Kansas City Chiefs: Should They Take QB Ryan Tannehill in the Draft?

With less than four weeks until the '12 NFL draft kicks off in New York City, a flurry of prospect workouts and visits are taking shape around the league.

One prospect that has received a lot of buzz over the past few weeks has been former Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill.

Earlier on Monday, the Chiefs threw their name into the mix for the converted wide receiver.

Tannehill is currently projected as a first- or second-round pick in the upcoming draft, and will likely be the first signal-caller off the board after Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III.

He has a ton of upside, and is one of the more accurate QB in this year's draft class.

In his two seasons as the starting quarterback for the Aggies, he threw for nearly 5,200 yards and 42 touchdowns, while completing over 62 percent of his pass attempts.

With Matt Cassel slated to be the starter for KC once again this season, there is many reasons for concern at that position right now.

First of all, Cassel has had only good year for the Chiefs, and that came in a campaign where most of the defenses he faced were ranked toward the bottom of the league in total pass defense.

He also struggles with his progressions, is not very accurate with his deep ball, and now has injury concerns which stem from last season.

Even though Tannehill would likely sit behind Cassel in his rookie year, he could learn the playbook more and eventually take over as the starter in either 2013 or 2014.

Of course, there is always the other side of the coin as well.

Tannehill is a converted wideout who only started his last two years of college at QB, which is a big risk within itself.

Also, it's very possible that the Chiefs are just doing their due diligence with Tannehill, as they would with other draft prospects.

Plus, they could just be using their interest in him to push up his draft stock even more, which could lead to a desirable trade-down scenario for KC on draft day.

Is he worth the risk to be selected at No. 11 overall?

We will find out that answer on April 26.

After all, the Chiefs need to address this starting QB position eventually, and they need to do it sooner rather than later, considering all of the young talent that they currently possess on offense.