The Kansas City Chiefs used the No. 37 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft to take Chris Jones, and the decision came after a draft-room debate that nearly sent the franchise in a different direction. Jones, now one of the best defensive players in team history, was chosen over Robert Nkemdiche after people inside the organization pushed for other options.
Ryne Nutt recently recounted the moment in a piece by Nate Taylor of, describing a Chiefs draft room that included Clark Hunt, Andy Reid, John Dorsey, Chris Ballard, Ryan Poles, Mike Borgonzi, Brandt Tilis and Brett Veach. The Chiefs had originally held the No. 28 overall pick in the first round, and the plan was to add help on the defensive line with that selection.
By the time Kansas City finally made its choice, the board had narrowed to Jones and Nkemdiche. Nkemdiche, who had earned First-Team All-SEC and Second-Team All-American honors at Ole Miss, apparently had the votes to begin with. Jones, meanwhile, was coming off a solid season at Mississippi State, and the Chiefs ultimately decided he was the better fit.
That call turned into one of the most important personnel moves of the era. Jones grew into a franchise centerpiece, while Nkemdiche became the alternate path Kansas City nearly took. The detail matters now because it shows how close the Chiefs came to a very different defensive future, with several people in that room later becoming top executives elsewhere in the NFL. Veach would not replace Dorsey as general manager until 2017, but the draft room that made the decision already had the feel of a front office with a bigger reach than one team.
The lasting lesson is simple: Kansas City did not just find a Pro Bowl-level defender in Chris Jones. It used a pick it had once been in position to spend much earlier, overrode internal resistance and ended up with a player who changed the franchise’s defense for years.
