Coming Home: Chiefs Select KC Native Felix Anudike-Uzomah -

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Night one of the 2023 NFL Draft is in the books, as 31 selections are now official. The festivities in Kansas City were raucous, as many fans made their way to the draft in person this year. The Kansas City Chiefs had to be feeling pretty excited. For starters, the city got to host the draft as defending Super Bowl champions. As always, Chiefs fans were loud, to boot. That was especially true when it was announced that Kansas City selected Felix Anudike-Uzomah to end round one.

The EDGE defender from Kansas State will get to go back to his old stomping grounds, so to speak, after joining the Chiefs. Anudike-Uzomah’s hometown is Kansas City, Missouri. Before his college career at K-State, the pass rusher played his high school football at nearby Lee’s Summit High School. That is just a short 20-minute drive from Arrowhead Stadium.

How does Felix Anudike-Uzomah fit with the Kansas City Chiefs defense? What did the team have to say about selecting the Kansas City native? Let’s kick it off, with a quick reaction to the Chiefs’ first-round selection in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Bringing The Power

The top traits of Felix Anudike-Uzomah begin with his power at the point of attack. Throughout his games at Kansas State, he was able to win early leverage with a set of quick, yet heavy, jolts that came from popping his hands. Overall, the Chiefs have been fine with having their pass rushers work by going through the opposing blocker, rather than always attempting to work around them. Anudike-Uzomah is capable of doing that by reducing pass rush angles and wearing down opponents physically. Having that in your arsenal, along with heavy hands, usually makes you a possible fit for Steve Spagnuolo‘s defense in KC.

Elsewhere, Felix Anudike-Uzomah brings a tremendous mix of relentlessness, energy and first-step explosiveness off of the line of scrimmage. He is not a large defender by any means. Though, Anudike-Uzomah can often catch opponents off guard with his quickness. The same can be said about his sneaky-good flexibility and bend off of the corner.

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Immediate Contributor?

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and general manager Brett Veach discussed the selection of Felix Anudike-Uzomah after the first round. Unequivocally, Reid says that the Kansas State product will immediately be a top part of the defensive line rotation as a rookie.

Takeaways From Andy Reid

“I think he’ll be able to help us right away,” Reid said of Felix Anudike-Uzomah. “I think he can give you good and honest snaps in both phases (pass rush and run defense). We’ll have a nice rotation there (on the defensive line), when it’s all said and done.”

Coach Reid hinted at Anudike-Uzomah possibly receiving the same amount of playing time as a rookie to what George Karlaftis got as a rookie last year. All in all, both of those players bring a similar motor and work ethic that can be infectious to the rest of the defense.

Takeaways From Brett Veach

As far as what excites Veach about Felix Anudike-Uzomah, the GM mentioned the “motor and the relentless effort” that he shows. Veach also loved how he “had a ton of production at Kansas State and just turned 21 (years old). A majority of his production was coming in a big-time conference at 19 and 20 years old.”

Staying young and not bringing in older prospects has been a key draft philosophy for Kansas City with their recent early draft picks. With that youth of Felix Anudike-Uzomah, he will still go through many stages of early development. But as Veach mentioned, his production at K-State, while still not being fully refined, is a plus. Anudike-Uzomah won Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2022, while also accumulating 20.5 sacks and 26.5 tackles for loss over his last two seasons. Even with those positive results, Felix appears to be just scratching the surface of what he can become, as he joins the Kansas City Chiefs.

Be on the lookout for more FPC Chiefs 2023 NFL Draft reaction articles and analysis throughout the rest of the weekend. For more great sports and NFL content, stay tuned to Full Press Coverage.

– Braden Holecek is the Kansas City Chiefs managing editor for Full Press Coverage. He covers the NFL. Like and follow on Follow @ebearcat9 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Follow @FPC_Chiefs //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js and Facebook.