The Kansas City Chiefs bring home KC metro native and Defensive End Felix Anudike-Uzomah. Anudike-Uzomah said it is a dream to play for a team who grew up loving his whole life.
Felix Anudike-Uzomah is a 6-foot-3 defensive end who is considered a polished speed-rusher who has a whole repertoire of moves. The K-State product is only 21 years old and totaled 20.5 sacks throughout his career at Manhattan (Kansas). Anudike-Uzomah totaled 8.5 sacks last season and had 2 forced fumbles while rushing the passer. His build and power allow him to take advantage of the opposing tackle and cause havoc in the backfield once he meets the QB.
There were times in the first round of the draft when the Chiefs attempted to trade up and take the best available defender or wide receiver, however, no teams budged. They did take calls to trade back to the mid-40s, but Veach said the Chiefs kept it simple and took their highest-graded prospect Felix Anudike-Uzomah per Nate Taylor.
How does this bode for the Chiefs moving forward this off-season? The Chiefs were able to fill a position need that they had coming into the draft. With Frank Clark being released this off-season and the Chiefs picking up Charles Omenihu at the beginning of free agency, they built up the defensive line room adding a rusher that plays for the ball and attacks the edge very well.
His weakness coming into the draft was being able to stop the run, he struggled with handling blockers out in space, but with George Karlaftis coming along and showing tremendous upside at the end of the season, Anudike-Uzomah has the opportunity to be more of a rotational pass-rusher. The rookie seems willing to be taught, and even though he is not the typical Spagnuolo edge rusher, Spags will be able to enhance his talent and get him going early in this defense.
Other Mock Drafts had the K-State prodigy going in the second round of the NFL draft, however, this just made perfect sense for them to go ahead and take the highest-graded prospect on the board. Not only was he the highest-graded prospect, but he is a hometown kid who is able to live his dream and be drafted in the first round of the draft with his favorite team growing up in his hometown of Lee’s Summit, just outside of KCMO. Expect Anudike-Uzomah to be a sleeper of this draft that will be able to produce early for the reigning Super Bowl Champions.
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