Darian Kinnard Drafted by Kansas City Chiefs with No. 145 Pick in Round 5
Darian Kinnard is officially a Kansas City Chief. The former Kentucky Wildcat was selected in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft with the No. 145 overall pick.
The former Wildcat was once a projected second-round selection. Analysts were critical of his Senior Bowl performance, but few expected him to fall to day three. Kinnard will certainly use the slight as motivation on Sundays.
Kentucky had zero offensive linemen selected in the NFL Draft between 1993 and 2013. Following Luke Fortner’s selection at No. 65 overall, the Big Blue Wall has now produced a draft pick in four consecutive years, following George Asafo-Adjei (Round 7, New York Giants), Logan Stenberg (Round 4, Detroit Lions) and Landon Young (Round 7, New Orleans Saints).
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Kinnard was a decorated high school recruit, earning All-American honors at Cleveland’s St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland. He stepped on the field almost immediately for the Wildcats after Landon Young suffered a season-ending injury ahead of Kentucky’s 2018 campaign. He appeared in nine games, earning starts at left tackle in two of the last three games of a 10-win season that ended with a victory in the VRBO Citrus Bowl.
Primarily playing right tackle, Kinnard finished his career with 39 consecutive starts. Throughout his tenure he paved the way for Benny Snell to become the school’s all-time leading rusher. He earned All-SEC honors as a junior before transforming into a Consensus All-American as a senior, just the 12th in school history and first offensive lineman since Sam Ball in 1965. An all-time great, he capped off his career with another Citrus Bowl victory and the 2021 Jacobs Blocking Trophy, given to the top offensive lineman in the SEC.
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