In Conor Orr’s mock draft, the Chiefs trade up for a wide receiver

As the NFL Draft edges closer, a new mock draft considers a plausible draft-day trade-up for Kansas City.

On Tuesday, Sports Illustrated writer Conor Orr published a 2024 mock draft that included five trades (and six quarterbacks) in the first round.

The last of these trades involves the Kansas City Chiefs — and paves the way for the sixth quarterback.

27. (TRADE) Kansas City Chiefs (via Cardinals): WR Adonai Mitchell, Texas

Sensing that the rival Buffalo Bills want their pick of the top-tier two wide receivers, the Chiefs move up with the Cardinals and supply Arizona with additional building blocks for the future. The Chiefs, meanwhile, get themselves insurance for Rashee Rice and another swing at rebuilding Patrick Mahomes’s once fabled receiving corps. Kansas City is approaching legendary territory with a possible three-peat on tap, and it needs weapons.

Four more picks are made — and then…

32. Arizona Cardinals: QB Michael Penix Jr., Washington

Six quarterbacks in the first round! And the Cardinals grab the last one. Shocking? Perhaps. Kyler Murray is going to be hard to remove contractually, but the Cardinals are building for the long term and give themselves an option to buttress the room and create a Jordan Love-type situation for the future if Murray doesn’t work out. Allowing Penix to learn under Cardinals OC Drew Petzing will help Penix round out his game and possibly be the future distributor of many Marvin Harrison Jr. touchdowns.

This is hardly the first mock draft where Mitchell has been projected to the Chiefs. (In fact, with this mock, he becomes the player most-frequently projected to Kansas City this offseason). But in almost all cases, he has been selected at 32. In our consensus draft prospect rankings, he’s the fifth-ranked wideout at 27th — so it’s not clear he’ll make it to the end of the first round.

So if the Chiefs have him with a first-round grade, this is a feasible way to get him — right where he’s likely to go. Why? Because another team is probably calling Kansas City to ask for it. For a GM, that’s always better than trying to find a trade partner for something on your team’s wish list.

The Cardinals have two first-round picks — and if Penix has fallen this far, he’ll very likely make it to the end of the round. (In Orr’s mock, the Denver Broncos take quarterback Bo Nix So Arizona still gets their quarterback (with a fifth-year option available) and picks up another pick. They might even be willing to give up a bit of draft value in a trade. If the Chiefs give their fourth-round (pick 131st overall) to swap 32 and 27, the Jimmy Johnson draft chart gives Kansas City the equivalent of a late fourth-rounder — but by my John Dixon AV-based chart, the Chiefs lose the equivalent of a selection in the early sixth to move up for Mitchell.

This all depends, of course, on whether the Texas wide receiver is still available — and Kansas City wants him badly enough to make a move for him. The way Orr’s first round plays out, the Chiefs would be less likely to be trading up for an offensive tackle (seven of them are gone by the 27th pick) unless they have their sights set on Duke’s Graham Barton, who is the only one of the top-tier tackles left.