Kansas City Chiefs GM John Dorsey is often mentioned as a possible successor to Green Bay Packers’ GM Ted Thompson. Dorsey was with the Packers from 1991-98, and again from 2001-12. He has been Green Bay’s director of college scouting and in 2012 he was director of football operations.
Dorsey has been the Chiefs’ GM for the last four drafts. It’s interesting to compare his draft record with that of Thompson from 2013 to the present.
I’m going to confine myself to just the top picks chosen by the two. Keep in mind that we expect high draft choices to be good, if not great, while finding a gem in the lower rounds is extra-good drafting. Green Bay had 35 picks and Kansas City had 32 in this four-year period.
Note that “Not Making the Grade” does not mean failure. It could mean a player is still under development (i.e. Brett Hundley, Aaron Ripkowski, Kenny Clark, Jason Spriggs), has been beset by injuries, or hasn’t gotten many opportunities due to playing behind a better player (i.e. J.C. Tretter). Being a starter (but playing poorly) does not guarantee making the grade (i.e. Damarious Randall)
Ted Thompson
2013
A Grades
Rd. 4 OT David Bakhtiari – 2nd-team All-Pro (2016), Pro Bowl (2016), 62 games started in four years
B Grades
Rd. 2 RB Eddie Lacy – 2nd-team All Pro, Pro Bowl, and NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2013; production has been slowed by injuries and weight issues over the last three years
Rd. 5 DB Micah Hyde – in four years as sometimes starter: 189 tackles, 8 interceptions, 4 sacks
Not Making the Grade: Datone Jones (1), J.C. Tretter (4), Josh Boyd (5), Nate Palmer (6), Charles Johnson (7), Kevin Dorsey (7), Sam Barrington (7)
2014
A Grades
Rd. 1 S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix – 2nd-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl, 2016; PWFA All-Rookie Team (2014)
B Grades
Rd. 5 C Corey Linsley – 38 starts in three years
Rd. 2 WR Davante Adams – starter all three years; two were poor, while 2016 was good
Not Making the Grade: Khyri Thornton (3), Richard Rodgers (3), Carl Bradford (4), Jared Abbrederis (5), Demetri Goodson (6), Jeff Janis (7)
2015
A Grades: None
B Grades
Rd. 3 RB/WR Ty Montgomery – 44 catches for 348 yards, 77 rushes for 457 yards (5.9 ave), 3 TDs in 2016
Rd. 4 ILB Jake Ryan – 82 tackles, 3 PDs in 10 games started in 2016
Not Making the Grade: Damarious Randall (1), Quinten Rollins (2), Aaron Ripkowski (6) Brett Hundley (5), Christian Ringo (6), and Kennard Backman (6).
2016
A Grades: None
B Grades
Rd. 4 ILB Blake Martinez – 9 starts, 69 tackles, 1 sack, 4 PDs, 1 interception
Not Making the Grade: Kenny Clark (1), Jason Spriggs (2), Kyler Fackrell (3), Dean Lowry (4), Trevor Davis (5), Kyle Murphy (6)
John Dorsey
2013
A Grades
Rd. 1 T Eric Fisher – starter all four years
Rd. 3 TE Travis Kelce – All-Pro 2016, Pro Bowl 2015-16
B Grades: None
Not Making the Grade: RB Knile Davis (3), ILB Nico Johnson (4), CB Sanders Commings (5), C Eric Kush (6), FB Braden Wilson (6), DE Mike Catapano (7)
2014
A Grades
Rd. 1 LB Dee Ford – started 14 games in breakout 2016 season; 28 tackles, 10 sacks, 1 FF, 2PDs
Rd. 4 RB De’Anthony Thomas – PFWA All-AFC (2014); as backup from 2014-16, 47 catches for 331 yards, 27 rushes for 176 yards, 6.5 average; in 2014, 35 punt returns for 405 yards (No. 2 in NFL), 11.9 average, 1 TD; in 2014-16, 35 kick returns for 25.8 average
Rd. 6 OL Laurent Duvernay-Tardif – started 13 games in 2015, 14 in 2016; signed 5-year, $41.25 million contract with Chiefs in 2017
B Grades
Rd. 6 G Zach Fulton – stated 16 games in 2014, 12 games in 2016
Not Making the Grade: DB Phillip Gaines (3), QB Aaron Murray (5)
2015
A Grades
Rd. 1 CB Marcus Peters – Pro Bowl (2015-16), 1st-team All-Pro (2016), 2nd-team All-Pro (2015), NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year (2015), NFL interceptions co-leader (2015)
Rd. 2 G Mitch Morse – started 31 of 32 games in 2015-16
Rd. 3 CB Steve Nelson – 65 tackles, 2 fumble recoveries, 16 passes defended in 2016
Rd. 4 ILB Ramik Wilson – started 11 of 16 games in 2016, 76 tackles, 1 FF, 2 FR
B Grades
Rd. 3 WR Chris Conley (3) – started 5 games in 2015; started 11 games in 2016, 44 catches for 530 yards.
Not Making the Grade: OLB D.J. Alexander (5), TE James O’Shaughnessy (5), DT Rakeem Nunez-Roches (6), and WR Da’Ron Brown (7)
2016
A Grades
Rd. 5 WR Tyreek Hill – First-team All-Pro punt returner (2016); Pro Bowl return specialist (2016); PFWA All-Rookie Team (2016); 61 catches for 593 yards, 6 TDs; 24 rushes for 267 yards, 3 TDs, 11.1 average; 14 kick returns, 27.4 average, 1 TD; 39 punt returns, 15.5 average, 2 TDs; 1,835 all-purpose yards
Note: The Chiefs made a massive trade with the 49ers, giving up their round 1 (28th) and round 7 (249th) picks in exchange for the 49ers’ round 2 (37th), round 4 (105th) and round 6 (178th) picks.
B Grades
Rd. 2 DT Chris Jones – started 11 of 16 games, 28 tackles, 2 sacks, 4 passes defended
Not Making the Grade: CB KelVarae Russell (3), G Parker Ehinger (4), CB Eric Murray (4), WR Demarcus Robinson (4), QB Kevin Hogan (5), CB D.J. White (6), DE Dadi Nicolas (6)
Summary
According to the above ratings, from 2013-16 John Dorsey had 10 draftees graded A and three graded B. Ted Thompson had two picks graded A and eight graded B.
The Chiefs have clearly drafted the more productive players up to this point, by something like a 5:1 ratio. They also did better in the lower rounds by far: Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (6), Tyreek Hill (5), De’Anthony Thomas (4), and Travis Kelce (3). The Packers’ best bargain was David Bakhtiari, chosen in round 4 in 2013.
Dorsey used his top pick in 2015 to make the overall best selection: All-Pro cornerback Marcus Peters.
The Chiefs did particularly well with small players: De’Anthony Thomas is 5’9”, 176 pounds; and Tyreek Hill is 5’10” and 185 pounds. The two speedsters have identical 40-yard dash times: 4.34 seconds.
Is anyone surprised? Nice article Rob. Thanks!
Dorsey is my choice over Eliot Wolf.
What I find interesting about Dorsey is that he wasn’t a Ron Wolf hire. He was hired by Tom Braatz and has actually been in scouting longer than Ted Thompson.
There’s been a lot of talk about Dorsey coming to Green Bay, but it if hasn’t happened in the off season yet, it’s not happening for a while.
I have to chuckle when I think about how one article stated TT does not look at college performance and another article stated TT does not value athleticism. Both appear to be true. Which is more and more hilarious as you consider it. Almost all other scouts look at athleticism and on field performance. TT looks at neither! So…. what the heck does he look for? I mean… ignore performance and ignore physical attributes and… what is left? Draft everyone who says their favorite color is mauve?
To be fair, you have to consider draft position as well, although I don’t think it would make a difference anyway
Not hard to poke holes in this grading.
Corey Linsley is an A
Lacey is an A( Prowbowl three year starter.)
Montgomery is at least a B.
Aaron Ripkowski is a B
De’Anthony Thomas is not an A
If Ramik Wilson is an A than so is Jake Ryan?
Steve Nelson is not an A that is a reach.
Dvante Adams is an A if your saying Chris Connley is a B.
I think your lack of familiarity with many of the Chiefs led to overly generous grading. Just because they started doesn’t mean they’re an A. Just look at many of the Packers’ starters.