KC Chiefs 2024 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Western Kentucky WR Malachi Corley

If the Chiefs pursue a wide receiver in the first few rounds of the 2024 NFL Draft, would Malachi Corley make sense as a pick?

The 2024 NFL Draft is right around the corner, and the Kansas City Chiefs are seeking yet another quality haul from general manager Brett Veach.

In recent seasons, Veach and his staff have used the draft to bring in cost-controlled young talents to insulate a championship roster. The results speak for themselves, although windows can close quickly. Kansas City hopes that a good 2024 rookie class joining one of football's younger teams can keep the franchise in top competitive form.

With the draft on the horizon, Arrowhead Report is taking a look at prospects who could hear their names called in late April. Up next is Western Kentucky wide receiver Malachi Corley.

Background

• Height: 5105
• Weight: 215
• Age at draft: 22
• Relative Athletic Score: N/A
• 2023: 79 receptions, 984 yards and 11 touchdowns
• Played four seasons at Western Kentucky

Where Corley creates advantages

Generating yards after the catch is the name of Corley's game. The Western Kentucky product has a compact build and plays a tough brand of football, in addition to being very explosive and able to get going in a hurry and run through defenders. Corley is the best YAC threat in this year's class; roughly 70% of his 2023 yards came from that. He maintains good contact balance and has a tendency to fall forward for more yards.

Doing damage at or near the line of scrimmage is the primary hot zone for Corley. He's profound on screens, sweeps, slants and the like. In the pros, there's reason to believe he'd be lethal on mesh concepts. Corley's body control through the catch is excellent, as is how he keeps top speed when hauling in passes and quickly turns upfield to generate additional yards. 

Where Corley could be at a disadvantage

While Corley has the short-area foot speed and overall strength to be a dangerous wideout, he lacks polish in his game. His release package and route tree both need a lot of work before he can take on an expanded role. Corley didn't do much down the field due to his role played for the Hilltoppers. He's still developing the mental aspects of how to attack leverage and how or when to break off his stem in the intermediate or deep areas. 

Corley's long speed, while solid, isn't blazing like some have declared during the pre-draft process. His lack of length will likely hold him back in contested catch situations. As far as alignment versatility is concerned, it's much more theoretical than practical for Corley. Most advanced receiver-related concepts are projection-based. He's more of a chess piece right now. The competition he faced in college, similar to Skyy Moore when he came out of Western Michigan, will raise questions. 

The verdict

The 2024 NFL Draft class is an eclectic group at the wide receiver position. Teams will have their pick of boundary "X" wideouts, speedy gadget-type players, vertical burners, well-rounded separation gurus and more. The best part is that even after the first round, there should still be plenty of intriguing talent left on the draft board.

Corley fits into that latter category. Although he has a long way to go before developing into an overall receiver, his prowess with the ball in his hands is downright scary. If he got involved like how the Chiefs developed Rashee Rice as a rookie, similar results could be expected. Sometimes, the easiest thing to do is get a player in space, get him the football and let him do the rest from there.

The problem for Kansas City is... Rice is already on the team. Between him and Hollywood Brown, head coach Andy Reid has a pair of dynamic playmakers to work with. Unless the plan for Rice is to turn him into an X, Corley's skill set overlaps with him. That isn't a campaign for the team to remove Corley from its draft board — he's still a very fun player and has clear upside — but it is a reason for pause. Should Corley be available when the Chiefs pick somewhere on Day Two of the draft and they select him, it'd be an indication of where the offense could be headed in 2024 and beyond.

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