I love MHR for the high quality on analysis and opinion, thanks to all.  Draft grades and prospect rating are flawed, but I still search them out.  I may no claim to football smarts, other than as a fan since Little Calvin Jones was diving at everyone's shoes.  This is my first completed post more for fun then serious analysis.

Most pundits think that the Chiefs had a great draft, and the Broncos fall somewhere in the middle or worse.  Of course the Chiefs had six picks in the top 82 and made their seventh before most of us had ever tried to pronounce Lichtenstiger early in the 4th round.  KC finished with twelve picks to Denver's nine.

Pro Football Weekly grades the prospects before the draft  giving most first round picks a grade between 6.0 and 7.0, most of the rest of the players drafted fall into the 5.0 to 5.9 range.  SI.com does a similar grading, but their scores are lower mostly in the 3.0 to 3.9 range. 

This is a look at how Denver and  KC 's picks compare. I’ve matched up as best as I could each teams picks at the same or similar position.

Team - Pick          Name                                 Position         Grade 1            Grade 2

Den 1-12         Clady, Ryan                 OT       PFW 6.3          SI 4.24

KC 1-15          Albert, Branden            G        PFW 6.4          SI 3.92

I’m tempted to give the Broncos a slight advantage (probably my bias), but also because Denver drafted a pure OLT while KC drafted a OG that they may convert to a OT.  OLT has higher value, but both are top 15 picks.

Advantage: Even

KC 1-5            Dorsey, Glenn              DT       7          4.42

Den 5-148       Powell, Carlton             DT       5.15     3.5

Clearly there is no comparison, Dorsey has bad knees and will be out of the league in a couple years, and Powell will be an anchor on the line for a decade.

Advantage: KC

Den 2-42         Royal, Eddie                 WR      5.65     3.67

KC 4-105        Franklin, William           WR     5.39     3.62

KC 6-182        Robinson, Kevin           WR      5.09     3.06

Of the three, Royal is the highest rated by both PFW and SI.

Advantage: Denver

KC 2-35          Flowers, Brandon         CB       5.95     3.85

Den 4-119       Williams, Jack               CB       5.23     3.52

An interesting side note Royal and Flowers know each other very well from daily match-ups at VaTech. Flowers is a fierce hitter and a quality corner, he is not the fastest, but still…
Advantage: KC

KC 3-73          Charles, Jamaal            RB        5.55     3.82

Den 5-139       Torain, Ryan                 RB       5.12     3.37

The scores say the Charles is the better back, those who follow the Big 12 know Jamaal is a fumbler.  I expect that Torain ends up being the more productive back.  Why did KC draft two running backs in the third round? Is Larry Johnson ever going to be the same since his foot injury and swollen wallet?

Advantage: Denver

KC 3-82          Morgan, DaJuan           RB       5.85     3.79

Den 7-227       Hillis, Peyton                FB        5.23     3.49

I love the Hillis pick and the many facets he brings, but to be fair I have to give the …
Advantage to KC

Den 6-183       Larsen, Spencer           ILB       5.2       3.38

KC 7-210        Johnston, Brian            DE        4.8       3.49

Both may or may not make their teams, probably practice squad types. PFW likes Larsen, SI rates Johnston higher. It’s difficult to compare a backup Mike and a long shot DE

Advantage: Even

Den 4-108       Lichtensteiger, Kory     C          5.3       3.37

KC 6-170        Richardson, Barry         OT      5.2       3.41

Once again a split decision, both are youthful depth types.  I pick K-Lic, due to the history of Bronco development of the OL from deep in the draft.

Advantage: Denver

KC 5-140        Carr, Brandon              CB       4.9       3.27

Den 7-220       Barrett, Josh                 SS        5.37     3.73

Barrett is a nice pickup for the seventh round and is given higher scores.

Advantage: Denver

KC 3 76          Cottam, Brad               TE        5.55     3.63
KC 7 239        Merritt, Mike                TE        4.3       N/A (2.8)

Tony G’s days are numbered but he’s not very worried about these two, Cottam has been injured more then all of Denver's picks combined.  Merritt  stock is so low SI didn’t give him a grade, so I gave him a 2.8.  Denver didn’t draft a TE so I must give the slight …

Advantage to KC

 So in summary,

OT - Even

DT – KC

WR - Denver

CB - KC

RB - Denver

RB/FB - KC

DE/LB - Even

C/OT - Denver

DB - Denver

TE – KC

Finally I took all the scores and divided by the number of picks for each team to get an average score for the teams draft grade.  The results …

Denver - PFW 5.39 and SI 3.59          KC - PFW 5.49 and SI 3.59

KC wins by a only tenth of a point!  KC looks like they have 3 of the best 4 with Dorsey, Albert and Flowers, but Denver had a much more solid second day to catch up statistically.