Peter Schrager deals Chiefs a wide receiver at No. 32

This is the first of just two mocks Schrager will complete heading into the NFL Draft

On Tuesday, NFL Network’s Peter Schrager revealed the first of two mock NFL drafts he will complete before the big show next Thursday night, April 25. Schrager often stresses that, unlike other mocks that strictly work off a big board and team needs, he bases his picks solely on what he believes each team will do based on sourcing.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at Schrager’s pick:

No. 32 — Kansas City Chiefs: Washington WR Ja’Lynn Polk

Polk is a personal favorite — and I keep hearing his name from football people I trust. There’s uncertainty in the Chiefs’ wide receiver room, especially given Rashee Rice’s legal issue. Texas Tech product Patrick Mahomes gets a former Red Raider who spent the past three seasons at Washington, making countless big plays throughout the 2023 Huskies’ run to the national title game.

At the time of this writing, the team’s two greatest position needs are offensive tackle and wide receiver. In Schrager’s mock, as he considers the off-the-field situation with Rice, he goes with the 6-foot-1, 203-pound Polk, who projects as a big possession target that may complement newcomer Hollywood Brown well.

In-house film analyst Nate Christensen took a closer look at Polk a couple of weeks back:

Andy Reid likes his wide receivers to have positional versatility, and Polk has all of that. I would love his fit in this wide receiver room. With Brown thriving as a vertical threat and Rice working on underneath routes in space, Polk being a possession-style wide receiver who wins over the intermediate part of the field would work well.

He can be the Chiefs’ “X” receiver, slot, or be isolated on the backside of formations and win from there. Polk would give the room a floor and consistency that the Chiefs lacked last year, giving them a dependability they sorely lacked.

There is the question of whether Kansas City would consider trading back if it thought Polk could be available at some point in the second round. But that is always risky business, especially if the Chiefs like him as much as Schrager suggests they do.