Charles Davis’ new mock shows potential change in Chiefs’ draft strategy

The NFL.com draft analyst joins a recent trend by projecting an offensive tackle to Kansas City.

On Thursday, NFL.com’s Charles Davis released his second mock draft of the season.

In the beginning, he follows a pattern we’ve seen in others: with the first six picks, three quarterbacks (followed by three wide receivers) are taken off the board.

But then Davis selects just one more first-round wideout: LSU’s Brian Thomas Jr., who goes to the Buffalo Bills with the 28th pick. Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s Joe Alt (taken seventh) is the first of five offensive tackles (including Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton, who goes to the San Francisco 49ers at 31) who are selected before the Kansas City Chiefs are on the clock — when Davis picks an offensive tackle from the Bulldogs.

32. Kansas City Chiefs: OT Amarius Mims, Georgia

In my first mock, I had Kansas City going with the fastest player in the draft: Texas WR Xavier Worthy. However, after the recent signing of speedster Marquise Brown, GM Brett Veach turns to the offensive line and takes the ultra-talented yet inexperienced (eight college starts) tackle from Georgia.

Davis’ mock draft 1.0 on March 6 was just one of 14 consecutive mock drafts we covered in which the Chiefs took a wideout at 32. (Worthy went to Kansas City in half of those.)

But in the 14 mocks we’ve brought to you since the Chiefs signed Brown, a wide receiver has been projected to Kansas City in just seven — while there have been six where a tackle was picked. (Half of those selections were the Sooners’ Guyton).

Davis’ Thursday effort is the first mock we’ve covered that projected the Chiefs would take Mims, a 6-foot-8, 340-pound behemoth (with 36 1/8-inch arms) who played exclusively as a right tackle for Georgia.

Could the Chiefs buck the early trend by taking an offensive lineman? More than a few analysts are beginning to think it could happen.