In seven years as a professional, six as a starter, Patrick Mahomes has accomplished more than many superstar NFL quarterbacks accomplish in their entire careers. That’s why he finds himself atop the list of all-time great Kansas City Chiefs quarterbacks, a list that already includes a pair of Hall of Famers.
In half of his six seasons as QB1, Mahomes has won the Super Bowl and been named Super Bowl MVP every time. He’s also been named MVP of the league twice. While Mahomes is clearly the best quarterback in Chiefs history, we broke down the list of Kansas City’s all-time best at the position and narrowed the list to five.
Patrick Mahomes
It didn’t take long for Patrick Mahomes to become the best QB in Chiefs history
Mahomes is easily the best quarterback in the game today, and an argument can be made that he’s already one of the best ever after just seven NFL seasons. As a rookie, Mahomes played in one game, but in 2018, he took over for the Chiefs and also took over the league.
In his first season as the full-time starter, Mahomes gave the NFL a sign of things to come. He threw for 5,097 yards and a league-high 50 touchdown passes, guiding Kansas City into the AFC title game for the first of six straight seasons. He also earned the first of his two NFL MVP awards.
How does one follow a 50-yard TD and a 5,000-yard passing season? By going 11-3 in 14 starts and earning a victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 54. That’s exactly what Mahomes did in the 2019 season, signifying he was already one of the best quarterbacks in the game.
In 2020, he went 14-1 in his 15 starts and threw 38 touchdown passes against just six interceptions, leading the Chiefs back to the Super Bowl, where they lost to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The following year, he earned his fourth straight Pro Bowl selection by racking up 4,839 passing yards and 37 touchdown passes. He led the Chiefs to back-to-back Super Bowl wins following the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Mahomes is already second in franchise history with 28,424 passing yards, just 83 shy of Len Dawson’s mark, and his 219 touchdown passes also rank second to Dawson’s 237.
Len Dawson
For now, Len Dawson still remains the Chiefs’ all-time passing leader
Len Dawson is such an old-school player for the Chiefs that they were still the Dallas Texans when he began his run with the franchise.
The Purdue alum began his pro career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who selected him in the first round of the 1957 NFL Draft with the fifth overall pick. He spent three seasons in Pittsburgh and two years with the Cleveland Browns, making just two starts in those five seasons.
Ahead of the 1962 season, Dawson signed with the AFL’s Texans and became an instant star, leading Dallas to an 11-3 record and leading the league with 29 touchdown passes. The following season, the team moved to Kansas City and became the Chiefs.
Dawson, who ultimately played 14 seasons with the franchise before retiring following the 1975 season, was a six-time AFL All-Star, a one-time Pro Bowler following the 1970 merger, a three-time AFL champ, and a Super Bowl champion, also earning Super Bowl MVP honors in the Chiefs’ Super Bowl 4 victory over the Minnesota Vikings.
One of the most accurate passers of his era, Dawson led the AFL in completion percentage seven times, including six straight seasons from 1964 to 1969, and then again in the NFL during his final season. He also led the AFL in touchdown passes four times.
Dawson went 93-56-8 as the Dallas/Kansas City starting quarterback. His 28,507 passing yards are tops in franchise history, as are his 237 touchdown passes.
The four-time All-AFL QB was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987.
Alex Smith
Alex Smith earned all three Pro Bowl selections with the Chiefs
While he was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers, Alex Smith made plenty of noise with the Chiefs.
Smith played seven seasons with the 49ers (and missed one because of a shoulder injury), putting up some solid numbers. He went 38-36-1 and threw 81 touchdown passes before the Chiefs traded for him prior to the 2013 season. He spent five seasons in Kansas City, earning Pro Bowl selections in three of them.
In his first season with the Chiefs, Smith went 11-4 in his 15 starts, throwing 23 touchdown passes and completing 60.6% of his passes. But despite Smith’s 378 yards and four touchdown passes, the Chiefs lost to the Indianapolis Colts in the Wild Card Round of the postseason, falling 45-44.
In 2015, Smith led the Chiefs back into the playoffs after going 11-5. In the playoff opener, they crushed the Houston Texans, 30-0, but then fell to the New England Patriots, 27-20. In the 2016 and 2017 seasons, Smith was named to the Pro Bowl. He went 20-10 in those seasons and led the Chiefs to the playoffs both years.
Smith is fourth on the team’s all-time passing list with 17,608 yards and compiled a 50-26 regular-season record as a starter over five seasons before making way for Mahomes.
Smith closed his NFL career by playing with the team now known as the Washington Commanders from 2018 to 2020, famously suffering a life-threatening injury before making a miraculous comeback.
Trent Green
After a gruesome knee injury with the Rams, Trent Green found his groove with the Chiefs
After spending two years each with Washington and the then-St. Louis Rams, Trent Green recovered nicely from a gruesome leg injury with the Rams that forced him to miss the entire 1999 season. That injury opened the door for future Hall of Famer Kurt Warner, and Green found a new home in Kansas City for the 2001 season.
It took a couple of years in Kansas City for Green to find his groove, but he eventually worked things out. In his first season with the Chiefs, he put up some solid numbers, throwing for 3,783 yards and 17 touchdown passes. His 24 interceptions, however, were the most in the league.
In his second season in KC, he racked up 3,690 passing yards and threw 26 touchdown passes. He drastically cut down his interceptions, throwing 13, but the Chiefs missed the playoffs after going 8-8.
Green had his best season in Kansas City in 2003, leading the Chiefs to a 13-3 record after throwing for 4,039 yards and 24 touchdown passes to earn the first of his two Pro Bowl selections. He returned to the Pro Bowl in 2005 after leading the Chiefs to a 10-6 mark, completing 62.5% of his passes and notching his third straight 4,000-yard passing season.
In his six seasons with the Chiefs, Green didn’t miss a start until his final campaign with the team and went 48-40 as QB1. He closed out his career by playing one season with the Miami Dolphins before returning to St. Louis for one final season in 2008.
Joe Montana
An aging Joe Montana showed he still had it in his two seasons with the Chiefs
While there’s no question Joe Montana was a better overall quarterback than Smith and Green, his time in Kansas City was simply too short to place him above those two on this list.
After an illustrious career with the 49ers, with whom he won four Super Bowls and was named NFL MVP twice, Montana was traded to the Chiefs before the 1993 season and played two strong seasons in Kansas City. Although he played just those two years with the Chiefs, he edged Bill Kenney and Steve DeBerg to land fifth on this list.
While Montana was clearly on the downside of his Hall of Fame career, he had a Pro Bowl season in his first year in Kansas City after going 8-3 in 11 starts. He completed 60.7% of his passes and threw for 2,144 yards in those 11 games, leading the Chiefs to their first division title in 22 years.
Montana also led the Chiefs to the AFC title game against the Buffalo Bills that season. The veteran quarterback, however, went down with a concussion in the third quarter, and the Bills went on to post a 30-13 victory.
In 1994, Montana’s last year in the NFL, he played all but two games and helped the 9-7 Chiefs return to the postseason. They lost in the opening round to the Miami Dolphins.
In his two seasons with the Chiefs, Montana went 17-8, completed 60.7% of his passes, and threw for 5,427 yards and 29 touchdowns.
