
Should the Chiefs TARGET Defensive Tackle Help? Chris Jones Draft Impact EXPLAINED
About this episode
Kansas City Chiefs face a crucial offseason decision: how to revamp their defensive tackle group behind Chris Jones. With Omar Norman Lott returning from a major injury and only Zach Pickens under contract, urgent questions surround the defensive line’s depth and pass-rush potential. Are Chiefs fans about to see a double-dip at defensive tackle in the NFL Draft, or will free agency shift the team’s draft strategy?
Chris Clark and Ryan Tracy spotlight top defensive tackle prospects like Peter Woods, Kayden McDonnell, and Lee Hunter while debating the value of drafting Caleb Banks or Christen Miller in the first or second round. The episode dissects the strengths and concerns of this year’s class, the importance of interior pressure, and whether Kansas City should trade back for better value. Don’t miss expert insights on key draft targets and how the Chiefs can maximize defensive line impact for another championship run.
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Locked On Chiefs - Daily Podcast On The Kansas City Chiefs — Should the Chiefs TARGET Defensive Tackle Help? Chris Jones Draft Impact EXPLAINED. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.
It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Aaron Judge, welcome to MLB The Show 26. The greatest game in baseball is back, whether you're a gamer or a baseball fan. This one is tough to put down. Jump into franchise mode with your favorite team. Build your roster, chase a pennant, and see if you have what it takes to win it all. It's the closest thing to being in the big leagues yourself. Use it MLB The.Show slash Lockdown and use Code Lockdown to unlock a pack for Diamond Dynasty. Internet connection required. Preorder now on PlayStation 5, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, rated E for everyone. MLB The Show 26. Own the show. Hey everyone, this is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network. If your group chat's been a little quiet lately, I want to invite you to come and join ours. If you sign up for the everyday club, you get access to the members' only group chats for your favorite teams, plus national chats for every sport.
Personally, I love watching folks talk a little smack in the NFC South Trash talk chat. You also get an ad-free version of your favorite Lockdown show and a whole lot more. You can check it out by tapping the Everyday or Club link in the show notes. Please need defensive tackle pass rush, and that's what we're going to be talking about today on Lockdown Chiefs. From the land of the three and the home of the chiefs, this is the Lockdown Chief Podcast. And welcome back to their episode of Lockdown Chiefs, part of Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every single day, part of the number one sports podcast network in the United States. Thank you all for listening. We do truly appreciate it. If you haven't already go check out our everyday club at Lockdown chiefs.supercast.com, where you can get ad-free audio and access to our everyday club discord server, where you can talk to Ryan and I on a daily basis. I'm Chris Clark from Chiefs Corner. That is Ryan Tracy from RGR football, NFL 33 and Rogan analytics. We are going to be diving into the defense of tackle class, who are some guys that the
chiefs can be looking at in the top couple of rounds at the defense of tackle position. And today's episode is brought to you by Fandals. Fandals giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a college basketball parlay profit boost head to fandall.com to get started. So many different positional groups to look at when we're talking about this roster and where the chiefs need help. But I don't know that you can make an argument that there's any positional group that needs more help than maybe the defense of tackles in general because it's basically Chris Jones and a lot of nothing behind him. Yes, you have a normal, normal lot, but he's coming back from an injury and a severe injury. And you asked way too much of him last season that I said that multiple times. You got to go get somebody a defense of tackle. So who are you looking at and I don't believe there's probably anybody that's worth taking in the top 10. Is that correct in your opinion? It's close. I personally agree with that. And by the way, the only other guy that's even under contract with the defensive tackles
bot right now is Zach Pickett's. So that's how bare the cover it is. If Omar is not able to go early, who there in trouble. So I say all that to say this. This is a potential double dip position for the chiefs in this draft. And there's good volume. I don't think it's elite. I don't see a top 10 defensive tackle here on my board. The odds on favorite is to be Peter Woods. That seems to be the going circus. I don't have him as the best guy on the board period at the position. I have that as Gaden McDonald. And I do believe he will probably be available a little bit farther down. So this is a position group that not only do the chiefs need and need volume with. It's also one that if there is a trade back, they could pull off and end up with a better player than they could at an edge or a wide receiver, even at nine. So I think the value is certainly there. Well, it's going to be interesting because I mean, you said Peter Woods, you talked about
Kaden McDonald, a little bit of Kayla Banks is another one that I've actually heard people talking about the chiefs taking at nine. I don't like that thought process. I don't think that they should be looking at that position at nine personally. It's just too high. And the value isn't there this this year. There's not like a standout DT. I don't think in this draft of that value. Now there are some other positions like you, like you said, there are some guys that can step in and be good. But when you're talking in a top 10 pick, you're talking about a guy that you want to be building a team around or at least close to building a team around. I don't think there's that defense attack on this class. But there are some other guys that you probably that you would like for this team. You've talked about Lee Hunter a little bit. What about Christian Miller? I like Christian Miller too. A lot of folks feel that he's over inflated. Those that are putting him in the first round, I think that's probably true. But again, against the rest of this group, that might come past. I actually have him just behind Lee Hunter on my board right at the top of the second.
Could be available at 40 with a little bit of slippage there. And I do like the way that he plays. He brings juice. That's what the chiefs need from this position in McDonald's, the same thing. Lee Hunter wants to dominate. He's not quite as twitchy. So it's a little bit more of a slow burn with him. And I do think that could work and he does take on double teams very well. But Banks is so up and down, didn't play much this year. He can play all five positions in terms of a zero tech all the way out there. But he doesn't penetrate. He doesn't come off the ball with enough oomph for me. Lee is the defensive tackle version of Keldrick Falk at the edge in my evaluation. There just isn't enough juice there. So I want to get to those guys that really bring it. Yeah. And there's definitely something that kids to the needs. They need to add passwords next to Chris Jones. Defensive tackle is the best position to try to find that past rush. Obviously, defensive end everybody's going to focus on. But if you can get pressure up front and in the middle of the defense, it is going to definitely help you in any game this year and in the future.
So defensive tackle is a huge position. We're going to talk about a couple more right after this. Taxi season doesn't have to take over your life this year. Turbo Tax is making it easier than ever. Just hand things off and move on with your day with Turbo Tax full service. You can have your taxes done for you by a trusted local expert start to finish. Without the stress or guesswork, instead of spending hours trying to figure out your forms, find all of my expenses on the pod and everything that was into producing all these shows. You can meet with a local tax expert and a person connect online and you're in business. For a limited time, all you have to do is to get connected and have your taxes done by a local pro expert for just 150 dollars. All in. If a Turbo Tax expert didn't file for you last year, just file by February 28. Take your taxes off your plate and get back to your life.
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So head over to fandool.com to get started. That's fandool.com, fandool, play your game. And this is your game talking about draft picks, talking about players and then I fell draft. I will put it back on you who are some other guys that maybe not necessarily first or second round, but maybe some guys that you think could sneak into the third round that the chiefs could be looking at. I think it's a really unique proposition to use a third round pick on a defensive tackle in this particular way. This is maybe the most interesting and diverse class that I've seen in folks. If you don't know me, I've been analyzing draft picks going on 15, 16 years now. A lot of classes under the belt at this point. And there's a couple of prospects, some that really stood out just last weekend at the combine, including Zane Durant, that are very specifically not first down players. They are not there to stop the run. They can get by, but they are not taking on doubles,
effectively, or they're not good at that. They're there to penetrate gaps and rush the passer, because they're one of them. I think he's a little bit more rounded than the guy that really stands out, but I think he'll be a third round guy. I think Grayson Halton's going to be a third round guy as well. And he is the most productive interior pass rusher for this entire class. And he happens to have the number one athletic matrix score at an 87, which for a defensive tackle class, to have one, two, three, four, five, six players. Over an 85 is really, really impressive. Now, the key difference is that none of them have the short area quickness that normally goes with, say, a top 10 pressure creator. I went and dug out the average guys that produced 10 pressures, a top 10 pressure season for the last 10 years. And that's the one differentiator is they all had a 90 plus score in the matrix of change of direction, short area quickness. No one in this class has it yet, but most guys didn't run their agility drills. So that's just basing off of a 10,
and what you can kind of learn for that and project. So we really got to see more from this class. And that's the big takeaway. Durant, Grayson, Sky, Gil Howard is another guy, Ray Sean, Benny guys that will be day two picks that can rush the pastor are going to be very significant, but we got to see him test. We got to find out what they have because on film, they vary quite dramatically from, you know, a guy that might squeak into the comp picks at the end of day two, all the way up to guys that might be in the 60s as the round starts. Yeah, and I know we're talking defensive tackles and I do want to focus there, but I have to bring this back for just a moment. When you're looking at this, I know you're not fully through the class, but what would you guess this class is when you're starting to talk first round picks, second round picks, third round picks, guys that you would talk about as being those level players. Are you I know this is a weaker weaker class on a lot of areas, but that plays into all these different positional groups? I'm I'm looking down my list here. I have two first round
grades that I'm comfortable with and what's is one of them I think he he should sneak into the back in more than likely he'll be overdrafted just in my personal opinion, but I would have them at the bottom of the first anyway, but from there it gets really interesting because I have another what on my board accounts for another eight day two ranks at defensive tackle. So the fixed would be clear second and third round. Sorry, just just yeah, you said day two. Yes, and I have two that I haven't completed yet. I haven't completed Zane because I haven't had enough film and and I haven't completed Dante Corleone from Cincinnati yet, so he could squeeze in there too. It's looking promising, but it's not complete yet. So yeah, I mean, there could be another 10 defense of tackles on day two, and then there's other guys that have a trait or one that are worth developing that you take on day three and see what you can build them into. Right. And you got to hope that with where the chiefs are picking, you can get one of those defensive tackles in the top three, because I do think that that is a position that they absolutely need to try to focus on and try
to improve. Although all this does come back to what they do in free agency and how that ties into what is going to be available and what they are going to be looking at. The one thing I will say about Brett Beach and it's been this way every year, they try to get to the draft and have no major holes that they feel like they have to go after in the draft. They want to improve their team, not necessarily be forced into taking a specific position because you're then you're in a bad spot in the draft. Yeah, leave it a choice, not I have to. That's going to be up for us today. Thank you all for listening. And again, if you haven't already, go check out the locked on chiefs.supercast.com for join our everyday club. You can get free audio at free audio. You can join our everyday discord server. And you can talk to Ryan and I on a daily basis about this team that we know you love. Thank you all for listening and that is going to be it for us today and we will be having another one of these for tomorrow. Thank you again.
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