Former NFL GM: Chiefs should prepare for draft like they won’t have Rashee Rice

There is still a long way to go before Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice’s legal situation is resolved following his role in a multi-car crash last month in Dallas.

Rice, who was the Chiefs’ second-round pick in last year’s NFL Draft, faces eight charges. That includes a second-degree felony and a third-degree felony charge.

With the NFL Draft starting Thursday, the Chiefs’ focus is expected to be on adding a wide receiver and a left tackle. That just happens to be two of the deepest positions in this year’s draft, which will be held in Detroit.

Rice’s legal issues, which could result in an NFL suspension, have left some pundits saying wide receiver will be the first position filled by the Chiefs when they make the No. 32 pick in the first round.

Mark Dominik, who worked 19 seasons as an executive with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. believes Chiefs general manager Brett Veach should enter the NFL Draft thinking the worst.

“You’ve got to kind of look at Rice and say, ‘I may have him for half the season.’ But I think if you’re the GM right now and you’re Brett Veach, I think you’ve got to assume that Rice isn’t even there this year,” Dominik said last week in a conference call. “You’ve got to go into the draft and say he’s not here. And if he becomes (available), that’s great.”

Dominik was a pro personnel assistant and scout for the Buccaneers, then became director of scouting before being promoted to Tampa Bay’s general manager. Dominik now works as an analyst for SiriusXM, but he’s also been in a war room during the NFL Draft.

The signing of free agent wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown should impact Veach’s thinking, too, Dominik said. But he thinks Veach could try to make a trade on day two of the draft. The Chiefs hold the No. 64 pick in the second round and No. 95 in the third round.

“As much as I want to say take the receiver because it makes sense because the value is going to be there right at that pick, I think you take the offensive lineman, and then you come back in the second round and you go back and get that wide receiver,” Dominik said. “And I think you’d be aggressive. and maybe here’s where again where you take an opportunity and you look at the board as you build it up and then you look at your draft pick collateral and you say, ‘Hey, look, I know I’ve got pick No. 95, do I just take that 95 and see how far I can get up in that second round to make sure I get a receiver that I trust and that I think can kind of make us comfortable?’

“Whether that is (Washington’s Ja’Lynn) Polk or a Troy Franklin (from Oregon) who I like a lot, maybe go get one of those two guys. That’s what I would kind of do if I was Kansas City. I’ve tried to take the offensive lineman, continue to invest there, but then take my three with my two and go get one of these guys.”