The Greatest Kansas City Chiefs Players of All Time
A Kansas City Chiefs safety who retired after 1971 made the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2019, so an honor's year can't rank the team's greatest players. Every player here is named on at least 3 of the 16 Chiefs honor rolls and all-time rankings counted for this list: the team's own Hall of Fame, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and fourteen press rankings. Players left off no more than five of the sources that could have named them start in the top group; everyone else who clears the door starts below them, and your votes set the order from there.
Derrick Thomas is #1 on “The Greatest Kansas City Chiefs Players of All Time”.
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Derrick Thomas
On November 11, 1990, he sacked Seattle's Dave Krieg 7 times, which set the NFL single-game record, and on the last play he had Krieg wrapped up for an 8th before the quarterback slipped free and threw the touchdown that beat Kansas City 17-16. Drafted in 1989, he lined up at linebacker for Kansas City through 1999 and went to 9 consecutive Pro Bowls, 1989 to 1997, and in 2009, the year of his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction, the club retired number 58. That 1990 season ended with 20 sacks, tops in the league, and when his last season was over the franchise's records for career sacks, safeties, forced fumbles and fumble recoveries were all his. All 16 sources counted here include him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_Thomas - 2
Tony Gonzalez
His 102 catches in 2004, good for 1,258 yards, were the most by an NFL tight end in a season for 8 years, until Jason Witten caught more in 2012. He was a Chief from 1997 through 2008, a 12-year stretch with 10 Pro Bowl trips. In 2007 he took over the tight-end career marks for touchdown catches in October and receptions in December; in April 2009 a trade sent him from Kansas City to Atlanta for a draft pick. He's on the all-time team the NFL chose in its 100th season, and in 2019, his first chance, he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. You'll find him on 14 of the 16 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Gonzalez - 3
Len Dawson
On June 30, 1962, he signed with the AFL's Dallas Texans, after his release by the Cleveland Browns following the 1961 season. That first year he threw 29 touchdown passes, led the league with a 98.3 passer rating and got The Sporting News's vote as the AFL's MVP, and the 11-3 Texans then won the AFL Championship in double overtime at Houston, where his 28-yard pass to Abner Haynes went for a touchdown. He stayed with the franchise through 1975, a span in which he finished atop the AFL in completion percentage 7 times and won 2 more AFL titles, in 1966 and 1969. His tally is 15 of the 16 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Len_Dawson - 4
Patrick Mahomes
Kansas City traded up with Buffalo to draft him 10th overall in 2017, and he first started against Denver on December 31 of that year. In 2018, his first season as the starter, he threw for 5,097 yards and 50 touchdowns, which put him next to Peyton Manning as the second quarterback with 5,000 and 50 in the same season, and he was the AP's choice for MVP. He won that award again for 2022, and he started at quarterback in the Chiefs' wins in Super Bowls LIV, LVII and LVIII. He's named on 11 of the 14 sources that could have named him: Bleacher Report's ranking appeared in May 2013, before his first Chiefs game, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame doesn't consider a player while he is active.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Mahomes - 5
Travis Kelce
In 2020 he caught 105 passes for 1,416 yards, more than any NFL tight end has gained in a season. Kansas City's 3rd-round pick in 2013, he played 1 snap as a rookie because of a preseason knee injury. From 2016 to 2022 he cleared 1,000 yards 7 straight times, a run no tight end had put together before; the streak ended when he sat out Week 18 of 2023. In the 2022 season's divisional round, his 14 catches were the most a tight end has made in a postseason game. Of the 14 sources open to him, 9 list him; Bleacher Report ranked the Chiefs in May 2013, months before his first game, and he isn't eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame while he's playing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_Kelce - 6
Bobby Bell
His coverage of running back Matt Snell at the goal line in the 1969 AFL divisional playoff made the Jets settle for a field goal, and Kansas City won 13-6. He played for the club from 1963 to 1974, lining up at defensive end before Hank Stram moved him to outside linebacker in 1965. Every year from 1965 through 1971 he made a first team at linebacker chosen by the AP, UPI, NEA or The Sporting News, and in 1983 he joined the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He intercepted 26 passes and brought 6 back for touchdowns, and once he recovered a Denver onside kick and ran it 53 yards for a score. Count the sources and you get 15 of 16.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Bell - 7
Will Shields
He didn't start the 1993 opener as a rookie, but from the September 12 game against the Houston Oilers on, he started at guard in every Kansas City game, 15 of them that first season. Across his 14 seasons with the Chiefs, 1993 to 2006, he never sat out a game, and from 1995 through 2006 his name was on 12 Pro Bowl rosters. The Pro Football Hall of Fame inducted him with its 2015 class; off the field, his charity was the Will to Succeed foundation. He blocked for a 1,000-yard rusher in 5 seasons and for a 4,000-yard passer in 4: Elvis Grbac in 2000 and Trent Green from 2003 to 2005. Of the 16 sources, 14 name him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Shields - 8
Willie Lanier
When Kansas City beat Minnesota in Super Bowl IV, he made 8 tackles and intercepted a pass in the 4th quarter. A 1967 draft pick, he played middle linebacker through 1977. Jerry Mays nicknamed him Contact, and he and Houston's Garland Boyette are credited as pro football's first Black middle linebackers; he finished with 27 interceptions, and in 1986 his bust went up at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. All-Pro, All-AFL or All-AFC honors came his way every season from 1968 through 1975, with UPI and Pro Football Weekly among the selectors. 13 of the 16 sources include him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Lanier - 9
Buck Buchanan
The Dallas Texans made him the 1st pick of the 1963 AFL draft, out of Grambling, the first player from a historically Black college to go 1st overall in either league. Listed at 6 feet 7 and 270 pounds, he anchored the defensive tackle spot from 1963 through 1975. Over 14 starts in 1967, every game on the schedule, he batted down 16 passes at or behind the line of scrimmage. AP voters had him on their All-AFL first team 4 years running, 1966 to 1969, and he earned 6 AFL All-Star Game invitations before his 1990 election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Add up the sources and he has 11 of 16.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_Buchanan - 10
Emmitt Thomas
His 12 interceptions led the NFL in 1974, and he ran them back 214 yards and scored twice. He had come to Kansas City in 1966 as a free agent out of Bishop College, and stayed at cornerback until 1978. Back in 1969 his 9 interceptions had been the most in the AFL, and his career total of 58 set a franchise record; he has been a Pro Football Hall of Fame member since 2008. He coached in the NFL from 1981 until he retired in February 2019, winning 2 Super Bowls on Washington's staff and coaching Kansas City's defensive backs from 2010 to 2018. He's counted on 10 of the 16 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmitt_Thomas - 11
Priest Holmes
Marshall Faulk's NFL record for touchdowns in a season fell to him in 2003, when he scored 27, a record at the time, later passed by Shaun Alexander and then LaDainian Tomlinson. Undrafted in 1997, he spent 4 seasons in Baltimore before a cheap 2001 deal made him a Chief, and that year he took the league rushing crown with 1,555 yards, something no undrafted player had done before. He scored 21 rushing touchdowns in 2002, midway through a Pro Bowl run that lasted from 2001 to 2003. A spinal injury from a 2005 hit sidelined him, and when he retired after re-injuring his neck in November 2007, he was the Chiefs' career leader in rushing touchdowns, with 76. The source count for him comes to 8 of 16.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priest_Holmes - 12
Johnny Robinson
Dallas needed 2 overtimes to beat Houston 20-17 for the 1962 AFL Championship, and he intercepted 2 passes in that game. His whole pro career, 1960 to 1971, belonged to the Texans and Chiefs, who grabbed him in the AFL draft's 1st round out of LSU although Detroit had taken him 3rd in the NFL draft. He started at halfback and flanker, catching 41 passes for 611 yards as a rookie, then moved to safety, where he picked off 57 passes, and in 2019 the Pro Football Hall of Fame's selectors chose him. His 10 interceptions tied for the AFL lead in 1966, and 10 more in 1970 topped the NFL, the season the AP and NEA both listed this Kansas City safety among their first-team All-Pros. On the sources he goes 7 for 16.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Robinson_(safety) - 13
Jamaal Charles
He scored 5 times at Oakland on December 15, 2013, 4 on catches and 1 on a run, with 195 receiving yards in a 56-31 win. His Kansas City years ran from 2008 through 2016. In 2010 his 1,467 rushing yards came at 6.4 a carry, and he finished the year as a first-team running back on the AP's All-Pro team; in 2013 he found the end zone 12 times rushing and 7 receiving. A torn ACL in Week 2 of 2011 took that season from him. As of 2019 his career average of 5.4 yards a carry, Denver and Jacksonville games included, led every player with at least 1,000 carries, and a 1-day contract that May let him retire as a Chief. Put him down for 4 of the 16 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaal_Charles - 14
Jan Stenerud
A ski-jumping scholarship brought him from Norway to Montana State, and as a 1966 Kansas City draft pick he kicked for the Chiefs from 1967 to 1979. In 1968 he made 30 field goals on 40 tries, and in 1970 he connected from 55 yards. His kicks from 48, 32 and 25 yards gave Kansas City its first 9 points in Super Bowl IV, and the 48-yarder was the Super Bowl record for 24 years. In 1991 he went in as the Pro Football Hall of Fame's first exclusive placekicker. An AFL All-Star in 1968 and 1969, he was picked for 3 Pro Bowls as a Chief after that, and the Chiefs have retired number 3 in his honor. His name turns up on 5 of the 16 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Stenerud - 15
Otis Taylor
Scout Lloyd Wells signed him for the Chiefs in 1965, after the AFL draftee slipped away from the NFL scouts who were baby-sitting him. His 1,110 receiving yards in 1971, on 57 catches with 7 touchdowns, led all NFL receivers, and he was an All-Pro that year, picked by the AP, NEA, the PFWA and Pro Football Weekly. He'd shown it early: in 1966 he gained 1,297 yards, 2nd in the AFL, at 22.4 a catch. A former Prairie View A&M quarterback, he stayed in Kansas City through 1975 and finished with 7,306 receiving yards and 57 touchdown catches. 4 of the 16 sources name him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otis_Taylor_(American_football) - 16
Derrick Johnson
Both of his interceptions at Denver on January 3, 2010, went back for touchdowns, and Kansas City won 44-24. Out of Texas, he joined Kansas City in the 2005 draft and kept a linebacker spot there through 2017. In 2011 he made a career-high 131 tackles and his first Pro Bowl, the start of 4 in 5 years, and he came back from a torn Achilles tendon in 2014 and again in 2016. His 1,151 tackles led the franchise's all-time list when he left for Oakland in 2018, where he played 6 games. The sources counted give him 4 of 16.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_Johnson - 17
Tyreek Hill
Against Tampa Bay on November 29, 2020, his 13 catches went for 269 yards and 3 touchdowns. Kansas City's 5th-round draft choice in 2016, he was a Chief through 2021 and scored 12 touchdowns as a rookie: 6 on catches, 3 on runs and 3 on returns. Super Bowl LIV's 4th quarter included his 44-yard catch on 3rd-and-15, and his 6 Chiefs seasons produced 6 Pro Bowl selections before a March 2022 trade to Miami brought Kansas City 5 draft picks. Of the 14 sources able to include him, he's on 3: Bleacher Report's 2013 piece came 3 years before he got to Kansas City, and a player who hasn't retired isn't eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyreek_Hill - 18
Curley Culp
A 1968 Denver draft choice, he was judged too small for the Broncos' defensive line and went to Kansas City in a training-camp trade for a draft pick. In Super Bowl IV, Hank Stram put him nose to nose with Minnesota's smaller center, Mick Tingelhoff, who couldn't block him without help, and the Vikings ran for 67 yards on 19 carries. The 1967 NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion at Arizona State earned a Pro Bowl spot for 1971, and an October 1974 trade moved him and a draft pick to the Houston Oilers; he reached the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013. 3 of the 16 sources carry his name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curley_Culp - 19
Deron Cherry
He intercepted 4 passes against Seattle on September 29, 1985, tying the league's single-game interception record in a 28-7 win at Arrowhead Stadium. Out of Rutgers, where he'd played safety and punted, he signed with Kansas City in 1981, was let go in final cuts, then came back and played for the club until 1991. Each season from 1983 to 1988 ended with him on a Pro Bowl roster, and he finished with 50 interceptions, all in a Kansas City uniform. In 1995 he became a limited partner in the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars. He's listed by 3 of the 16 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deron_Cherry - 20
Dante Hall
Kansas City trailed Denver 23-17 on October 5, 2003, when he fielded a punt, reversed direction twice to get away from the coverage and went 93 yards to score the winning points in a 24-23 game. Known as the X-Factor, he handled kicks and lined up at receiver for the Chiefs from 2000 to 2006. That return came during a 9-0 start, after he'd taken a kickoff back 100 yards against Pittsburgh on September 14. In 2004 his 68 kickoff returns set a Chiefs single-season record, and the NFL's kickoff return yardage title was his, before a 2007 trade to the Rams. His share is 3 of the 16 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante_Hall
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