Defensive Depth in the 2023 Class

The latest newsletter from KCSN Sports Data Scientist, Joseph Hefner.

Last year’s draft was a very good draft for the Chiefs, especially on defense. We got a starting EDGE (Karlaftis), a No. 1 cornerback (McDuffie), and we got several players who will be either starters or significant role players in Cook, Chenal, Williams, and Watson. Plus Nazeeh Johnson as a core special teams player.

After a draft like that, one might be forgiven for thinking that our defense is in a good spot right now. That’s not exactly wrong, but there are some clear holes still on our roster. EDGE and interior defensive line both need an additional starter. Cornerback is good, but this is Sneed’s last year of his rookie contract. Do we need to draft his replacement?

If Cook takes a major step forward and becomes a starting-caliber safety, we are probably good there, though depth is seldom wasted on defense. Linebacker is probably our deepest position, and we’ve spent major draft capital there in recent years (four Day 2 picks on LB in the past 5 drafts).

Given all that information, lets take a look at the consensus board for the 2023 draft class and see how deep it is in the top 100. After pick 100, mock drafts and big boards start to see major differences between player evaluations, so it’s most useful to limit it to the Day 1 and Day 2 picks.