Kansas City Chiefs have really carved a name for themselves as one of the American Football Team with the great quarterbacks in its history. Ever since the team was founded in 1960 by Lamar Hunt, many quarterbacks have come and gone but there are some quarterbacks that have played a remarkable career while part of the team.
There have been several debates online regarding the overall best quarterbacks in the history of the Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes and Len Dawson were the only two out of the many to be mentioned.
Submissions and reactions monitored from major online communities revealed that Len Dawson is the best quarterback in Chiefs history, but as long as Patrick Mahomes continues to produce as he has throughout the early portion of his career, he’ll undeniably become the top quarterback in franchise history.
Who Was the First Quarterback for the Chiefs?
Cotton Davidson was the starting quarterback in the franchise’s first game before moving to Kansas City, the Chiefs were the Dallas Texans from 1960-62. Len Dawson was the first quarterback once in Kansas City.
Who Is the Current Starting Quarterback for the Chiefs?
Patrick Mahomes is the starting quarterback for the Chiefs.
7 Best Quarterbacks in Kansas City Chiefs History
1. Len Dawson
Len Dawson, once in Kansas was the first quarterback in the Chiefs’ history. Dawson was picked up by former Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns quarterback Len Dawson. Before joining the Chiefs on June 30, 1962, he spent five years playing professional football and had completed 21 passes on 27 tries.
He helped the Texans now the Kansas City Chiefs win the AFL championship in 1962 and later led the Chiefs to a championship in Super Bowl IV.
He had a career-high in passing yards with 2,879 and touchdown passes with 30. To this day, no quarterback in Chiefs history has surpassed his touchdown total.
2. Patrick Mahomes
Mahomes is arguably the best quarterback ever in the history of the Kansas City Chiefs. Prior to joining the Chiefs, he played college football and college baseball at Texas Tech University. Following his sophomore year, he quit baseball to focus solely on football.
The 26-year-old joined the Chiefs in 2017 and was the tenth overall selection by the team. In 2018, Mahomes was named the starter after the Chiefs traded Smith to the Washington Redskins. That season, Mahomes threw for 5,097 yards, 50 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. He became the only quarterback in history to throw for over 5,000 yards in a season in both college and the NFL.
During 2019-2020 season, he led the Chiefs to Super Bowl LIV, their first Super Bowl appearance in 50 years, where they defeated the San Francisco 49ers for their first Super Bowl victory since 1970. Mahomes was awarded the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player for his performance, the second African-American quarterback to win the award after Doug Williams, and youngest overall.
He is widely regarded as the second-youngest quarterback, after Ben Roethlisberger, to win a Super Bowl. In 2020, he signed a 10-year contract extension worth $477 million with another $26 million in potential bonuses, for a total of $503 million, making it the second-largest known contract in sporting history.
Mahomes has completed 1,114 of 1,687 passes for 14,152 yards and 114 touchdowns. He’s thrown just 24 interceptions, a rate of 1.4%, and posted a 38–8 record.
3. Alex Smith
Born May 7, 1984, Alex Smith is a former American football player who played in the National Football League for 16 seasons. He played college football at Utah, where he was recognized as an All-American and led his team to victory in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl.
Prior to joining Kansas City Chiefs, Smith played for the 49ers for several strong seasons. He is one of the quarterbacks that is remembered far more fondly than he was treated by the fan base as a whole while he was active.
He joined the Chiefs in 2013 after the 49ers agreed to trade him for the Chiefs’ second-round pick in the 2013 NFL Draft and a conditional pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. The deal was officially announced at the beginning of the new league year on March 12.
He had several recognitions to his credit namely; Most rushing yards by a quarterback, season: 498 (2015), Most consecutive passes without an interception: 312 (Week 3–Week 14, 2015) 2nd all-time in NFL history, Highest completion percentage, season (min. 200 attempts): 67.1 (2016), Highest completion percentage, playoff game: 77.3 (vs Texans 2015–16 Wild Card Round) and Highest completion percentage in a game (minimum 20 passes): 86.4 (Week 6, 2016 against the Oakland Raiders).
4. Joe Montana
Joe Montana is an American Football Player who led the 49ers to win four Super Bowls including consecutive wins in 1989 and 1990 was named the Super Bowl’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) three times. He was officially selected late in the third round of the 1979 draft by San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh.
Montana then joined Kansan City Chiefs in 1993 before retiring. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000. Nicknamed “Joe Cool”, Montana is also positioned among football’s unsurpassed innovators in passing yards (40,551) and score passes (273). Montana was known for his capacity to tranquility carry his group to triumph from the edge of a rout during the last moments of the game.
5. Trent Green
Being played for fifteen seasons, Trent Green has gotten back to activity in Week 10 and went 4–3 down the stretch to get the Chiefs into the postseason. Green is second unequaled in Chiefs history in the wake of finishing 1,720 of 2,777 passes for 21,459 yards and 118 scores, however, he couldn’t get a season finisher to win for Kansas City. As a starter, he posted a record of 48–40.
