The Kansas City Chiefs have the best quarterback in the NFL in Patrick Mahomes.
Where does he rank on the all-time list of Chiefs quarterbacks?
The 2019 Kansas City Chiefs were the irony of all ironies. For a franchise that only drafted a quarterback in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft three times in 54 seasons, they now stand atop the league in large part because of their first-round, homegrown signal caller.
Just two years in, Patrick Mahomes is the best player in the NFL and his career is just beginning. He’s got a long way to go, but with quarterbacks now playing into their late 30s and even 40s in some cases, Mahomes could also end up being the longest-tenured starting quarterback in team history. If that happens, that will be just one of a long list of franchise-altering accomplishments to his name.
With the offseason upon us, and no place to go, it seemed a fitting time to take a look back through the history of the Chiefs and compare Mahomes accomplishments to that of the greatest quarterbacks in franchise history. In my opinion, the following is a list of the top five quarterbacks to ever don the red and gold.
Chiefs top 5 QB’s:
1. Patrick Mahomes
Was this spot ever really in doubt? There can only be one number one, and that honor falls to Patrick Mahomes. Sure, Dawson was an incredible winner and arguably accomplished more over the duration of his career than Patrick Mahomes has accomplished to this point. That’s the point, though: Mahomes career is just beginning.
To date, Mahomes has won 28 of the 36 games that he has started, including both the regular season and playoffs. He’s joined Peyton Manning and Tom Brady as the only quarterbacks to ever throw for 50 or more touchdowns in a single season. He’s one of only eight quarterbacks to throw for 5,000 yards in a single season, and only he and Peyton Manning have achieved the preceding two feats in the same year.
He helmed the team to its first home AFC Championship game in 2018, only his second year in the pros and his first as a starter, and then repeated that feat in 2019. He led three straight double-digit comebacks for victory in the 2019 NFL Playoffs, the first time that had ever happened in the history of the NFL. He led the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl victory in 50 seasons, on the back of heroics both physical and mental.
We haven’t even discussed the fact that he’s won an NFL MVP, which makes him the youngest player to have ever won a regular season MVP award, the Super Bowl, and the Super Bowl MVP. Honestly, the list goes on and on.
While Dawson has time on Mahomes in terms of overall accomplishments, the potential of Mahomes career is like nothing we’ve ever seen. If he continues on this trajectory he will become the greatest that ever stepped on the gridiron. Lucky for Chiefs Kingdom, we get to be around for all of it. Sit back and enjoy.
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2. Len Dawson
For decades Len Dawson has been revered in Kansas City, and rightfully so. Surprising as it might be, the most revered quarterback in team history prior to Mahomes had a rough start to his professional career. He played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns over a five-year span and started in only two games. His stats were even less impressive, throwing for 204 yards, 2 touchdowns and 5 interceptions in those five seasons.
As the fifth overall pick in the 1957 NFL Draft, Dawson would be considered a major bust in today’s terms. Imagine if Todd Blackledge, one of the greatest draft busts in team history, wrapped his career in Kansas City and then went on to become a Hall of Famer with another team. Though Dawson was indeed a bust for the team that drafted him, he’d go on to do great things for another.
In Dawson’s first year with the Chiefs—then the Dallas Texans—Dawson would lead the franchise to its first AFL Championship. He’d set a blistering pace for the era by completing 61 percent of his passes for nearly 2,800 yards and 29 touchdowns en route to his first of multiple All-Pro honors. He was also an adept runner, rushing 38 times with a 6.6 yards per carry and 3 touchdowns.
That season, 1962, would be no fluke for Dawson. He’d finish his 13-year career firmly entrenched as one of the best players in team history. His high of 30 touchdown passes in 1964 would remain a top-10 mark in the NFL until the 1994 season, and the top mark in franchise history until 2018. His 9.4 yards per pass attempt in 1968 ranks 11th all time, and is still the top mark for a season in franchise history.
Truth be told, there’s a great argument to be made that Len Dawson is not only the best player in Chiefs history but also the most important. Take Dawson and the team’s success in the 1960s out of the equation, and you remove the majority of the franchise’s success.
In the end, Dawson had an impressive three AFL Championships to his name and one Super Bowl. No player in team history has amassed that type of record to this day. That said, expectations are high for the player checking in at number one on this list. If i was a betting man, I’d put my money on him surpassing Dawson’s accomplishments when it’s all said and done.
3. Alex Smith
Ah, Alex Smith. A quarterback that is remembered far more fondly than he was treated by the fan base as a whole while he was here. While he was maligned by sometimes being a game manager, he was the first stable quarterback that the franchise had had since Trent Green, and he won a lot more games than Green ever did.
He was the definition of a hard worker, but had the mental acuity to make that hard work truly pay off. He was inconsistent statistically, breaking 3,500 yards passing only twice and 20 touchdowns only three times during his five year stint with the team. However, his last year with the team he set the pace at the position for most of the season. He tapered off near the end but still managed to surpass 4,000 yards and throw for 26 touchdowns next to only 5 interceptions.
At the end of the day, Smith is remembered most for what he did best: he won games. He won 50 regular season games during his tenure with the team, almost as many as the nine years before him. He made the playoffs four out of five seasons and led the team to its first back-to-back division titles in franchise history. Finally, he helmed the team to the franchise’s first playoff win in 22 seasons, lifting a curse that had worn thin the hearts and minds of those in Chiefs Kingdom.
As time has gone on, and the good fortunes of Chiefs Kingdom have multiplied, I think most fans have come to the realization that Alex Smith was an absolutely integral piece to the Super Bowl puzzle. He brought an important stability to the position both on and off the field, something that hadn’t been seen since before the aforementioned Green. He was a gladiator on the field and a statesman off of it.
More importantly, he was the Jedi to Mahomes Padawan. Like a wise mentor guides their protege, Alex Smith willingly prepared the way for Patrick Mahomes to take the NFL by storm. It’s for this reason, along with being such a great winner in his time with the team, that Smith finds his place as the third best quarterback in Chiefs history.
4. Joe Montana
Joe Montana was the very definition of a quarterback you wanted under center. He had the championship pedigree as a leading member of one of the greatest dynasties in the history of sports. That gave him swagger in droves, with which he consistently snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Players like Montana, with the leadership and charisma to lead a band of 53 men into battle, only come around every once in a while.
You might be asking yourself: why isn’t Montana higher on this list of all-time Chiefs quarterbacks then? He’s one of only three to lead the franchise to the AFC Championship game, which he did in 1993 in his first season with the team. Had he not been knocked out of that game against the Buffalo Bills, there’s a chance the Chiefs win that game. We might have been talking about a much shorter Super Bowl drought for the franchise had the fates seen fit to smile upon Chiefs Kingdom in 1993.
That wasn’t the case. Unfortunately, for Chiefs Kingdom and the Schottenheimer regime, Montana was in fact rattled in a game in the only way he could be: physically. He was knocked out of the game early in the second half and was unable to captain the squad to a Super Bowl.
Aside from that fact, he only played for the franchise for two seasons. He’s beloved for what he did in those two years, and rightfully so. The fact remains that when people sit around and talk about Joe Montana, outside of Chiefs Kingdom, most are talking about his exploits in a different hue of red and gold.
Nevertheless, he is one of the most talented quarterbacks to ever play for the Chiefs. He brought great joy to a generation of Chiefs fans who had lived through the doldrums of the 1970s and 1980s, in which the team lost a great deal more than it won. For these exploits, he rightfully earns a place on this list at number four.
5. Trent Green
The Chiefs of the early ’00s would be a revelation from their past decade. The Chiefs teams of the 1990s operated in a system known to many as “Marty Ball” which focused heavily on running the ball and controlling the clock, while building a suffocating defense on the other side. They did this to great success and were a consistent postseason presence under Marty Schottenheimer.
With the departure of Schottenheimer and eventually Gunther Cunningham, a new era began in Kansas City with the hiring of Dick Vermeil. Trent Green, Tony Gonzalez, Priest Holmes, and a host of other offensive superstars would light the league on fire over a two-year stretch scarcely rivaled in the history of the NFL—even by the Chiefs teams of the last two seasons. The man at the helm of it all, and the subject of this spot on our list, was a true underdog.
An eighth round draft pick out of Indiana, Green didn’t play a snap in his first five seasons. After finally breaking out in his sixth season, he’d sign with the St. Louis Rams only to lose that starting job due to a gruesome knee injury. With future Hall of Famer Kurt Warner emerging from the shadows and leading the Rams to Super Bowl glory, Green would find his place backing up Warner the following season. His fall from grace saw him traded that offseason to the Chiefs for the 12th overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft.
In Kansas City, Green would be reunited with his former head coach Dick Vermeil and the rest is history. Over the next five seasons Green would complete 62 percent of his passes for 20,117 yards and 111 touchdowns. The team would struggle to maintain consistency, going 44-36 over that span, but that had more to do with the defense than the offense.
The Chiefs offensive units in 2002 and 2003 were two of the most dominant units in NFL history. It’s why Trent Green makes this list at number five. Unfortunately, it would be a long time before Chiefs Kingdom would see this type of offensive juggernaut again.
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