This week on SportsBeat KC, The Star’s sports podcast, we’ve heard from Chiefs owner and CEO Clark Hunt, general manager Brett Veach, and Kansas City Sports Commission president Kathy Nelson about the NFL Draft in Kansas City.

Now, let’s hear from The Star’s Chiefs coverage crew. Columnists Sam McDowell and Vahe Gregorian along with beat writer Jesse Newell share their thoughts on the Chiefs’ strategy and suggest how the rookie class might fare this season. It has a big task ahead if it’s to top last year’s rookie class success.

After a break, we discuss Kansas City’s performance in holding its first NFL Draft. More than 300,000 were estimated to have attended the event at Union Station and the National WW1 Museum and Memorial. We got lucky with the weather. Preparation and hard work did the rest.

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NFL Draft in Kansas City ‘exceeded our expectations,’ says KC Sports Commission president

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/nfl/kansas-city-chiefs/article274923316.html

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The Chiefs looked to trade up in the first round of NFL Draft but with no takers found they held on to pick No. 31 and selected Kansas State edge rusher Felix Anudike-Uzomah, who grew up in Lee’s Summit. Then the trading started.

The next three players taken by the Chiefs were taken in move-up fashion with SMU wide recevier Rashee Rice in the second round, Oklahoma offensive tackle Wanya Morris in the third and Virginia Tech safety Chammari Conner in the fourth.

On today’s SportsBeat KC, The Star’s daily sports podcast, general manager Brett Veach explains why the Chiefs traded draft picks to move up in each round. The Chiefs started the draft with 10 selections and finished with seven.

After a break, you’ll hear from Kansas City Sports Commission president Kathy Nelson on the massive undertaking of executing the NFL Draft in Kansas City. She said the event, the largest sports-related specator gather in the city’s history “exceeded expectations.”

Story links:

NFL Draft in Kansas City ‘exceeded our expectations,’ says KC Sports Commission president

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/nfl/kansas-city-chiefs/article274923316.html

Why did Chiefs trade up in Rounds 2-4 of NFL Draft? Brett Veach gave this main reason

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/nfl/kansas-city-chiefs/article274919631.html

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The NFL Draft in Kansas City has passed and evaluations begin. The early returns are positive for the Chiefs, who added seven newcomers to the roster, and for Kansas City. The area entertained an estimated 300,000 fans at Union Station and the National WWI Museum and Memorial.

The Chiefs and the NFL Draft are the topics on SportsBeat KC, The Star’s daily sports podcast. First, you’ll hear from Chiefs Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt. He met with reporters on Friday, before the second and third rounds, and touched on several topics, including Patrick Mahomes’ contract and the recent NFLPA findings that weren’t kind to the Chiefs.

After Hunt, former Chiefs return specialist Dante Hall spoke about his induction into the Chiefs Hall of Fame. I think you’ll be surprised to hear about his favorite play in a Chiefs uniform.

We end the show with a conversation with Chiefs beat writer Herbie Teope. On his final duty for The Star, he evaluates the Chiefs draft haul.

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The NFL Draft opened before tens of thousands at Union Station, and ended with the Chiefs selecting Kansas State product Felix Anudike-Uzomah in the first round. In all, an amazing day in Kansas City.

On today’s SportsBeat KC, we’ll hear from Anudike-Uzomah, Chiefs general manager Brett Veach and coach Andy Reid. We’ll hear about Anudike-Uzomah’s Chiefs fandom growing up in Lee’s Summit, and how Veach and Reid came to identify the K-State defensive lineman as their choice.

Also, Veach and Reid explain other options the Chiefs considered in the first round and what trade options may have been on the table.

Story link:

The remarkable underdog story of Felix Anudike-Uzomah, Chiefs first round draft pick

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/sam-mcdowell/article274794141.html

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Four years after the announcement of the NFL Draft to Kansas City, the day has arrived. Tens of thousands are expected to watch the event at Union Station from the National WWI Museum and Memorial law and millions more on the broadcast.

The first team scheduled to make a selection is the Carolina Panthers. On today’s SportsBeat KC, Charlotte Observer columnist Scott Fowler joins Star columnist Sam McDowell in discussing the Panthers’ position and how Carolina got the top pick without finishing with the NFL’s worst record in 2022.

Also on today’s show, you’ll hear from the player the Panthers are expected to select, Alabama quarterback Bryce Young, along with other draft prospects Will Levis, a quarterback from Kentucky and Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud. They participated in a football clinic at Central High on Wednesday.

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No longer on the clock: The NFL Draft has arrived for Kansas City and the Chiefs

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/nfl/kansas-city-chiefs/article274732606.html

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Playing host to the NFL Draft is a process that started several years ago, and now we’re one day away from the start of the big show.

On today’s episode of SportsBeat KC, The Star’s daily sports podcast, columnists Vahe Gregorian and Sam McDowell and reporter Pete Grathoff weigh on the event and what it means for Kansas City.

It’s also a big weekend for the Chiefs. The Super Bowl champs used last year’s draft to fortify a roster that won the Super Bowl. We discuss their possible first-round direction as they enter the draft with 10 selections.

After a break, we change sports and discuss the slow starts by Kansas City’s other teams. Why have the Royals and Sporting KC been dreadful? The KC Current have picked up the pace recently after stumbling out of the gate, but the NWSL team that last fall made it to the league’s championship game has fired its coach.

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No umbrellas, chairs at NFL Draft Experience in KC. Here’s what is and isn’t allowed

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Some of the greatest players in Chiefs history were not first-round draft selections, and you’ll hear from a few of them on today’s SportsBeat KC, The Star’s daily sports podcast.

Each has an interesting draft experience story, and Bobby Bell, Will Shields and Trey Smith share theirs.

Even though they’re from different eras, one thing they have in common: Based on performance they were woefully under-drafted with Bell taken in the seventh round, Shields in the third and Smith in the sixth. Bell and Shields are Hall of Famers.

Also, you’ll hear about the origin of “Chiefs Kingdom.” Chiefs fans are expected to be out in force during the NFL Draft at Union Station this week, and you’ll hear Chiefs Kingdom used often. It was the brainchild of longtime radio broadcaster Mitch Holthus, and at Super Bowl LVII he shared the story of how he came up with the description of the fandom.,y

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The NFL will bring 17 draft prospects like Alabama quarterback Bryce Young and Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud to Kansas City for the Draft, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be other draft prospects in Kansas City for the event.

A handful of college football standouts from Kansas City-area high schools could find their way to Union Station and Liberty Memorial to take in the sights and sounds of the NFL Draft.

Ikenna Enechukwu, a defensive lineman from Rice University and Ruskin High said he may find his way to the draft. “Maybe take a selfie, to show the grand kids some day that I was there,” he told The Star.

If he’s selected, Enechukwu would likely hear his name on Saturday, when the final four of seven rounds are announced. Others, like Kansas State lineman Felix Anudike-Uzomah (Lee’s Summit High) and Northwestern’s Adetomiwa Adebawore (North Kansas City High), are projected to hear their named called on Thursday or Friday in the first three rounds.

On today’s SportsBeat KC, The Star’s daily sports podcast, you’ll hear from Enechukwu and from PrepsKC.com managing editor Dion Clisso, who covers Kansas City-area high school sports. Clisso discusses the area prospects and their high school careers.

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Former Kansas City prep football standouts hope for homefield advantage at NFL Draft

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/nfl/kansas-city-chiefs/article274004740.html

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The business of the NFL Draft, when it comes to Kansas City and Union Station next week, won’t be focused nationally on the hometown Chiefs. As Super Bowl champions, they own the final selection of the first round, No. 31 overall. By then, it’s the drama of when the top quarterbacks will be taken and who will be the top defensive player selected will be resolved.

But has any team mastered the draft over the past few seasons better than the Chiefs? Beyond the most obvious big payoff maneuver, moving up in the 2017 draft to select Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs have used the draft to strengthen a roster that has produced two Super Bowl victories in the past four seasons. Nine of their 2022 draft picks played in the recent Super Bowl victory.

On today’s SportsBeat KC, you’ll hear from Chiefs draft conductor and general manager Brett Veach. He spoke with reporters about this year’s draft, its strengths, and how the Chiefs could once again have a bountiful draft with 10 picks heading into the event that begins its three-day run on Thursday.

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How the Chiefs can replicate the success of last year’s draft

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/sam-mcdowell/article274561076.html

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The price for success in college sports can be expressed through coaches contracts. Kansas State is happily in the process of paying that price.

After a football season led by Chris Klieman that included the first Big 12 championship in a decade, and a men’s basketball season that had the Wildcats, picked last in the conference, that extended to the Elite Eight under first-year coach Jerome Tang, it’s time for K-State to show its gratitude.

Klieman and Tang are in line for extensions and raises that should lift them into the upper half of Big 12 salaries.

“If you look at all of our salaries, we’ve typically been towards the bottom half of the Big 12,” K-State athletic director Gene Taylor told beat writer Kellis Robinett. “And that’s where we compare ourselves. We don’t really compare ourselves with the Big 10 and how the SEC is doing. How are we salary-wise for coaches and staff within the Big 12? I think from an owner’s perspective, we want to be up in the upper half, if not better.”

On today’s SportsBeat KC, Robinett discusses Kansas State’s next moves on the contract and salary front, and other topics relating to the Wildcats, including whether the 2022-23 year in sports was the best in school history.

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Kansas State Wildcats working on bigger contracts for Chris Klieman and Jerome Tang

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/big-12/kansas-state/article274237795.html

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