gold star for USAHOF

The Hall of Fame career of Willie Roaf was more synonymous with the New Orleans Saints but it cannot be discounted just how good Roaf remained when he was traded to the Chiefs for his final four seasons in the NFL.

There are a lot of strange stories to get to a sporting Hall of Fame but there are few that were as unlikely as that of Jan Stenerud.

Dave Szott was drafted in the 7th Round out of Penn State and he took the teaching from legendary coach Joe Paterno to carve out a fourteen season career in the NFL, the first eleven of which were with the Kansas City Chiefs.  Szott started 136 of his 142 Games in KC and the Left Guard would be named a First Team All-Pro in 1997.

14. Ed Budde

Ed Budde is another member of the Super Bowl IV and 1966 AFL Championship team that has earned a high spot on this list.  The longtime Left Guard started every game from 1963 to 1971 and was a five-time AFL All-Star and two time Pro Bowl Selection.  Budde was especially singled out for his handling of opposing end, Alan Page of the Minnesota Vikings during the Chiefs Super Bowl win.  He is also a member of the All-Time AFL Team, and was the 1984 inductee to the Chiefs Hall of Fame.
In terms of overall Games Played in Professional Football, Abner Haynes is not in the top 50 in regards to the Kansas City Chiefs but he certainly made the most of his time there.

After being drafted from North Texas, Haynes would become a dominant star in the American Football League and he was their Rookie of the Year winning the inaugural AFL rushing title.  Notably, the Running Back was not just the first AFL Rookie of the Year, he was the first AFL Player of the Year.  In the first three seasons of the American Football League’s existence, he would finish first in Rushing Touchdowns, and in his five seasons with the Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs, he was easily one of their first star skill players.  He finished his Texans/Chiefs career with 6,553 Yards from Scrimmage with 56 Touchdowns.  In 1991, Haynes was elected into the Chiefs Hall of Fame.

Neil Smith was the second overall pick in the 1988 Draft and the former Nebraska Cornhusker would emerge as the star Defensive End for the Chiefs for years.  Smith was a Pro Bowler from 1991 to 1995 and in those last four years, he finished double digits in the Sack department.  His best total was in 1993 when he finished atop the National Football League with 15 and he would have 85.5 Sacks for the Chiefs.

The overall Kansas City Chief resume of Larry Johnson is an inconsistent one.  A 2003 First Round Draft Pick from Penn State, Johnson was not someone who Head Coach Dick Vermeil particularly wanted and their relationship was off to a rocky start.  Johnson saw very little playing time and it took an injury to the incumbent Priest Holmes in Johnson’s second year for him to see any real action, but that would change in 2005.

A Pro Bowl Selection in 1999, Tim Grunhard was drafted in the second round from Notre Dame in 1990 and in his sophomore season was affixed as the starting Center, a position he would hold for the next ten years.  A good player throughout his career, Grunhard was also known for his philanthropic endeavors in the Kansas City community throughout his time as a Kansas City Chief.

36. Jim Lynch

Playing all 151 of his Games in the National Football League with the Kansas City Chiefs the former Maxwell Award winner from Notre Dame had a very good professional career.  The durable Linebacker started every game he played in after his rookie season (10 seasons) and he was named an AFL All-Star in 1968 while also being named a Second Team All-Pro that year and the next one.  Lynch would record 17 Interceptions over his career and he would help Kansas City win Super Bowl IV.  The Chiefs inducted Lynch into their Hall of Fame in 1990.

Jamaal Charles would take over the starting Running Back job when Larry Johnson went down to injury but it didn’t take long for Charles to make Chiefs fans to forget the very capable Johnson.

The kicking game in professional football is a job that has a fickle fan base for sure but the Chiefs fans were certainly happy with the man who held that position for them from 1980 to 1993.

Trent Green was a pretty good Quarterback who posted better statistics than you might remember.  Green got off to a rough start in his first season with Kansas City as he was prone to Interceptions but from 2003 to 2005 he would throw for over 4,000 Yards with at least 24 Touchdown Passes.  In those years he was second in Passing Yards.  He would be named a Pro Bowl twice (2003 & 2005) and while he may not have been considered among the elite in pivots he was certainly very good for a time at the most important position in team sports.

Drafted by the Dallas Texans in 1961, Fred Arbanas would establish himself as one of the top Tight Ends of the American Football League immediately.  Arbanas was named an AFL All-Star in his rookie year and he would be named that honor another four times with the Texans/Chiefs.

Berry was drafted 5th overall in 2010 from the University of Tennessee and the former SEC Defensive Player of the Year did not disappoint.  A Pro Bowl selection as a rookie, he would sit out almost all of the 2011 season only to come back better than ever in 2012 returning to the Pro Bowl.  He would do it again in 2013 this time adding a First Team All-Pro to his accolades.

Priest Holmes had a 1,008 Yard rushing season for the Baltimore Ravens in 1998 however in the next two seasons he did not get past 600 so it was safe to say that Ravens fans may not have been that concerned when he signed with the Kansas City Chiefs before the 2001 season.  As it turned out they would have been wrong.

Jack Rudnay may have earned a Super Bowl Championship in his rookie season, but he never played a game due to injury.  Still, we have no problem putting him on this list of the Top 50 Kansas City Chiefs of all-time based on what he did after.

Exceptionally quick and tall, Albert Lewis had a really good career that was capped by four straight (1987-90) Pro Bowl seasons for the Chiefs.  The Cornerback would seemingly improve every season throughout the 80’s culminating in First Team All Pro Selections in 1989 and 1990.  Lewis would secure 38 picks for the Chiefs and was also adept on Special Teams where he would block 11 kicks.  The Chiefs enshrined Lewis into their Hall of Fame in 2007.

Brian Waters was undrafted out of North Texas but the big man from Waxahachie would be picked up a year later after a failed attempt to crack the Dallas Cowboys roster.  Waters would slowly improve and by 2002 he was the starting Left Guard.  In 2004 he elevated his play so much that in a game where the Chiefs would score eight Rushing Touchdowns that he would be named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week, the first time a Lineman would win that honor.  For his overall efforts, he would be named a First Team All-Pro and went to his first Pro Bowl.  He would repeat the First Team All-Pro and Pro Bowl accolade in 2005 and he would go to three more Pro Bowls (2006, 2008 & 2010) as a Kansas City Chief.  Waters was also known for his off-field efforts with the community and he would win the Walter Payton Man of the Year in 2009.

In the period where Otis Taylor played (in relation to the Kansas City Chiefs) the defensive skills of the team were clearly the stars.  This did not mean that there were not offensively capable players for KC as players like Otis Taylor can prove that to be the case.

Originally from Liberia, Tamba Hali arrived in the United States at age 10 and the athletically gifted youngster took to football like a duck to water.  Hali went to Penn State and the Chiefs would draft him 20th overall in 2006 and he played Defensive End for the first three seasons of his career.  Moving to the Right Outside Linebacker in 2009, he would net 14.5 Quarterbacks in 2010 and would have double-digit Sacks again in 2011 and 2013 and from 2011 to 2015 he would be chosen for the Pro Bowl.