After all the speculation about trading up, or trading one of their two first round picks for an established NFL veteran, the Chiefs ended up (generally) staying pat and using both of their picks to build some much-needed depth. After moving up a few spots to take Washington defensive back Trent McDuffie, Brett Veach finished out his night by selecting Purdue defensive end George Karlaftis with the 30th overall pick. Shortly after the round ended, Veach met with media to talk about what was so exciting about both picks.
"I think the cool thing about both Trent and George is that they're both 21 years old, young guys," he said. "A lot of upside and do things the right way. Really excited to add them to our defensive unit."
Veach admitted that the team was a bit surprised to see McDuffie still on the board at 21 -- it wasn't even a scenario that the team went over in their pre-draft preparation -- which was a factor in the team trading up with the New England Patriots to get him.
"Trent's a guy that can come in here and Day 1," he said. "He's wired the right way. Extreme knowledge of the game. Three year player, three year starter. And it was certainly a position that we wanted to address."
Immediate impact was the running theme of the Chiefs' draft night, as Veach also pointed to Karlaftis' ability to immediately be plugged into the team's defensive front and contribute. Getting two of those players on night one was, as the GM said, "hard to find."
"You talk about George, this is a guy that didn't play a lot of football but came on strong at Purdue," he added. "Another young guy that has a ton of upside. He can play a little bit of inside and outside for Steve. Relentless motor. He's a guy like Trent who can come in and be ready to contribute on Day 1 ... We're going to have a lot of fun, and we're just really excited to get him rolling."
