Know your Chiefs draft crush part 2: Ladd McConkey
Looking at the film of a popular and speedy WR out of Georgia
In this year’s “know your draft crush” series, I’m once again examining various wide receivers the Chiefs could target in early rounds of the draft. Fortunately, the 2024 draft is packed with good WR prospects. In an attempt to figure out who would be the best fit in Kansas City, I’m looking at as many as possible, breaking down the film to look at the same traits for each player: Speed/acceleration/agility, releases, route running, hands/catch point work, YAC/playmaking, and an overall takeaway. Here are the guys we’ve looked at so far:
Methodology and Adonai Mitchell (UNLOCKED)
In today’s edition of “know your Chiefs draft crush,” we’re looking at a former teammate of Adonai Mitchell’s in Ladd McConkey, a speedy WR out of Georgia who is a favorite of a lot of Chiefs fans.
There are a wide variety of opinions as to where McConkey will fall in the draft, particularly after a strong Senior Bowl and a good combine showing. But the general consensus is that he’ll be available when the Chiefs pick at 32… but perhaps not by the time they get to 64. And there are some who believe he’s likely to go sooner than expected given his route-running chops and refinement.
But is the small(ish) receiver worth a high draft pick? Well, that’s what the tape is for. So as is our process, I went through multiple games of McConkey’s from 2023, and a few from 2022, looking at every snap on all-22. Let’s talk about McConkey's film after taking a look at some of his measurements.
Ladd McConkey - Georgia
Relevant measurements - 5’11”, 186 pounds
Games reviewed - Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, Oregon (2022), TCU(2022)
(NOTE - Most of the video clips I’ll use will be to highlight positive traits, because they’re more fun to watch. But that doesn’t make the negative traits for a prospect any less real… it just means I like to show the fun things!)
-Speed / acceleration / agility-
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before; McConkey is a short, smaller WR with terrifically quick feet and short-area agility who can stop/turn on a dime. It feels like I’ve just described multiple players from the last decade and a half, no? It’s easy to lump McConkey into a certain archetype, because he does show excellent quickness and short-area agility, along with easy acceleration off the line. He uses those traits (and his comfort with changing direction) to separate with consistency on short and intermediate routes.
McConkey frequently finds a way to get loose from defenders in man coverage thanks to that agility, and one can see why people would start to immediately lump him into the mold of yet another slot WR who can get loose underneath.
However, it would be a mistake to think of McConkey in the same breath as the Edelmans, Welkers, and Renfrows of the world (yes, we’re all aware of what those dudes also have in common), or other pure slot types like Tyler Boyd. You know what all those guys have in common that was part of what made them slot (and not boundary) players? None of them ran the 40 in under 4.5 seconds (Edelman was the closest at 4.52. Welker was 4.65!!!!).
That’s not the case with McConkey, who has a gear none of those guys have. He accelerates off the line much better and has genuine long speed that shows up both in his 40 time (with a solid 4.39, along with good 10-and-20-yard splits) as well as his film.