Steve Palazzolo’s mock draft sends an EDGE to the Chiefs

On Tuesday, The 33rd Team’s Steve Palazzolo used his “Check The Mic” podcast with Sam Monson to release a two-round mock draft for 2025, in which he sent an edge rusher to the Kansas City Chiefs with the 31st pick of the first round: Tennessee’s James Pearce Jr.

Palazzolo didn’t offer any analysis about this pick.

To make it, he skipped over Oregon tackle Josh Conerly Jr. (who was taken by the Philadelphia Eagles with the 32nd pick), Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden II (35th), Alabama guard Tyler Booker (40th), Toledo defensive tackle Darius Alexander (42nd), Ohio State defensive tackle Tyleik Williams (43rd), Texas A&M EDGE Nic Scourton (44th) and Minnesota tackle Aireontae Ersery (61st).

With the 63rd pick, Palazzolo considered his options, noting that the top offensive linemen were all gone. He considered taking a tight end — mulling over Miami (FL)’s Elijah Arroyo and LSU’s Mason Taylor — but ultimately sent West Virginia tackle Wyatt Milum to the Chiefs as their second-round pick, saying that Milum would take over Joe Thuney’s spot at left guard. In doing so, he passed over other tackles like Ozzy Trapilo of Boston College, Marcus Mbow of Purdue and Jonah Savaiinaea of Arizona State… not to mention the Sun Devils’ running back Cam Skattebo.

At 31, Pearce isn’t the most popular pick we’ve seen; he now ranks seventh among the players mocked to the Chiefs in the first round. But in Palazzolo’s scenario, the six players ranked before him (except for Ohio State guard Donovan Jackson) were all off the board at 31.

So while our data doesn’t suggest Pearce would likely be a first-round pick for Kansas City, he could certainly end up as the best player available to the team in that moment. It’s less certain that Milum could be the best player available at 63.