KC Chiefs' 2023 Rookie Class Given 'B' Grade, Ranked Just Outside Top 10 in NFL

Despite a major standout rookie, the Chiefs' first-year class ranks as merely good but not great at the end of the season.

In the first leg of the Kansas City Chiefs' recent Super Bowl run, the team's 2022 rookie class contributed in a major way. That naturally left a bit less room for the ensuing group of first-year players to make an impact, leaving mixed results from general manager Brett Veach's next haul.

Kansas City's rookie class from the 2023 NFL Draft still had players fuel a second NFL title in a row, just with fewer pieces doing so. For example, the duo of wide receiver Rashee Rice and defensive back Chamarri Conner were the club's two best rookies from the season and multiple others simply didn't receive many chances to develop on the field in year one. This collective of players appears to be more of a long-term swing from Veach and Co., leaving the 2024-25 season as a critical one.

Despite a couple of true standouts for the Chiefs, NFL.com's Eric Edholm and Chad Reuter aren't too sold on the immediate returns from the rookie class. In their rankings of each organization's 2023 draft class, Kansas City receives a very solid 'B' grade but falls just outside the top 10 in rankings. Reuter praises Rice as the "No. 2 option in the passing game" and Conner as someone who "proved his worth" and "looks like a keeper," but his hesitations elsewhere start with first-round pick Felix Anudike-Uzomah: 

REUTER: The Chiefs hoped Anudike-Uzomah would offer a boost in pass-rush situations this season, giving him significant snaps off the bench early in the year. He was used sparingly in the second half of the year, though, until the regular-season finale (when the team rested its starters), and he was inactive in the postseason until recording a tackle for loss on one of his seven snaps in Super Bowl LVIII.

For the most part, the perspective on players like Anudike-Uzomah (and even left tackle Wanya Morris and defensive end BJ Thompson) is valid. The 31st overall pick played sparingly down the stretch of the season and was inactive in the playoffs until Charles Omenihu suffered a torn ACL. In all, the former Kansas State standout played less than 250 snaps as a rookie and has plenty of questions to answer moving forward. For the marquee pick of a draft class, that's never truly ideal.

There are also some holes to poke in the draft resume given the Thompson and Coburn selections. Coburn is no longer with the organization and has bounced around a trio of teams already in his young NFL career. Thompson came into the draft as a future-minded pick in the eyes of many, which evidently is the case now reflecting on his first campaign in the league. The fourth-round finding of Conner, the seventh-round get of cornerback Nic Jones and the undrafted free agent pickup of linebacker Cam Jones, however, help insulate the group of rookies.

At the end of the day, it's unrealistic to expect every single rookie to be an immediate "hit" or even a "hit" at all. There will almost always be some lesser contributors among a yearly group for nearly every franchise. With that said, the Chiefs did a good job of getting a couple of impact rookies and some intriguing developmental pieces last April. Because one of those developmental shots was from round one, though, it makes the optics of the draft class a bit less appealing.

For the two-time reigning champions, a 'B' draft every year is likely good enough to keep the competitive window wide open. After a bit of a bumpy start to his drafting tenure as general manager, Veach has settled into a groove and turned in some impressive classes in recent years. A No. 11 ranking is subjective but considering how things worked out earlier this month, the Chiefs will surely take that outcome every time.

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