Local Potential Chiefs Prospects Showed Out During Combine’s First Day
The Kansas City Chiefs are gaining more and more fans due to their sustained success with Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes leading the way, and folks from Kansas City are prouder than ever to show it. This year's NFL Scouting Combine, for example, contains multiple prospects who are all too familiar with the Super Bowl LVII champs.
Defensive line prospects Adetomiwa Adebawore (Northwestern) and Ikenna Enechukwu (Rice) are both from the Kansas City area. Adebawore is a North Kansas City native, and Enechukwu went to Ruskin High School. Both players acknowledged how cool it would be to suit up for their hometown football club, although they're also very much aware that the odds of that happening may not be particularly high considering there will be 31 other teams with a chance to select them. After putting up impressive numbers during Thursday's testing for the defensive line and linebacker groups, their names should now be squarely on the radars of several organizations.
Measuring up at 6-foot-2 and weighing in at 282 pounds with 337/8" arms, Adebawore is a sturdily-built defensive line prospect who recorded nine tackles for loss with five sacks in his senior campaign at Northwestern. He then parlayed that success into some highlight moments at the Senior Bowl. On Thursday, he ran a blazing 4.49-second 40-yard dash and paired it with a 1.61-second 10-yard split, a 37.5-inch vertical jump and a broad jump of 10 feet, five inches. His production led to elite-level athletic scores, almost surely raising his stock in advance of April's 2023 NFL Draft.
Enechukwu, a redshirt senior in his final year at Rice, had 9.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks in 13 games this past season. He was a Shrine Bowl participant, managing to stand out with some impressive reps. That momentum continued to build as the first day of the Combine unfolded, as Enechukwu ran a 4.7-second 40-yard dash with a 2.74u 20-yard split, a 10-foot broad jump and some solid measurables. Enechukwu measured out as a player consistent with what Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo prefers from his defensive end prototype.
Last, but certainly not least, Kansas State EDGE Felix Anudike-Uzomah is a likely Day 2 pick after a junior season that saw him record 11 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks with a pair of forced fumbles and a pass broken up for the Wildcats. The Lee's Summit native didn't participate in workouts at the Combine, but he did weigh in at a 255-pound mark that left many surprised. Anudike-Uzomah was largely expected to be closer to 250 pounds so while he didn't stand out via the athletic testing route, his measurements didn't do anything to actively hurt his stock whatsoever. In fact, they likely helped offset the fact that he wasn't running.
It remains to be seen whether the Chiefs have legitimate interest in any of the aforementioned three players. All of them have met with the team in some capacity, though, which presumably leaves the door open for one to have his name called once the tail end of April rolls around. Their respective stocks are standing strong after one of the biggest days of their prospect lives and as the draft inches closer, more and more teams could become aware of the talent that's coming out of Kansas City.
