The Kansas City Chiefs haven’t had what most would consider to be a franchise quarterback for 20 years. In 1993, the greatest quarterback to ever play the game, Joe Montana, graced the Chiefs with his presence for his final two years in the NFL. Since Joe Montana announced his retirement the Kansas City Chiefs have been thrown into a quarterback purgatory, but it’s by their own doing. They simply refuse to take a real chance at finding their own franchise quarterback. They haven’t drafted a quarterback in the 1st round in a mind-numbing 31 years and haven’t even drafted one in the 2nd round in 22 years! Since 1995, the Chiefs have had 14 quarterbacks start a game and none of them can be considered a franchise quarterback; let’s take a look at this wondrous list of quarterbacks.
| 2013 | Alex Smith (15) / Chase Daniel (1) | |
| 2012 | Matt Cassel (8) / Brady Quinn (8) | |
| 2011 | Matt Cassel (9) / Tyler Palko (4) / Kyle Orton (3) | |
| 2010 | Matt Cassel (15) / Brodie Croyle (1) | |
| 2009 | Matt Cassel (15) / Brodie Croyle (1) | |
| 2008[e] | Brodie Croyle (3) / Tyler Thigpen (11) / Damon Huard (2) | |
| 2007 | Brodie Croyle (10) / Damon Huard (6) | |
| 2006 | Trent Green (8) / Damon Huard (8) | |
| 2005 | Trent Green (16) | |
| 2004 | Trent Green (16) | |
| 2003 | Trent Green (16) | |
| 2002 | Trent Green (16) | |
| 2001 | Trent Green (16) | |
| 2000 | Elvis Grbac (15) / Warren Moon (1) | |
| 1999 | Elvis Grbac (16) | |
| 1998 | Rich Gannon (10) / Elvis Grbac (6) | |
| 1997 | Elvis Grbac (10) / Rich Gannon (6) | |
| 1996 | Steve Bono (13) / Rich Gannon (3) | |
| 1995 | Steve Bono (16) |
There are two quarterbacks some of you will look at and say well what about him? While Rich Gannon did provide a spark here in Kansas City, he wasn’t the MVP he’d later become with the Raiders. He went on to have late career success with a Super Bowl caliber Oakland Raiders team under the guidance of Jon Gruden. The other quarterback is Trent Green who was an above average quarterback surrounded with the best offensive line in the NFL at the time and arguably of all-time. Trent also had a great run game with Priest Holmes, Tony Richardson, and a great run blocking tight end in Jason Dunn. Let us not forget the best tight end in NFL history, Tony Gonzalez.
The other four long-term starting quarterbacks this franchise has had since 1995 are Steve Bono, Elvis Grbac, Matt Cassel, and Alex Smith who have been the epitome of mediocre. Let’s take a look at their stats as Kansas City Chiefs and marvel at how this franchise has continued down this same path for 20 years and counting.
Steve “Hard Cadence Hall of Famer/Bonehead” Bono
Elvis “Please leave the building” Grbac
Matt “Screech Powers” Cassel
Alex “Captain Checkdown” Smith
