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2017 NFL Draft: Kansas City Chiefs 7-round mock

By John Buhler

Mar 4, 2017; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Vanderbilt linebacker Zach Cunningham speaks to the media during the 2017 combine at Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 4, 2017; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Vanderbilt linebacker Zach Cunningham speaks to the media during the 2017 combine at Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Kansas City Chiefs will have 10 picks in the 2017 NFL Draft to get better as a football team. Here is a look at what they can do in this mock draft.

The Kansas City Chiefs went 12-4 in 2016, winning the AFC West for the first time since 2010 and earning the No. 2 seed in the AFC Playoffs. Unfortunately, that great regular season did not yield a Super Bowl victory, let alone a playoff win. Kansas City lost in the AFC Divisional round to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 18-16.

While the Chiefs were not an active participant in NFL free agency thanks to be up against the salary cap, they will be a big maker and shaker in the 2017 NFL Draft. Kansas City will have a whopping 10 picks to get better as a football team.

They have their regularly allotted pick in the first through fifth round and the seventh round. Kansas City does not have a regular sixth round pick for violating the NFL’s Anti-Tampering Policy. However, the Chiefs have four supplemental picks throughout the draft. Here is what they can do this spring in this 2017 NFL mock draft.

First Round

27

Zach Cunningham

Inside Linebacker, Vanderbilt Commodores

Kansas City needs to look at improving the middle of its defense. With inside linebacker Derrick Johnson on the way out of the league, it would make sense for the Chiefs to target a player at the position with their first round pick at No. 27.

The problem is inside linebackers are becoming increasingly difficult to find in NFL drafts. Should he fall to the Chiefs at No. 27, there is absolutely no reason for them to pass on Vanderbilt Commodores inside linebacker Zach Cunningham.

The guy is a tackling machine in the middle of a defense. He was instrumental in getting a doormat of a Vanderbilt football program to a bowl game in 2016. Cunningham plays his best ball against the best competition. His games against Georgia, Auburn and Tennessee proved that he is worthy of a first-round pick.

It would help Cunningham to go to a winning culture in the NFL Draft. Not that he can’t handle losing (he did play at Vanderbilt), but landing with a team that is expected to contend will bring him along quicker through fierce competition.

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