John Clayton lists Chiefs as a candidate to trade up in first round of NFL Draft

While answering a question this week about the Chiefs’ offensive tackles, coach Andy Reid said his team has internal options.

But with the NFL Draft being held next week in Cleveland, Reid added that general manager Brett Veach is open to upgrades on the offensive line — and elsewhere.

“We forget about a couple of them — (Lucas) Niang was another one that we had high hopes for last year and had a couple nice days with us before he opted out,” Reid said. “I think we’re OK there now, but I’ve said this before, Brett’s always keeping his eyes open. We’ll just see how it all ends up, but we’ve got some good competition in there. I think we all know that Kyle Long had played tackle, was an All-Pro tackle actually his rookie year, so we’ve got options and people in there.

“But I wouldn’t tell you at any position that we’re done looking. We’re always going to keep our eyes open and try to make ourselves better, which we need to do. We’ve got to do that. When you’re sitting in our position you’re not just striving to stay the same, you’re trying to get yourself better.”

Former ESPN senior NFL writer John Clayton thinks the Chiefs could swing a trade to move up in the first round of the draft to land a tackle.

Clayton, who writes an NFL column for the Washington Post, wrote this week about potential trades in the draft. He thinks the Chiefs, who have the 31st pick in the first round, could try to make a deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who have the first and 25th picks.

“They could stay put at No. 31 and draft one, but if they get nervous based on how the board is breaking down, they could move up six spots for fourth-round picks this year and next,” Clayton wrote about the Chiefs. “Jacksonville, meanwhile, might be okay with moving down and still landing TCU’s Trevon Moehrig, the top safety in the draft.”

In his mock draft last week, Clayton had the Chiefs drafting Alabama tackle Alex Leatherwood at No. 31.

Here is an excerpt of what Clayton wrote: “They’ve added Joe Thuney, Kyle Long and Austin Blythe to fortify the interior, but haven’t done much at tackle, so drafting one in the first round would make sense.”