A Look At The Kansas City Chiefs All-Time Greats

by primetime 07 on Sep 26, 2008 6:10 AM CDT

Pro Football Reference is an excellent resource that, like Football Outsiders, provides a bounty of untraditional statistics intended to accurately identify trends throughout NFL history.

This particular chart was created from the Approximate Value method. The idea behind it is to determine the best all-time players for each club. The folks over at PFR can explain it better than my 5AM, caffeine-less mind can right now so head on over there and check it out.

Halfbacks and fullbacks were lumped into one category along with tight ends and receivers.

Today we'll look at the offense and soon enough I'll post the defense.

QB	Len Dawson	98
RB	Priest Holmes	69
RB	Ed Podolak	54
RC	Tony Gonzalez	94
RC	Fred Arbanas	66
RC	Otis Taylor	65
RC	Henry Marshall	53
T	Jim Tyrer	95
T	John Alt	68
G	Will Shields	95
G	Ed Budde	77
C	Jack Rudnay	62

In an ideal situation, I'd like to see Dwayne Bowe and Brandon Albert up on that list someday. Other than that, I don't think we have any offensive players on the current team that will warrant consideration.

What other current players have a shot to replace one of the all-time greats on there?

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Larry Johnson?

by gowildcats on Sep 26, 2008 8:17 AM CDT 0 recs

What?

You’re joking right? LJ can run the ball like very few people ever could, but by no means is he one of the best backs of all time (or even in Chiefs’ history). A truly great RB can not only run the ball, he can catch it and can through a solid block. LJ has never been able to either of the last two things. We still take him off the field in passing situations. Heck, we trust our rookies and second year RBs more than LJ on passing downs. No way he could ever be considered one of the best RBs, but maybe one of the better runners.

by Chiefs4Life on Sep 26, 2008 10:12 AM CDT up 1 recs

Spelling

My bad; I wrote ‘through’ instead of ‘throw’. Just because this is a comment section few people read does not excuse poor grammar. More to the point, it doesn’t change the fact that LJ is NOT a GREAT running back. I’d much rather have a healthy Holmes or Marcus Allen than LJ. Heck, Christian Okoye might rank above LJ on my list for all-time great Chiefs RBs. And I know it would be difficult but I wish they didn’t lump certain categories together. Very few TEs or FBs would show up on a list like this. That seems a disservice to great players like Tony Richardson.

by Chiefs4Life on Sep 26, 2008 12:39 PM CDT up 0 recs

I think it's the best part

Just because this is a comment section few people read does not excuse poor grammar.

Frankly, the comment section is more entertaining than the posts some of the time. I think it’s what makes people coming back :)

by primetime 07 on Sep 26, 2008 12:41 PM CDT up 0 recs

Hell Yeah

It’s fun to spar with other readers :)

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Sep 26, 2008 1:03 PM CDT up 0 recs

He has been compared to Jim Brown,

although not playing like it recently…..all I want to know is where is Willie Roaf?

by Shawn on Sep 26, 2008 8:41 AM CDT 0 recs

Probably

Not enough seasons with the Chiefs.

by primetime 07 on Sep 26, 2008 10:10 AM CDT up 0 recs

Ah good point

by Shawn on Sep 26, 2008 1:21 PM CDT up 0 recs

I wanted to throw this in the mix of past Chief offensive players

“Everyone knew Delaney was a great player. But that was only a small part of what made him so special to us. As a young rookie, he played with cracked ribs, a broken wrist and a sprained knee. Then he had the courage to come back in his second year with detached retinas in both eyes, knowing that there was a chance he would lose his sight. When those little kids needed help, he gave up his life trying to save them. He wasn’t a swimmer…the man had a tremendous heart, he was special.” Tom Condon, former Chiefs offensive lineman.

In this day and time when we see the talk about football injuries, we tend to forget that in the past it may have not been the wisest idea, but the old shake it off and get back in there was the true measure of a man.

This information came form a very good source on Chiefs History.
Kansas City Chiefs Encyclopedia by Mark Stallard, second edition

by Lanier63 on Sep 26, 2008 8:49 AM CDT 0 recs

Budde's Name Is Misspelled

No “H”

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Sep 26, 2008 10:07 AM CDT 0 recs

Got it

Thanks

by primetime 07 on Sep 26, 2008 10:13 AM CDT up 0 recs

Met His Son

When he played at KU while I was there. Fred Arbanas’ son also played TE for the Jayhawks, he was friends with my brother, ran into him at my brother’s house parties…nice guy and had some talent but the offensive coordinator for the Hawks at the time (Pat Golden Ruhle) didn’t like the kid.

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Sep 26, 2008 10:16 AM CDT up 0 recs

I figured

You would blame the AD and not the OC :)

by primetime 07 on Sep 27, 2008 2:24 AM CDT up 0 recs

The Reason I Blame The OC

Was that when I went to an alumni function for KU with my uncle where Ruehl was speaking regarding the KU offense for the upcoming season (1995 I think it was) I got to talk to Ruehl after his speech and when I brought up that I knew Arbanas Ruehl went right into ripping on the guy. From the way he talked it sounded like an extremely personal animosity.

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Sep 27, 2008 11:25 AM CDT up 0 recs

Plus

Pat Ruehl was a terrible offensive coordinator. His ineptitude was covered by the fact that Mason was an outstanding recruiter, but he and Mason always had questionable strategies on offense. In big games they’d usually blow at least one or two critical moments with a mind-bogglingly unwise play or two. So I wasn’t inclined to give Ruehl the benefit of the doubt :)

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Sep 27, 2008 11:29 AM CDT up 0 recs

I Was Digging Around For Information On Metrics For Football The Other Day

Missed this, though. Good find, Primetime.

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Sep 26, 2008 10:09 AM CDT 0 recs

Check out

The PFR blog. Pretty good.

by primetime 07 on Sep 26, 2008 10:13 AM CDT up 0 recs

Here

Here it is. And if you catch it in time the top article concerns a QB whom folks around here have suggested that we pick up.

by primetime 07 on Sep 27, 2008 2:26 AM CDT up 0 recs

No Jan Stenerud

Pretty sure he should be on that list.

have you seen my baseball?

by IISaiNtII on Sep 26, 2008 10:12 AM CDT 0 recs

Unless this isn't to include ST

then my mistake. Just caught that.

have you seen my baseball?

by IISaiNtII on Sep 26, 2008 10:13 AM CDT up 0 recs

Brad Cottam and Larry Johnson.

by CBaller13 on Sep 26, 2008 10:30 AM CDT 0 recs

Juries out on LJ....

If you are measuring one or two seasons then Barry Word or as mentioned above, Okoye would be on there. LJ has the talent certainly, but if you don’t have the heart, then what good are you?
Honestly I can think of a lot of Chiefs from the last twenty years that stick out, but any teams before that, I am going to have to depend on the more “senior” people.
Offensively – While the ydon’t warrant being “the man” on this list – Honorable mentions certainly have to go to Kimble Anders, Tony Richardson, Willie Roaf, Marcus Allen and for ST Nick Lowery. I do agree that Stenarud definitely belongs there. And Marcus Allen went in the HoF as a Chief so he should get some consideration. Probably a better overall back than Priest, but Priest holds the records…
And on any defensive list you would have to list at least half the players on the teams of the 90’s. With Dan Saleamua in the middle of the Neil Smith/DThomas lines you knew we had a chance to win every single week.
My most memorable seasons were the Steve DeBerg/Joe Montana years, or the QB geriatric age for the Chiefs.

by KCAl on Sep 26, 2008 2:29 PM CDT up 0 recs

Grunny!

Should he be on the list, had some pretty good running teams with him as center. Speaking of him, at this point I would like to see either him or Will Shields as the Chiefs next o-line coach.

by Eric Allen on Sep 27, 2008 4:30 PM CDT 0 recs