do

at number nine overall. Yeah. So let me try to interpret based on what he said because I think

he's gotten a lot better at about having multiple avenues that appear legitimate, even though he

never tells you directly, much like he did, hey guys, I don't think we're going to, you know, I'm,

guys, I don't know what's going to happen, right? That's why I'm talking to you now. And, uh,

you know, we can go a number of different ways. You know, we could trade up or, you know, we could,

uh, we could obviously, you know, we're obviously in the market for, uh, for a tackle right now. But

look, we'd like, we like some of the guys in the draft. You guys are recording at what time? Uh-huh.

Yep. Yep. Are they still recording? Yep. Yep. They're still recording. Okay. Uh, what, what

years is 2021? Yeah. I'm going to trade for Orlando Brown right now. Yep. Yep. Because I've

fulfilled my obligation of telling you guys every thought I had yet, I'm clearly training for someone

as we speak. I forgot about that. That was so, that was unbelievable. I've used like seven tackles

film, I think that you know, it was ridiculous. Absolutely. None of them. I just want to, I want

people to always remember that because, um, he's gotten a lot better in the situations change

every year. So you have to adjust to what he's trying to tell you now so that you have a better

chance of interpreting it. As for today, he acknowledged that they brought in what 12 defensive ends

as top 30 visits. He joked about every defensive end available. And then he threw out 12 as the

actual number. I'll go ahead and mention since you said that Nate, he talked about defensive end

being solid through two or three rounds. Um, obviously you can't guarantee that you're going to get

Bane or Bailey at, at nine. Right. That one of the things that I have in my, in my short list of

if Brett Vitch is telling the truth, which is not something that I believe he was necessarily doing.

But if we're just playing the game, if he's telling the truth, they'll take a defensive end at 40

and not before because that would be still in the, in the area of, of true depth. And there are

other things they need to get done at 29 and nine. If he's telling the truth, I, I think my

guess today, a week from the draft, my guess is that they would like to Ruben Bane to be there at nine

and then they can just say, well, we know that we don't know that work. And you can, you can double

dip on on defensive linemen if you want. Vitch said they, they, they are a few linemen short.

I mean, maybe he's inferring two interior at one point, but he, he did acknowledge they are

short on defensive line bodies. And I think that's true, both short term and long term.

Yes. So as I can interpret that, then I was the one who asked him about, hey, what do you, what do you

like most about the receivers in the first round? And he, he said some names. He did. And there,

and there were some names he didn't say there were, which might lead you to believe that receiver

right now, at least at nine, has maybe a higher priority than defensive end. It's close.

But if we were to interpret what he said today, it looks like receivers are a little higher.

And so maybe, maybe you want to do receiver at nine and defensive end at 29, you know, or somewhere

in those ranges, right? You can move up, you can move down. Obviously, I've said this on the radio

today. My, um, my estimation and what I understand, and as I surmise all the conversations I have,

I think they have a much better chance of training up from 29 than nine necessarily. So, hey,

if you want to go get somebody at 24, 25, and they're in that 12 defensive ends range, hey,

two plus two is looking like full right now. But also, the monkey rich in this is,

there's just something about Caleb Downs, guys. There's just something about Caleb Downs. And

maybe the chiefs are hoping that other teams will take a tackle in the top 10, maybe ahead of them.

So that they have the potential of Downs or Baywee. Tailing are, are Tate or Bay? I'm just saying,

there's a number of options that can happen, right? I know somebody mentioned Zion, the prospect

from Missouri. Who knows? Do you want to trade off resign at 27? Cool. Do you already have

Tate in the, in the bag at number nine? What about, what about Tyson, Tyson or Downs, Tyson or

Bang? Um, I think that's where we're starting to understand some of the thought process. And I get the

sense that, uh, if we had to stack it right now, based on if we think as much as we can interpret

the truth and what's said and what, and it's what not said between Red Veets. I think receiver,

edge rusher and the monkey rich might be what of Caleb Downs is there at night.

I'm going to grab a different monkey wrench and, and see how you guys feel about it. He talked a lot

about where the pockets of offensive tackle are and where the drop off is. I think again,

and this fantasy world rebret beach was not allowed to lie at the, at the podium today. He was,

he was allowed to, you know, obfuscate some things, but he wasn't allowed to lie to you. If that's

the case, it's receiver at nine, tackle at 29 defensive end at 40, because on multiple occasions,

he talked about thinking that there'd be a run of tackles between 10 and 25. If there's not a lot

of them taken early on, he said, I think twice, he said, there's a fall off of tackles by pick 35.

Now look, I'm no math magician, but I think that they have a pick at 29 and a pick at 40,

and if he thinks that all the good tackles are going to be gone by 35 and the tackle thing is real

in any particular way, then I think 29 or higher is where tackle goes. Now look, I, I don't,

I, I don't feel great about another first round pick on the offensive line, even though Jalen

Moore is a one year stopgap as things stands now. I understand it. They've just put a lot

into that offensive line and that hasn't magically unlocked any special gears in the offense yet,

whatever, I digress. But he, he talked a lot about, again, a lot twice, I think, about the drop

off of tackle coming around that 35 spot. If you are able to get one of those three receivers and,

and just to put the names out that Nate referred to there in, in response to Nate's question,

Veech talked about, said Tyson and Tate have the size. He had a lot of nice things to say about

lemon and then I think he mentioned Cooper after that, but it was like kind of an afterthought.

If you get one of the big three receivers there, if you're happy with the tackle options at 29

and then you get one of the defensive ends you like at 40, that would correspond with what he said

today about worth the pockets of all of that land. Just hearing that as an option there, Seth,

how does that all hit you? I, I still have a hard time about the whole tackle thing. I understand

they need to start thinking about what life looks like after 2026 because if Jalen Moore plays poorly,

they probably won't bring him back. If he plays really well, they're not going to be able to forward

him back. So like the only way like Jalen Moore's back in 2027 is if he's, well, even if he's okay,

he gets paid pretty big money on the open market. And we've seen that time after time after time.

I guess for me, another reason to say that about the 35th spot, like, you know, around 35 so many times

would be like, Hey, teams, we pick 40th and we're being scary about tackles. You should take a bunch

of them. You want to tackle. You better take one before that 40th. Oh, look at the, you know,

looks, I don't even felt harder than people thought or whoever, right? Just like, yeah. Oh, how did

this happen? A traiti defensive end that we think we might be able to coach up fell or whatever,

you know, name, name, whatever defensive end there. He's just what happens to be traiti and has the

builds backs like so. And like, I've heard his name because, you know, you hear names of local

points before the draft. So the whole thing's interesting to me. I will say it's interesting.

You're always trying to like read into what's intentional and what's not. You end up doing a

princess bride type thing because it's like, well, he knows that we're reading into what he says,

but he knows that we know that he knows that we're reading into what he says. And so,

honestly, it'd be really funny if a GM just came out and just said exactly everything about what

their number one to three priorities were. Yeah, if this guy falls, we're definitely going to

draft them. We really value that was that was that was Brett Beach in 2020. Yeah, coming off a

super bowl victory. There's that is there's a lot to learn about that job about that part of things.

But like, I do think it's at least somewhat interesting to look at phrasing and what someone at wax

is eloquent about and kind of what they what they do and don't say a lot of. And I can't and now

maybe it's because there's like kind of a big three of receivers sort of like, depending on how

people feel about Jordan Tyson, which I found out after a Tuesday show that, and I forget this

every year, which draft this course, I'm always out all year. Then I'm in for like late March, early

April, then, you know, but I forgot how wonderful it is to write something about a player. Oh, this is

what I saw in film. This is what I liked, whatever. And for some like, he sucks. I'm like, okay.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I love that thing. There are two weeks every year where you go, oh, man,

college football fans are crazy. What the heck? Yeah. And I'm just like, I don't know what to say.

Like, yeah, he did do Jack for he did do Jack for Arizona State during their title run. That was all

cam. And I was like, cam, who? I don't even know what you're talking about. Like, it's like, well,

you had to understand the context of the games. And this is a very well intentioned guy. We end up

having a good conversation. But I was like, what? Like, I don't know what you mean. I'm just

watching the film, dude. So everyone be nice to me. As I, I don't watch college football.

Seriously, I wasn't kidding about like, I think it was Joe Burrow, but whoever that story was,

when I was like, watching wide receivers, I was like, wow, that quarterback's not bad for a

college guy. And it's like, yeah, he's like going to go number one overall. I was like, oh,

and it's like the same thing. You know, when I was watching McKineman, and I'm like, wow,

this corner at Notre Dame is pretty good. Like, man, he moves really well. And then I was like,

oh, yeah, he's going to be like a top five pick in 2027. Like, oh, okay. Okay. That makes sense.

So like, I don't know any of this stuff. But here's one thing I do know. He named the big three

receivers. There's one dude he didn't talk about. He did not say the name. And maybe it's because

he doesn't know how to pronounce it. We can't roll that out. He did not say Casey conceptions.

He knows how to say his name. Come on. He knows how to say it. And we're going to

interesting. And we're going to have Seth say his name a lot of times because he has a film

review on the way that we're going to talk about after the break. My name is Teryl Jolly. A lot of

people call me TJ founder and CEO of the integrity couple of management. So integrity couple

of management, originally started out as a property management firm, but we slowly transitioned

into what is described as an incremental development firm that's focused on situational housing.

I know most people say affordable, but we believe in creating housing for people that are actually

in need and built to the end user. I believe everyone needs a home because when you have home,

you have hope. Reality is that when you're building a business, one thing you don't think about

is like what a true banking relationship means. And you know, I had the honor of others that

meeting that be early on in my career when I was just trying to get going. And as a small business,

it's really challenging at times because people don't understand the concept or I'm not

believed in longevity because you're just getting started. But Daddy was willing to take a chance on

me, take the patient with me. I almost look at like a grassroots initiative. She's seen, she's

seen and believe what I'm about. Anybody that's really true about their business and want to get

some things done, I would definitely trust hands down and prize because Dev's team along with Erin

and Jackie and all the amazing people that work behind the scenes, even from the surgery side,

I would say, hey, give them an opportunity because you won't be disappointed and you will actually

be in hands that actually somebody care. And I will see you from start to finish.

Mr. Kaiser, you have reviewed the film of McIleman. You've reviewed the film of Jordan Tyson.

You are now reviewing the film of KC Concepts Young, but the story is not out yet. So I don't know

what you think. What has stood out here as we are trying to figure out who the next Kansas City

Chiefs wide receiver is going to be because it sure would be nice for them to add a good one in

this year's draft. I agree that would be nice. I just want to say one more time how wonderful it is.

Reviewing film, knowing that the Chiefs have a pick at nine. And so I don't have to be like,

oh, I guess, you know, like when I reviewed Brian Thomas Jr.'s film, I was like, I don't think

he's going to make it, you know, and things like that, that's fun to be able to watch everyone.

KC Concepts Young, KC if you want. I'm going to go with Concepts Young. No, okay, I'm sorry.

I, it's interesting watching KC. Yeah, then I like, I'm going to start calling him KC.

One of my good friends name is KC. Shout out to you, KC. Thanks for redoing our driveway.

I'm going to say it like that. And that's going to be okay. He is someone that in prior years,

I probably could have reviewed as well, right? Because also as the draft approaches,

this is how this goes. There's more and more noise about him going earlier. A lot of people I

respect really like his film. I think including the lab guys, I think really like him.

I try to ignore it to an extent because I've heard of I try to at least ignore about a third of a lab.

And so as I, I mean, it's interesting because you never know what is real and what's not. So I got

to turn on his film and I'm going to start with a ceiling thing. How's that sound? Oh, okay.

So let's see. So ceiling wise, if you took like the traits of Jordan Tyson that you really like

and the traits of Mackay lemon that you really like and smashed them together,

aspects of that would be KC conception. That's a high ceiling, Seth. It is. Now he's not the

technician because he have two hands. What's the, why is he not going top 10? He, hey, I just want

everybody, I just want everybody, you know, I'm Goku. I'm on the planet. Namek. I'm waiting for the

spirit ball to be powered up. Power me up, Seth. So he is, he, he's not the technician lemon is.

So I mean, this is, this is ceiling stuff in terms of a ceiling. You, if you want to comp

a stronger cadarious Tony who looks like he has a brain. Would. I'm sorry. What? Who's, who's

competitive? And look, I'm sure I feel bad saying it that way about cadarious Tony, but I know

there was like a question for Brad Veech about like, you know, learning a lesson. He's like people

who don't love football. Anyway, so there's like, that's the thing is people will look at a player

who doesn't work out in the NFL and they'll have this opinion, that opinion, that other opinion.

I guess I would just say with the way that Casey moves. He has, remember how I said on Tuesday,

we'll leave her if you would. Sorry. I listened. I know. I'm sorry. Either, keep going.

Neither of you. Oh, man, Jody Newsom's in the chat. My dog is about still talking about you.

Anyway, hi, Jody. So crazy. Yeah. So I, I really like Charlie's comment here. The

immaculate conception. That's your thing now. That's a terrific comment. That's yours.

You can that's credit Charlie five, four, six, four, four, and you're on out.

Nate, you've been working out. You're looking pretty jack, dude. Yeah, man. It's, it's, it's

getting there. I just need you to, you're like pick a law. I just need you to keep going.

Oh, keep it. Keep going. It's going. Here's the thing. What I said about Jordan Tyson is that

it's unusual to find a guy because you've got, you've got agility, you've got speed and you've

got acceleration and you also attach that have like flexibility, smoothness, that sort of thing.

It's rare to have someone who is high level in all of those things. Jordan Tyson is and that's

one reason why he separates so well, so frequently. Casey also has good acceleration. He's got

good top and speed. He's got good agility. He's got good flexibility. It's all above average.

Every one of them. And that's one reason he can separate really well. He, here's a thing, though,

on his route, if he gets contact midway through his route, he is stronger than Tyson. He runs

through contact better. He's got a more varied release package at the line. He's got a mean swim.

He's got a great, and you can see him refining stuff. But in terms of like opening up down the field,

he's got a great head dip into double moves that left that corner number 15 from

Notre Dame, just on the ground burnt. But he didn't get the ball. And afterwards, he's like,

come on, you can see he was bothered. I mean, those are, those are tough traits to find.

In terms of separating from man coverage quickly and consistently against all comers,

I think Jordan Tyson was maybe the best at it. But like Casey was like right there.

And that's, that's fair. He just, and he can separate it all through levels of the field.

I mean, he's quite as well as Tyson. Oh, there you go. Here's the problem.

Sometimes the ball comes to him, and he just, it hits the ground right afterwards.

And you're like, well, that's weird, because I watched him. He will, he'll run, you know,

some kind of dig, which, oh, I'm so sorry, these are chief sands. So a dig is a route to the,

to the intermediate portion of the field that's often run to test out various deep safety looks.

Okay, sorry. And so the, the big thing with him, Nate, I'm going to start pumping it down now.

Okay. Here's, here's the, no, no, I'm going to keep pumping you up. Contested catches,

contested catches, better at it than Tyson. And it's not even, yes, yes. Downfield, like,

if you're throwing a jump ball of 50, 50 ball, and it's six foot, Casey conception,

we're getting close to Jordan Tyson. It's not even close. We're so close. He's coming down

with a ball. And he will cross the middle of the field, but where I said about Mackay Lemon being

fearless across the middle of the field. Casey took some shots and held on to that ball. He's

just like, I mean, and, and then all by, I haven't even mentioned it. I'm so sorry, Nate.

That was run after the catchability. This will definitely kill freezer. Don't you worry. This

we're so close after the catch. He accelerates immediately after catching it in a smooth way,

similar to one Rishi rice. Yes. And he's, he's agile. He really is in a lot of ways. It's like if

you made Caderius Tony stronger, and he like actually ran real routes, which did not happen at Florida,

by the way, for Caderius Tony. And you're like, huh. And so I would I would tell people to do

if you want to see, like, maybe peeks up, watch his film versus Notre Dame. The same game that

everyone will say to watch with Mackay Lemon to say, here's the problem, because more followed him

around. And it didn't go great for him. I think more is the guy's last name. I don't remember.

This is how close they watch called football. Whereas if you watch Casey against them, he beats him

a couple times. One on one. It's just you and me. Yes. Yes. Open up the comments there. I can't

even see the comments. Keep high. Keep going. I'm getting uncomfortable with this Nate. Hello,

getting what's the analysis over? We will destroy Frieza. So he is ability with the ball in the

air in terms of contested catches. He's strong through contact. He, he really does. And that,

you run after the catch stuff. So this is why I say like almost a combination of the two,

because Mackay Lemon is good at a lot of the things that they really need in terms of opening

up versus man being good in zone, but his yak is way better than Jordan Tyson's his contested

ball abilities way better than Jordan Tyson's. But Casey can do both of those things. Well,

in terms of opening up versus man one on one. I don't know if he's quite as good at it at

Jordan Tyson, but I think he's close. Watch the Notre Dame game. Watch him a couple of times when

he, when he really was matched up one on one, because Notre Dame's other corner is really good too.

And he can open up against NFL ready corners. And that strength through contact is I think

something that separates him. He, he will run through and around contact. He's got that same

flexibility Tyson has to duck through it. But he also will fight it off. And there are a couple

of it's like he takes it personally. It's like, oh, you're going to try to make contact on my

break eight yards down the field. I am going to slam into you at 20 miles an hour and shove you

backwards like like Drake London style. Now he's not Drake London. So he doesn't throw the guy

to his feet. I'm not enjoying this. I feel like this is me removing consent. Like this is,

we got midway through and I'm like, wait a minute. I'm changing my mind mate. Oh, man,

that made really midway through. Really? Really? And so again, he's the bad news.

Sometimes that dude just drops the ball like coach that out. The guy, the guy you just,

the guy you just made the case for for the last five minutes. If I just, if I was completely blind

to the last, oh, sorry, I wanted to let Nate go ahead, Nate, you should go ahead and do it.

Nate's headphones, Nate's headphones came unplugged. The guy you just described Seth is a top 10

pick. The guy you just, the guy, the way you just described and that do the top 10 pick. Nate,

do you need to do any other sort of release to make sure like are you ready to podcast for me? I

I didn't want to step on your spirit bomb or whatever. It is finished.

How is the show was?

Oh, sorry. One minutes is not enough. 36 minutes is not enough for us to just go straight

at the end slate. No, it's okay. I'll think about it. Brandon asked, was it as good for everyone

else? I'm going to read this again. Brandon asks, was it as good for everyone else as it was for Nate?

No, not for freeze. Not for any of us. Not for freeze. That's for sure.

I need everyone to stop. I will, I need for the Chiefs to draft Casey

concept, she own a pair. If you try to get me a tip of the expectations, you have failed, man.

You have not received any rise in Canarias, Tony and Jordan Tyson and Jerry Rice and Antonio Brown

and Jamar Chase and he dropped them all over once in a while. Five. What the grain? What the grain?

Again, route running. What? Rachel in the comments said speaking of conception.

That's a great comment, Rachel.

That's the big thing to know is that again, he's not as...

You just saw them. They're longer than Rubber Bains. Come on now.

Talking about arms. They are definitely longer. To temper expectations, here's what I would say.

With Casey, he really was a pure slot guy in his previous system. I think it was NC State. I can't

remember which in 2024 and 2023 was more of a pure slot guy, kind of pure gadget guy.

It was only this last year at ANM who has some pro similar stuff in their offense

where he really played on the boundary quite a bit. You only have one year of seeing it,

whereas with Jordan Tyson, if you look at his 24 and 25 film, you see the same stuff.

That is one big reason, I think. The other thing is with Casey, he's six feet tall.

I think his frame might be a little more maxed out. He's not quite as... I want to be careful

I say this because he is really quick and he is really explosive, but he's not quite as explosive

as Tyson. Maybe the ceiling isn't quite as high as a pure boundary one-on-one winner,

but he really does move in some ways like Tony. The thing is, people view that a certain way

because of Kaderius Tony. But what I said to someone is like, oh, tell me why this guy is in Kaderius

Tony. It's like, and there's a good buddy of mine who said that, and my response is,

it wasn't Kaderius Tony's skill set that ended his career. You put like...

You put Juju Smith-Schuster's desire and fame or damage, and that's... I mean,

crud, you keep Juju Smith-Schuster's knees from imploding. That really is like Tony had tons of

talent. He was a guy who never really had to, from what I can tell, he never really developed,

and he was so talented that he could be undeveloped and still get drafted really high and still

get multiple chances. Conceptually, he is really talented, and I do think teams would need to

worry about one year of production from the boundary, running big boy routes. That matters.

And I think the concentration drops have to worry them, and maybe wondering if, yes,

he's good in those areas, but is he... Does he have any one super dominant trait,

but or does he good in all those? But I am nitpicking at this point. I really like him,

and if someone were to tell me, I think I'd go... I don't know. In terms of the three that I reviewed,

like Lemon, Tyson, or Conception, which one of their tape I like the best or think is the best fit

for the Chiefs, I'd be like... I think it really comes down to Tyson fully healthy and can stay

fully healthy from me. Because everything you said, I'm sold on it, but then you watch Tyson's tape

and his legs don't appear to be real. Because he's awesome. But the problem is his legs are very much

real, and his hamstrings have been... He's been hurt. He's got the knee. He's got that, you know, so

if you're trying to go for a more sure, safe, reliable choice with Conception, I'm totally

I'm totally understanding why you would be in a favor of it, Seth.

And that's that's the big thing, because like with Mackay Lemon, I love his tape,

and he's he's he's got a great gillset, but I think maybe there's more of a ceiling there for him,

unless he continues to be just such a such a a good route runner, which is that's the thing,

like the ceiling for a really, really, really good route runner with solid physical traits

is a top tier wide receiver. It's just a tougher it's a tougher path to take. So I feel bad,

because I'm almost like I'm kind of like looking for one of these receivers to just like not like

their film, not watch, it'll be carnal tape. And I'm like, I don't know what everyone's seeing.

I don't see it. Yeah. I've actually watched a couple games. I don't think that's going to happen

because he's really good. But I know I'm pretty optimistic and I'm always talking about the scenes,

but like the traits, and especially with Casey, the the ability to run through contact

is one, like that ability to swim around and through contact at the break and at their line

of scrimmage. I'm like, and that translates. I think that translates really well. And he's maybe

a guy that maybe is available 20, 21, 22 to where like you, okay, yeah, Ruben Brain dropped to us

at at nine. And now we're 21, 22. And we got Casey conception. I'm like, what do I trade up for

that? I think I think I would. I mean, it sounds like you're a little bit surprised that there

seems to be such a a clear tier difference in the way that most people talk about these receivers.

Like I know you're I won't hold you to wherever you put the line on tape. I know it's to work

on progress on him for you. But from it feels pretty definitive that tape is one. And then it's either

Tyson or lemon, depending on how you feel about Tyson's hamstrings and where lemon fits on

your team for your roster and your receiver room. But then just just by conventional wisdom and

everything, it feels like Omar Cooper and and conception and some of those other guys that next

tier down have been at a pretty significant drop. I wouldn't be surprised if Tyson was a top 10

pick. But if you would have asked me an hour ago, I would have been very surprised if conception

was. It seems like you think that that difference is is much less stark than than most people have made

it out to be. Is that fair? That is very fair. Yes. I just I think health stuff aside, I think Tyson

is the best of the group I've watched. But someone could if someone wanted to argue with me between

lemon and conception and I'd listen. And honestly, the all three of those, it really is kind of a

pros and cons thing. And the thing with conception is like, I think you can do a ton of the stuff that

the chiefs like like right away, but also be on the boundary and win. And that's like that's what they

like about Tyson. You know, I would assume if they if they like him, whereas McCoy lemons a

little more of a question, you know, 70% of his snaps from the slot. And that's where you know,

they would like about carnal tape. He's an ex. You know, so I'm just like, I don't really see that.

And one thing I did appreciate, I know Ted, uh, Ted win, Ted win. I can never say his name

correctly. Great dude. Excellent analyst with the athletic. You know, think he's got conception

on as his number two guy in the draft. So. All right. Now I need to further back up. What's

that this thing? Because and I do this every now and then and I'm going to do it here for you guys

because I love you all. Um, we we used to do this at the athletic. They still do it, uh,

beat right or mock draft. We do it as well at ESPN. I can tell you, we have already done our mock

draft. Now this is a television product. You can watch it on ESPN. Um, I don't I can't give away

everything. Obviously. Um, but I think our, uh, I think our mark draft is going to be online

on Tuesday. So you might be wondering based on where everything based on everything set this

told us and based on how much we trust his analysis. And the fact that he's really gone over and

looked on the film. I myself realize, oh, I can just make a couple clicks on my computer and I can

look at the mock draft again. Because I know that with us staying where we are, no trades.

Obviously I picked someone at nine. You'll learn about that on Tuesday. And I had to pick someone at 29.

Casey conception is not available. That's 29 in our own beat writer mock draft. And I'm going to

give a little hint to suggest where he's going. And then you'll find out, um, on Tuesday, Tuesday

morning, fellas, it's a good friend of the show. That team selected Casey conception. And they

just so happen to be in the AFC. Looking for tickets for your next event tickets for last is your

number one source. Save big on every purchase. When you use promo code KCSN at tickets for less.com.

I'm not going to, I'm not going to, uh, you can't say Nate respond because I don't want to,

I don't want to infringe on the mouse. You know, that feels like a bowl. I don't want to

infringe on the mouse. But I, uh, I find that fascinating. And we'll, we'll talk about that more

on Tuesday, um, which will be our last pre draft show, obviously, because it's Thursday.

We'll have full live coverage from the lab guys and everything as, as we get into our own draft

coverage here on KCSN. Um, so let's just do this. It's kind of our, our last thing here. We're a

week out. How are we feeling? We've heard about red beach set. You've looked at more film. We've

got a little bit of a feel for where it feels like the board has kind of shaken out a little bit.

Veech. So they have 215 graded players right now. He might have said about that. I don't know

what, you know, it's right. In terms of essentially, yeah. And that's where the board falls all

together. Um, Seth, I'll, I'll give you the first crack at it here. What, what are you anxious

about from the chiefs draft strategy? What are you excited about? Anything that, that you're

feeling more clearly than maybe you were a couple of weeks ago here. And I just one week out.

It's more so than ever. I'm just like, and this means something else is going to happen. I've

never been more like, there's like two position groups that make a ton of sense to me. And that's

defensive end or defensive tackle. Honestly, although defensive tackle, you've got a little more of a

crowded room, but there's still plenty of stamps there. Defensive end and wide receiver to me are

obvious ways to go. Um, which means they'll do something else. I still am not big on the tackle

thing. That's those are my, my two big things where it's like with the skill set of the guys

available and with everything else, it's like, and this seems to make sense. And I will just throw

in one more thing. If they get to nine and the draft has fallen a certain way and then they call

out Caleb down, so I'll be like, cool. You sure? He's really good. Great player. And so it's

a really good. Yeah, to me, give me a great safety. And then I'll say cool. And also has anyone

traded production of lords yet? Because, um, think about this, guys, and this is the best

um, summation I can give based on everything I've heard, not necessarily like reporting this as

like fact just yet, because again, the draft is fluid and you talk to a number of people. And

again, it's lying season. But what I've, the summation I'd have is if the chiefs do decide to

take a tackle in the first round, it's one of those odd situations where as a fan, you go, come

off. I see who my team can get. I know who my, who I want my team to select.

Tackle. And boys and girls, if that happens, that player is being selected in large part,

I believe for 2027, not for 2026. And that's kind of a bummer. If that player is a taken in the

first round and be probably might not see the field in 2026. And this is the highest draft

pick, potentially in the Bret Beach era.

If of the audio audience, Seth took off his glasses and put a hand over his face, why say?

If they take a tackle at nine, it better be because Josh Simmons is retiring or something

wise, I will burn you cut to the grain. I can assure you, Josh Simmons is not retiring.

I will write an article that says the word arrogance 7,000 times. And not that they should care

what I think, but I, if they take a tackle at nine, that they're not going to play for a year,

after going six and 11. That will look, look, I will spend the higher season doing two things

for viewing film and screaming for changes at the top of the hierarchy because that would be

the height of arrogance to me. Oh, I'm just getting so upset already. Hey, hey, I'm just asking,

I'm just asking guys, uh, there was a certain year that she's were a pretty good team.

They turned out to be even better this upcoming season. The year was our Lord's 2,000 and three

and your Kansas City cheese selected Larry Johnson.

For I believe years 2004, 2005 and 2006. So it's

out of games and the league is the same as it was in 2003. And as they know, they couldn't have

used any more defensive talent on those teams. Correct. So I'm just saying, it has happened before.

As much as I can glean from a number of people, why in the world would you take a tackle? And these

are five year contracts. And man, if they do that, it's about 2027, 2028 and 2029.

Then trade, Chris Jones, don't bring back Travis Kelsey. Tell me homes to take 2026 off if you're not

trying to win games. You have Patrick Mahomes. For how many more years? He's going to be 30. He

is 30. How old is Patrick Mahomes, Josh? He's 30. He's 30 years old. You don't know he's going

to play until he's 45, like some of these guys do. Now knowing the homes, he probably will want to.

But you can't just take a year off. I cannot believe I let you put a quarter in the machine,

by the way. I'm very upset with myself right now. Hey, hey, this is just, this is just, this is

an estimation and a logical summation of what I can sort of cross reference,

understand the idealization of it, the concept, who's the best tackle on the draft?

There's not a consensus on that. And that makes me crazy. That's the problem.

And because, because look, if you said, hey, there's, let's say the Chiefs are picking two in

this draft. And it's the exact same, it's the exact same list of players that we have right now.

But, but Leon Sandcastle is a generational tackle prospect with 50 inch arms.

The Raiders are taking the quarterbacks and need a quarterback. But there is an octopus,

who is, who is playing tackle at the college level. And the Chiefs are picking two overall.

And they don't love Ruben Bayon. They don't love Cardinal Tate. But they're pretty sure that

they've got a future hall of fame or that everyone's looking on like, yeah, the two,

there are two picks in this draft that just have to happen. The quarterback at one,

and of the best tackle prospect we've ever seen. If she's took that guy at two,

I'd still be kind of bummed because I don't think that it's necessarily helping them win games

in 2026. But, but that guy, this theoretically on Sandcastle, the tackle version,

he is better than Jalen Moore today. He is instantly a starter. And, and he is now building

this generational offensive line that has we've covered already has a first round pick on the left

side, playing next to a second round pick. You traded up for next to a second round pick,

who was the highest paid center and football next to the highest paid guard and football. And

next to himself now being taken at, you know, two or nine or wherever this story takes you.

If that guy was, was there, and the Chiefs just had an unfathomably good tackle prospect to

and you say, hey, we're not going to have to spend another nickel on the offensive line for the

next three years. Okay, I'm not, I'm not thrilled. I'd rather try to find Patrick Mahomes

at legitimate number one pass catching option for the next one and five years of his career.

But I would, I would understand the logic for that. The fact that there's not even a consensus

best tackle in this draft, much less that the Chiefs are probably picking the second or third

tackle off the board. And let's say for the sake of, let's say it's the second tackle off the

board wasn't this probably going top eight. Right. The second best tackle in a tackle class that

no one is that excited about just really, I think that at this case, these are all very silly.

I think bad bummed me out more than just being in love with Jeremiah Love. We're like,

oh, yeah, it's the best running back prospect. You've seen in a minute and we think he's

going to be be genre, whatever. Right. There are, there are so many ways things could go where I

could at least kind of get behind the logic. But to spin the highest pick of the Brett Vich era

on an offensive tackle prospect, who is just kind of like probably pretty good, but not playing

this year is just still really hard for me to wrap my head around. I think that's a really great

way of framing it. Because yes, if you have Lane Johnson, you know, you have this awesome prospect

and he's the best player available. And you think he'll he'll you think he'll start from day one.

But like if you if you're drafted an offensive tackle at nine that needs to sit a year,

what are we doing? Like what? Why? What what are we? You can't draft one next year? You can't like,

you can't sign someone for like a you need this certain level like that to me. And then people

talk about well, you need to keep my homes upright. Something that messes with my homes just as

much as bad blocking is not trusting his receivers. That's hurt my homes much more than the protection

these last two years. People don't don't get it twisted because of the result of the super bowl

against Philly. That was that was a bad thing. You know, it was a really specific series of weaknesses.

But some of the habits that my homes built up was not the result of poor protection.

And I would be very, very frustrated because he'll be running for his life if he doesn't trust his

receivers and gets happy feet too. Do you know what else hurts Patrick Mahomes having a defense

that doesn't give him the ball back after getting to third and 15? Like it's just it's a team

sport with 22 starters and like 40 contributors. Right. And and it's not we're also not talking

about a team that doesn't have any tackles, which would be a different conversation.

They seem to enjoy Josh Simmons playing football. And I just feel like we're all losing our minds.

I don't know. That's the week before the draft. This is when we're all supposed to be on the edge

of absolutely losing it. But man, I there are a lot of ways I could talk myself into some stuff

if necessary. But not the second best tackle in a shallow tackle class at night overall. That

that would be that would be tough for me.

How'd you guys in the show when I was gone? Well, I was going to say, you know,

it looks like I'm going to have to stay out here a little longer. Looks like Frieza's still here.

Unfortunately, that sucks. You know, Seth, as we give him to a close, I just want to remind people

of a beautiful film that that came out that premiered in 2014. And this film has some mixed

reviews at the time, but it is stood the test of time. It is, as one could say, ascended to

iconic status, particularly in the sport that is extremely silly to which the ball is not round.

All right. And there were some legends from an acting standpoint in this film.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that's right. It's the 2014 hit

that you can watch. I believe on Disney plus draft day.

You, ladies and gentlemen, have an assignment. As your impromptu NFL draft professor,

you should watch draft day. And you shouldn't just watch draft day. You should make this an experience.

In fact, I call it an annual tradition.

There is a particular podcast, an episode where my beloved friend who unfortunately is no longer with us.

Terrest Paylor and his great friend, Charles Robinson, examined, seen by seen draft day.

Guys, it's one of the small memories that keep Terrest Paylor alive in my mind.

And you can find it. You can just type in Terrest Paylor in draft day. You know, that thing will

pop up right on for you. Thank you, Icefire Road. You should listen to that podcast every year

and watch the film every year. My father genuinely thinks this is a great movie.

Genuinely.

Their episode on Jerry McGuire was also an old time.

Oh, I would never forget. And I know we're on our way out. So maybe this thing's out.

But I will never forget as as Jerry McGuire's client is just getting killed.

And they're like, they're like, they're saying he had 1500 yards that season.

And they like looked up the stats for that. You're like, he's like right up there with T.O.

Like, what are we doing here? And I'll never forget because they're kind of talking about the way

the industry actually works. And Terrest goes, where's Jerry's guy? Where's his guy in the media

to put something out there? He's terrible at his job. And it is one of the funniest things.

Just I'll never forget that. Where's Jerry's guy? I just, oh my goodness, I gotta listen to that again.

That made me laugh. Yeah. So, oh, look, you can do a double feature, right?

But obviously draft draft day is what is my favorite because they just, they just,

they just tear down and then they build it back up because you know what? To you want to be a Cleveland

bro. That is an incredible, incredible reference. And that, yes, everyone needs to watch it.

I'm actually going to do the unusual thing and take us out with Josh's permission and do it on

a bit of a different note. The the airhead pride, head chief man in charge, John Dixon,

no one to people that were on airhead pride years and years ago like I was as as already old guy

tragically, unfortunately passed away recently, after, after a long battle. And I just wanted to say,

because I was, when you talk about Terrest that reminded me of it, one thing I always say is how

nice Terrest was to me when he met me. You introduced me to him, the first game that I ever covered.

And he just like, you know, you got like this group of dudes standing around. It's like

Terrest and it's like Sam Mellinger and like these dudes, I'm like, oh man, so this is like real media.

And Terrest just starts talking to me. I'm like, dude, we are not the same. What are you? What are you

doing? And it was just so, so, so great. And so that's just one of the legacies that he left.

And I just wanted to say, um, John is, it was just such a good dude. He was just so kind. Um,

as I, so supportive too. I think yeah, just so supportive of so many people. And he'd been working

in the industry in certain ways for years and years and years and years. And I will never forget,

um, so I mean, I had a million just chats with him when I was like commenting to David. That's

that's how I started this job. Like this was not a job for me in 2010. I was just commenting on

on espionage sites, the old era pride comment sections, which were just tremendous places to be

and talk football and make each other mad and say all sorts of things that hopefully aren't there

anymore. Um, but like John or audio guy at the time was always so patient and so kind with

everyone that he interacted with. Even like during the middle of like the Alex Smith wars or the

Todd Haley wars or the Scott Peolder, there were a lot of wars in the overhead pride comments.

And um, he would remain that kind. Um, shortly after I went to the athletic and without giving a

lot of details, I, I made, honestly, I handled a situation in a way that I probably shouldn't of

and I reached out with him and what could have been a really, really tense conversation and like a

really kind of tough moment thing. And he was just super kind about it and like explain something

to me, explain kind of the way a few things work in the industry and things that I shouldn't take

and was so kind and so patient and so nice about it. And you know, I knew after that interaction

and others that I had, like that's who I want to be in this space is like someone who is like,

this is just patient and nice and just kind of people even when they don't really deserve it,

which is someone that I'm very honestly, I'm often not that guy. And so I just wanted to say,

you know, if on the off chance, you know, anyone of his coworkers or his family, um, you know,

Terry's watches this show for some reason, I just, John was just the best guy and a really nice guy

and there's a lot of people myself included who I don't think would have come into the space the

same way if it weren't for him. And so this is a really, you know, whatever way, but man,

this industry can occasionally touch people and I just appreciate that he did do that. So,

you know, rest well and and we'll keep his family in our thoughts, but I know he would be excited

about the draft coming up and you know what? You know what? Yeah, he'd appreciate this.

You know what John would say? Don't draft a tackle, Brad Feach. Just don't do it.

In the nicest way possible, he would say it so reasonably.

Oh, man. Oh, I made Nate cry. Sorry Nate. Oh, no, man, it's just, yeah, we've known for a while and

that was beautifully said and so, yeah, man, we should we should just all appreciate the impact

people have on our lives and I'm sure his impact was even greater outside of work, but yeah,

the importance of life is the impact you have on others. It's just great to know that John has

been celebrated in so many ways and he was just, he was a great dude and I wish I got to see him

more often. You know, but he was, I agree with everything you said. It's just the, that's the

it's the best way I can sum it up.