Chiefs GM John Dorsey On Having 1st Pick In The Draft: ‘You Make The Right Pick By Choosing The Best Player Available’
Leave it to the Chiefs to get the No. 1 pick in the Draft in a year when, really, there is no clear No. 1 pick. So what strategy is new Cheifs GM John Dorsey going to use? From the Kansas City Star:
The question will follow new Chiefs general manager John Dorsey from now until April 25. What is he going to do with the first overall pick in the NFL Draft? This is uncharted territory for Dorsey. In his 14 years as the Green Bay Packers director of college scouting and one season as director of football operations, the Packers drafted in the top 10 just twice. In the last three years, they drafted 23rd, 32nd and 28th. And, thanks to 12 winning seasons, their average position in the draft since 1997 with Dorsey in the draft room is 20th. Though no team ever wants to own the first pick of the draft because it’s the reward for owning the worst record in the league, Dorsey said Monday, “I want to turn it into a positive. We all know there is some pressure involved in that. You make the right pick by choosing the best player available. “I know of no other philosophy.” The Chiefs will alternate the first and second picks in rounds two through seven with Jacksonville — which also had a 2-14 record, but its opponents had a better collective record, allowing the Chiefs to pick No. 1 overall. “We’re first in the waiver acquisitions,” Dorsey also pointed out. “That helps building a team. In the past, our model has been … to be selective in free agency. You can still get value, within that philosophy, and you can still acquire players. Every year has a different-case scenario and each year you have to study that and make determinations when you set your free-agency plan in motion.” … So while quarterback is the greatest single need on a team that has five Pro Bowlers, there’s no guarantee Dorsey will pick one in the first or even second round. “Are they good football players?” Dorsey said of what he looks for in the draft. “I think that’s vitally important. Do they fit into the locker room? If you look at any great teams, over all the decades … there’s a component that is very important. That locker room can self-perpetuate people, and it can pull the young guys up to the standards of the older guys. That locker room is the pulse of your team, and that’s vitally important.
