Veach: Trading up or down on the table for Chiefs ahead of Round 1

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - As Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs are currently slated to make the 31st and final selection in Round 1 of next week’s NFL Draft. As the host city of the draft, large swaths of Chiefs Kingdom will be in attendance near the Union Station NFL Draft stage.

But on Thursday -- a week prior to the NFL Draft -- Veach clarified that he’s no longer under the joking restrictions set by Clark Hunt in 2022. A year ago, Veach teased that the Chiefs’ owner told him that trading the first-round pick in the Draft during which Kansas City was hosting was off the table. But now that the Draft is in Kansas City, Veach said anything is on the table.

“I don’t think it would be hard at all,” Veach said of the possibility of trading out of the first round, noting that it’s part of the allure of the Draft event. “I know there was a lot of joking last year about Clark saying ‘you can’t trade the pick,’ and listen, maybe there was some truth to it, but I think that applied to in the off-season or last summer. We’re here now. And I think a trade down is part of the Draft. It gives people more of a reason to come back on Friday and see us do even more work.

“We’re at the party now, so it’s all up in the air. I think anything’s a possibility.”

During his time as general manager, Veach has shown a propensity for moving Kansas City’s first-round pick. In 2019, the Chiefs traded their first-round pick to acquire defensive end Frank Clark. In 2021, the pick was exchanged with Baltimore for left tackle Orlando Brown Jr.