Duane Jones, Ohio State Buckeyes. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)
The Kansas City Chiefs allow Orlando Brown Jr. to walk while Frank Clark cuts. They replaced them in this mock 7-round NFL Draft.
Having won Super Bowl II led by Andy Reed and Patrick Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs have an intriguing front-runner. Two big dominoes had already fallen with the team’s picking left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. and the rushing release of Frank Clarke. Replacing them is the main goal of this mock post-2023 NFL Combine draft.
There are other questions to be answered related to free agency as well. The Chiefs have players like JoJu Smith-Schuster, Mecole Hardman, Khalen Saunders, Jerick McKinnon, Andrew Wylie, and Juan Thornhill, among others, who will put them on the market. They can re-sign some, but revamping the roster is key.
As long as the team has the Mahomes, the Chiefs proved last season that they’d be Super Bowl contenders. However, the right formulation this year will make it less of a challenge chasing them to repeat as champions. So let’s hold them to the odds of doing just that in this 7-round 2023 NFL Draft Mock Kansas City.
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Mock NFL Draft 2023: Chiefs trade Frank Clarke, Orlando Brown Jr. in 7 innings after combined drop
1
Dawn Jones
extra time Ohio State 
Dawand Jones is the Chiefs’ perfect replacement for Orlando Brown Jr.
For several weeks, the speculation was that Kansas City was planning to tag the franchise to Orlando Brown Jr. and then try to land him a long-term contract. Somewhere along the line, however, the plan changed. Brown is not signed, there is no new contract, and now he is slated to be an unrestricted free agent.
This seems to be paving his way out of Kansas City for good. The veteran market in free agency, outside of the Browns, isn’t the most exciting group of players I’ve ever seen. Taylor Lewan, who was released by the Titans this offseason, has arrived to fill the void. However, the best option is probably on draft.
Namely, Dawand Jones is the ideal player to take Brown’s place on the left end of the attacking line.
If you remember, Brown was a disaster at the Combine coming out of Oklahoma. Shockingly, the large human who wins in girth and height is not a superior athlete. But Jones is in the same mold. He ran 5.35 by 40 but, at 6-foot-8, 374 pounds, that wasn’t the win. He does so with respectable, decent footwork and arms that are over 36 inches long.
Jones has done very well for Ohio State in his career, and if the Chiefs are simply looking for the same kind of left tackle, cheaper, he’s the obvious choice at the end of the first round.
Round 3 | Rounds 4-5 | Rounds 6-7
