Smartest Selections from Each Round of the 2021 NFL Draft

Round 2, Pick 63 – Creed Humphrey, C, Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs continued their offseason overhaul of the offensive line by selecting long-time Oklahoma starting center, Creed Humphrey, with their second pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Superbowl LV was a lopsided affair. There were many reasons for this, but most predominately it was the pressure the Buccaneers front 7 were able to put on Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs’ offense was never able to get into a rhythm that game. Most of the pressure came from the edges as both Kansas City’s starting tackles, Mitchell Schwartz and Eric Fisher, were injured at that time. At the beginning of the offseason, the Chiefs felt it was time to move on from both tackles. They are on the wrong side of 30, and in Fisher’s case, he suffered a fairly serious Achilles injury. On top of that, with the impending free agency of 2020 starting center, Austin Reiter, the Chiefs offensive line looked to be in dire straits in the beginning of the offseason.

The Chiefs did not neglect this unit’s rebuild though. Immediately, they made one of the biggest splashes of free agency signing star guard, Joe Thuney to a five-year $80 million contract. They then added Kyle Long and traded for Orlando Brown Jr., before selecting Humphrey in the second round of the draft.

Creed Humphrey was one of the best centers in the NFL over the past few college football seasons, winning the Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year award for both 2019 and 2020 seasons. Humphrey was a three year starter at Oklahoma, and has the combination of experience, production, and athleticism to be a fairly safe bet as a long-term NFL starter. Even with Kansas City’s other offseason offensive line additions, the team did not add a center before selecting Humphrey. Humphrey will provide immediate help for the Chiefs at the position.

Tackle  was the Chiefs’ main offensive line need heading into the offseason, but the Humphrey pick was brilliant for two reasons. Firstly, the offensive line works best as a cohesive unit. A poor offensive lineman can drag down the play of the starters next to him. Humphrey gave the Chiefs another excellent piece on their offensive line, so that they can move around the existing players on their roster to create the best starting combination of 5 players.

Secondly, and more importantly, the way the Chiefs manipulated the draft to find value with the Orlando Brown Jr. trade was incredibly intelligent. Less than a week before the beginning of the NFL Draft, the Chiefs made a trade with the Ravens, acquiring Brown. This trade involved a pick swap. The teams exchanged multiple picks to make the trade, but perhaps most prominently, the Ravens acquired the Chiefs’ first round pick: pick 31, in exchange for the Ravens second round pick: pick 63, the pick the Chiefs used to pick Humphrey. I don’t think many people would have raised an eyebrow if Kansas City had not made the Brown trade and had taken Humphrey at 31, but they took him at 63 and got a very good starting tackle as a prize.