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It's hard to argue with this entry. It's easy to argue with its position.
The NFL recently released its list of the 20 best free agent signings in league history. It's the sort of offseason column that fills the gaps after free agency has settled, but we're intrigued nonetheless. Only one Chiefs transaction made the list: Priest Holmes.
Priest Holmes landed at No. 13 overall. It was the only entry for the Chiefs, which makes sense if you're putting this list together with only the NFL in mind (more in a second). Here was their entry:
Holmes served as a backup on the Baltimore Ravens' Super Bowl XXXV-winning team in 2000. A year later, Holmes was with the Chiefs and embarking on an epic three-year run of production that delighted fantasy football players the world over and helped him set team career records for rushing yards, rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns. In 2001, Holmes became the first undrafted player in league history to become the leading rusher (1,555 yards). Holmes wasn't done. He led the league in rushing touchdowns the next two seasons. Holmes earned NFL Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2002, and Holmes' 27 rushing touchdowns in 2003 set a record (which has been broken twice since then).
It's hard to add more to that resume, except to say that even after reading all of that, I still felt like it's hard to encapsulate just how exciting it was to see a player produce so much offense. Watching Holmes do his thing was a real joy, week in and week out.
That said, Holmes is hardly the best signing in Chiefs history (at least for me). He's not even the second best. Two men who have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame were signed by as free agents by this franchise: quarterback Len Dawson and defensive back Emmitt Thomas.
But therein lies the technicality. Those players were both signed by the Dallas Texans during the franchise's AFL days. Given the title of best in NFL history, there's an ability to leave out such storied players from such a list.
Are there others that have slipped through? Any other players who deserve consideration as the Chiefs greatest free agent signing of all time? Maybe we'll speak of Rod Streater like this some day.