Wide receiver Carnell Tate, Ohio State
In general manager Brett Veach’s shoes, I saw the board unfold in a way that allowed at least one of three players to reach the ninth spot by the time the 6th pick was determined: Safety Caleb Downs of Ohio State, Edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. of Miami and Tate
Honestly, one of the two plug-and-play defensive playmakers would have been preferred, but there’s something refreshing about Tate being added to a receiving corps that seemingly complements his skillset well.
Tate is a downfield playmaker with ball-winning skills the Chiefs have never valued in their starting receivers. The organization values speed, yards-after-catch ability and versatility in alignment. The existing group of Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy and Tyquan Thornton provide a lot of those attributes to the Chiefs’ offense, but Tate feels like a cherry on top as an outside receiver who can bring more explosive plays to the offense and force defenses to respect the downfield passing game.
It feels like a safe pick in the sense that Tate’s floor still feels like a valuable piece to KC’s offense as it stands now, but the hope is that Tate can transform into a true, do-it-all No. 1 wideout for the Chiefs, and it’s not an unrealistic end goal.
