Draft Review: Kansas City Chiefs

Dan Meylor

Editors’ Note: As part of our ongoing post-draft coverage, we’re doing our very best to leave no stone unturned and bringing you draft recaps from each and every NFL franchise. Make sure you’re ready for your dynasty league rookie draft by staying up on all these articles, checking out our rookie SWOT series, rookie draft guide, rookie rankings, rookie draft cheat sheet and mock draft rooms. There are simply no better resources out there for dynasty fantasy football enthusiasts.

Despite having a glaring need at wide receiver as well as needing to find a backup quarterback, the Chiefs chose to wait until the fourth round to select a skill position player.  Instead, they took an interior offensive and defensive lineman as well as a pair of cornerbacks with their first four picks.  Nevertheless, Kansas City finally got around to taking a few players with dynasty upside in the later rounds of the draft.  Let’s take a look at each of them.

Demarcus Robinson, WR (Round 4, Pick 126 overall)

Robinson was a highly thought of recruit coming out of high school, but never really developed into the big bodied, playmaker that many thought he’d become when he arrived in Gainesville.

After catching just five passes for 23 yards and getting suspended twice as a freshman, Robinson showed some of the athleticism and playmaking ability that made him a four star recruit coming out of high school, as he caught 53 balls for 810 yards and seven touchdowns as a sophomore.  Then he took a step back as a junior, making just 47 grabs for 520 yards and a pair of scores.  Inconceivably, he forewent his senior season and declared for the 2016 NFL draft.

As you’d probably expect, Robinson’s film is incredibly inconsistent.

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At times, Robinson looks like a receiver that should be declaring for the draft a year early.  With a quick first step, he has the ability to get cornerbacks on their heels in a blink.  Able to hit fifth gear faster than most, he can get on top of the defense and stretch the field.  With the ball in the air, he showed a knack for running under it to make an over the shoulder catch.

Robinson also displayed the ability, at times, to hit the brakes and change directions in a flash.  On more than one occasion, he used his quick get-off at the line of scrimmage to force a defender in man coverage to flip his hips and sprint down the sideline in an effort to keep up with Robinson’s deep speed, only to see the wide out put his foot in the ground and come back to the quarterback for an easy reception.

When Robinson gets the ball in his hands, he can be dangerous.  His quick first step and elusiveness allow him to make defenders miss and his impressive long speed makes him a threat to turn any catch into a touchdown if he finds a path to pay dirt.

While this all sounds great, there are also times where Robinson disappoints significantly.

Instead of always running hard in an effort to make a play for his team, Robinson routinely gives up on routes – possibly because he’s not the primary read for the quarterback.  He regularly looks lazy and uninterested at the top of his route, rounding off his breaks rather than using his change of direction skills to beat defenders.

Robinson also struggles to catch the ball at times.  Credited with 11 dropped passes in his 27 games at Florida, he appears to have a problem focusing at the point of the catch.  Rather than securing the ball, he tends to turn his head to look for contact or in an effort to make a defender miss before he has the ball.

On top of his laziness and the dropped passes – as if that’s not enough – Robinson also has baggage off the field.  Suspended four times in his three seasons in Gainesville for violating team rules, he has a reputation of being egotistic and immature.

On pure athletic ability Robinson is a very intriguing prospect, despite underwhelming in pre-draft workouts.  Unfortunately for him however, it takes a lot more than pure athleticism to make an NFL roster – let alone make a dynasty impact.

Even with questionable talent at best behind Jeremy Maclin, it’s hard to see Robinson making a fantasy impact any time soon.

Kevin Hogan, QB (Round 5, Pick 162 overall)

It only takes a few throws on tape to see that Hogan is likely a long-shot to be dynasty contributor.

Most likely with the slowest release among quarterbacks that were drafted this year, Hogan is a long strider that needs to step into throws and go through a long, drawn out windup in order to get any amount of leverage on his throws.  Also regularly throwing off balance rather than setting his feet to deliver a quality throw, his passes are wobbly and inaccurate.  When you add a tendency to bail out of the pocket early while facing pressure and a lack of touch when delivering intermediate to deep throws, you have a quarterback likely to struggle to become even an NFL backup.

If you’re looking for a fantasy quarterback, it’s best to move on to another prospect.  Hogan doesn’t have what it takes to make a dynasty impact – even in 2QB and super-flex leagues.

Tyreek Hill, WR (Round 5, Pick 165 overall)

Hill has one thing going for him.  Speed.  In fact, he may have been the fastest player in college football over the last couple years.  A holder of multiple college track records, he has eye-popping quickness, elusiveness and long speed – and reportedly blazed a 4.24 second 40-yard dash at his pro day in March which would have ranked him tied for the fastest ever at the combine had he been invited.

The problem for Hill however, is that he’s never parlayed that speed into anything more than impressive return numbers on the football field.

Playing running back for Oklahoma State in 2014, he carried the ball 102 times for 534 yards (5.2 YPC) and scored one touchdown while also catching 31 passes for 281 yards (9.1 YPR) and a score.  After transferring to West Alabama (after he was kicked off the Oklahoma State football team once he plead guilty to punching and choking his pregnant girlfriend) he played receiver during his senior season, catching 27 passes for 444 yards (16.4 YPR) and three scores while running 25 times for 237 yards (9.5 YPC) and a score on the ground.

As I mentioned above, Hill did a majority of his damage as a return man while in college.  He averaged 24.7 yards per kick return and returned two kickoffs for touchdowns while also averaging 9.5 yards per punt return and taking another one to the house as a punt returner at Oklahoma State in 2014.  At Western Alabama as a senior, he averaged 23.25 yards per kick return and 12.85 yards per punt return while taking four kicks (two punt, two kickoffs) for touchdowns.

As you can see from all the stats above, Hill profiles as a lightning quick return man that may have some upside as a gimmick player on offense.  It’s way too early to see him as anything more than that however, so even if you’re scrounging for the final player on your bench in a big league with deep rosters you should keep looking.

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dan meylor