A new detail regarding the Kansas City Chiefs’ interests in the 2020 NFL Draft has emerged.
New Orleans Football beat writer Nick Underhill reports that during a conference call with donors for the Louisiana-Lafayette Athletic Foundation, New Orleans Saints assistant GM Jeff Ireland revealed that the Saints originally planned to trade back from pick No. 24.
Underhill says that Ireland claims the Saints didn’t trade back because he had “pretty strong intel” that Miami (pick No. 30 after trading with Green Bay) and Kansas City (pick No. 32) were both interested in the player they wanted. That player was Michigan center Cesar Ruiz, who the Saints selected at pick No. 24 overall.
On a call with donors to the Louisiana-Lafayette Athletic Foundation today, Jeff Ireland said the Saints had “pretty strong intel” that Miami and Kansas City would take Ruiz. They initially looked to trade back but called it off once they learned about other interest.
— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) May 13, 2020
We’ll likely never know for certain if the Chiefs were actually interested in Ruiz. He told Chiefs Wire at the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine that he hadn’t yet met with Kansas City.
Both #Michigan OL Cesar Ruiz and #Georgia OL Solomon Kindley haven't yet met with the #Chiefs. They anticipate doing so, but weren't certain. We're getting that often with the new combine schedule.
— Charles Goldman (@goldmctNFL) February 26, 2020
Ruiz was a favorite of draft analysts for the Chiefs in mock drafts. Many of them had him landing right around the end of the first round and he played a position that was viewed as a need. You can never have too many good players on the offensive line protecting Patrick Mahomes.
Kansas City clearly had some interest in adding players along the offensive line based on the moves they would make during and after the draft. They’d go on to draft TCU OT Lucas Niang, who will compete for a spot on the offensive interior right away. They added players like Yasir Durant and Darryl Williams in undrafted free agency, who will also be competing for a shot to play on the interior offensive line. Even ahead of the draft the Chiefs had shown interest in offensive lineman Andrus Peat during free agency.
It certainly stands to reason that the Chiefs be interested in a player like Ruiz, but it appears that the competition to draft him would have been fierce, even had the Saints moved back from pick No. 24. It’s also possible that the Chiefs feigned interest to get the player they truly wanted in Clyde Edwards-Helaire. As Kansas City Star beat writer Herbie Teope suggested, this also might have been a little payback for the team moving up to select Mahomes — a player the Saints had shown interest in — during the 2017 NFL Draft. No matter how good Ruiz turns out to be, I think Chiefs fans will be comfortable with that trade-off.
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