The Kansas City Chiefs are one of the most iconic teams in NFL history. While their franchise began as the AFL’s Dallas Texans and moved to Kansas City to become one of the AFL’s top teams before the merger became official in 1971, the Chiefs have produced some great teams including a recent run of success that has included three championships since 2019.
With great teams come great players and many of those who suited up in red and yellow have already made their way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But Canton only has room for so many and there is a group that is still waiting for the knock on the door every year when the induction class is announced.
There are many current players such as Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Chris Jones who will likely be inducted some day. But in this article, we’ll take a look at some of the great Chiefs from the past who currently aren’t in the Hall of Fame.
Greatest Kansas City Chiefs That Aren't in the Hall of Fame
- WR Otis Taylor (1965-75)
- K Nick Lowery (1978-93)
- S Deron Cherry (1981-91)
- DE Neil Smith (1988-96)
- HC Marty Schottenheimer (1989-2006)
- G Brian Waters (2000-13)
- FB Tony Richardson (1995-2010)
- RB Priest Holmes (1997-2007)
- WR Dante Hall (2000-08)
- LB Derrick Johnson (2005-18)
WR Otis Taylor (1965-75)
- 3rd in Chiefs history with 10,940 receiving yards and 82 touchdowns
- 6th in Chiefs history with 410 receptions
- 2x First-Team All-Pro (1966, 1971)
- 3x Pro Bowler (1966, 1971, 1972)
- Super Bowl champion (1970)
Taylor’s stats aren’t going to jump off the page in today’s NFL. But in the era he played in, he might as well have been Calvin Johnson. At 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, Taylor was much bigger than the players at his position during the 1960s. He was a strong blocker in the running game and tied for the AFL lead with 11 receiving touchdowns in 1967 and led the NFL with 1,110 receiving yards in 1971.
Given the context of football in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Taylor put up great numbers. But he was also clutch during the Chiefs’ run to win Super Bowl IV. Taylor was the AFL Championship MVP in 1969, catching three passes for 62 yards and followed it up by catching six passes for 81 yards including a 46-yard touchdown pass in the victory over the Minnesota Vikings.
While he reached the semi-finals for the 2023 induction class through the Seniors Committee, he has yet to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
K Nick Lowery (1978-93)
- 3x Pro Bowler
- 21st in NFL history with 1,711 points scored
- 80% career field goal conversion rate
- 383 converted field goals
- 6 missed PATs
It took a couple of years for Nick Lowery to stick in the NFL, but when he did, he became the greatest kicker in Chiefs history. During his time with the Chiefs, Lowery’s 80.2% field goal conversion rate was the highest among all kickers in the NFL and he led the league in conversion rate in three different seasons, knocking down 88.9% in 1985, 91.9% of his kicks in 1990 and 91.7% of his kicks in 1992.
Lowery also held the NFL records for field goals made and conversion rate during his career with his 80.0% clip — higher than Hall of Famers Jan Stenerud and Morten Andersen. What’s more impressive is that Lowery had a large part of his success outdoors and made 15 game-winning field goals including a 32-yard overtime winner in a Wild Card game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Specialists usually have a tough time getting enshrined in Canton, but Lowery’s resume suggests he should be in the conversation to get there some day.
S Deron Cherry (1981-91)
- 3rd in Chiefs history with 50 interceptions
- 3x First-Team All-Pro (1984, 1986, 1988)
- 2x Second-Team All-Pro (1983, 1985)
- Member of the 1980s All-Decade Team
- 50 career interceptions (10th in NFL history among safeties)
Initially an undrafted punter out of Rutgers, Deron Cherry converted to safety shortly after his rookie season in 1981 and became one of the best ballhawks in NFL history. He started his career slowly, with one interception in his first two seasons but exploded for 38 picks during a six-year stretch where he made the Pro Bowl annually from 1983 to 1988.
But Cherry has never been a finalist for the Hall of Fame due to the Chiefs’ lack of success during his career. Cherry didn’t make the playoffs with the Chiefs until 1986 and while he was with the team in 1990 and 1991, it was at the tail end of his career before hanging up the cleats.
While there are six safeties with 50 or more interceptions currently not in the Hall of Fame, Cherry has a case to get there someday.
DE Neil Smith (1988-96)
- 104.5 career sacks (38th officially since 1982)
- First-Team All-Pro in 1993
- 2x Second-Team All-Pro
- 6x Pro Bowl selection
- 2x Super Bowl Champion (1997, 1998)
- Member of the 1990s All-Decade Team
Derrick Thomas is already in the Hall of Fame, but Neil Smith had just as big of an impact, putting together a Hall of Fame-worthy resume during his nine years with the Chiefs and 13-year career.
Smith’s 104.5 career sacks was 28th in NFL history when he retired and his game was all about consistency. Smith registered six or more sacks in 10 different seasons and he had a four-year run of dominance where he logged 53.0 sacks from 1992 to 1995.
While he was an important part of the “Marty Ball” era, his play may have come at the wrong time. Thomas’s success may have drawn attention away from Smith and there were other great pass-rushers at the time who got more recognition including Reggie White, Chris Doleman and Bruce Smith.
Still, Smith was named to the All-Decade team in the 1990s and won a pair of Super Bowls after signing with the Denver Broncos following the 1996 season. With a pair of rings and a lot of sacks, Smith’s candidacy is a constant discussion with the NFL’s Senior Committee, but hasn’t been able to make it to Canton.
HC Marty Schottenheimer (1989-2006)
- 200-126-1 career regular season record (101-58-1 with Chiefs)
- .613 winning percentage
- 13 playoff appearances (7 with Chiefs)
- 2nd in Chiefs history with .634 winning percentage
- 3rd in Chiefs history with 101 wins
Between current Hall of Famer Hank Stram and future Hall of Famer Andy Reid, Marty Schottenheimer is one of the greatest coaches in Chiefs history. His 101 regular season wins ranks third in franchise history and his .634 winning percentage ranks second. Only Reid (11) has led the Chiefs to the playoffs more than Schottenheimer’s seven times during his tenure and his overall resume makes him one of eight coaches in NFL history with 200 wins.
Schottenheimer was a great coach overall but that changed when the playoffs rolled around, going 3-7 in the playoffs during his time in Kansas City. Two of those wins came during the 1993 season and even that year went upside down due to Schottenheimer’s decisions, pulling Derrick Thomas in an effort to stop the Buffalo Bills’ running game during the AFC Championship Game.
Reid and Bill Belichick are the only other coaches in NFL history to win 200 regular season games and not be inducted into the Hall of Fame but they’ll both receive gold jackets in the near future. A semifinalist for the Class of 2026, Schottenheimer could get in soon.
G Brian Waters (2000-13)
- 2x First-Team All-Pro (2004, 2005)
- 6x Pro Bowler (2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011)
- 2009 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award Winner
An undrafted guard out of North Texas, Waters spent his rookie year acclimating to the NFL before taking over a starting job during the 2001 season and never giving it back. Waters played in 163 total games and made 149 starts during his 11 seasons in Kansas City and became part of one of the greatest offensive lines in franchise history alongside Hall of Famers Willie Roaf and Will Shields and fellow Chiefs standout Casey Wiegmann.
While the group was tasked with protecting Trent Green, it also became a human snowplow as part of a dangerous rushing attack. Priest Holmes, Larry Johnson and Jamaal Charles all enjoyed 1,000-yard seasons running behind Waters in Kansas City and it helped the Chiefs go to the playoffs three times during his tenure.
Unfortunately, the Chiefs didn’t win a playoff game while Waters was there, losing in the divisional round after a bye in 2003 and a pair of Wild Card appearances in 2006 and 2010. He later went on to start every game for the 2011 New England Patriots team that went to the Super Bowl and is currently a semifinalist for the Class of 2006.
FB Tony Richardson (1995-2010)
- 2x Second-Team All-Pro (2004, 2007)
- 3x Pro Bowler (2003, 2004, 2007)
- 234 total games played (163 with Chiefs)
- Member of the 2000s All-Decade Team
We’re a long way from John Facenda, neck rolls and fullbacks, and a pure blocking fullback has never made their way into the Hall of Fame. But if there’s one fullback that should be the exception, it’s Tony Richardson.
A UDFA out of Auburn in 1995, Richardson doesn’t have the jaw-dropping stats of other fullbacks including Larry Csonka, Franco Harris or Jim Brown. But he does have a history of burying an opposing linebacker to create a hole for his running back.
Richardson served as the lead blocker during Holmes’s legendary three-year run from 2001-03 and later blocked for Johnson, who ran for 1,750 yards and 20 touchdowns during the 2005 season. Even before that Johnson helped Marcus Allen become an unstoppable threat at the goal line with 44 rushing touchdowns during Allen’s time in Kansas City.
After clearing the way for Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings and Thomas Jones of the New York Jets to earn 1,000-yard seasons after leaving Kansas City, Richardson has a resume worthy of Canton. But the current perception of the fullback position continues to leave him out of the conversation.
RB Priest Holmes (1997-2007)
- 3x First-Team All-Pro (2001, 2002, 2003)
- 3x Pro Bowler (2001, 2002, 2003)
- 2002 AP Offensive Player of the Year
- 2000 Super Bowl Champion with Baltimore Ravens
- 8,172 career rushing yards
- 86 career rushing touchdowns
Holmes is one of the more polarizing Hall of Fame candidates currently up for debate. His career wasn’t long with the majority of his production coming between the 2001 and 2003 seasons. But what he did in Kansas City made him one of the greatest running backs in franchise history.
Holmes had a 1,000-yard season in his second year with the Ravens, running for 1,008 yards and seven touchdowns in 1998. But after two more years as Jamal Lewis’ understudy, he arrived in Kansas City and ran wild behind an elite offensive line. From 2001 to 2003, Holmes ran for 4,590 yards and 56 touchdowns while adding 206 catches for 1,976 yards and five touchdowns. He led the league in yards from scrimmage in 2001 and 2002 led the league with 21 touchdowns in 2002 and set what was an NFL record with 27 touchdowns in 2003.
Of course, running behind multiple Hall of Famers and Chiefs legends Waters, Wiegmann and Richardson were part of the reason for success but outside of LaDanian Tomlinson in 2006 (28 TD) and Shaun Alexander in 2005 (27), no running back has even come close to matching Holmes with the most recent coming when Jonathan Taylor punched in 18 touchdowns during the 2025 season.
With Denver Broncos legend Terrell Davis already in the Hall of Fame after a similarly short career, Holmes is currently worth a look as a 2026 Modern-Era nominee.
WR Dante Hall (2000-08)
- 1x First-Team All-Pro (2003)
- 1x Second-Team All-Pro (2002)
- 2x Pro Bowler (2002, 2003)
- 14,386 total return yards
- 12 total return touchdowns
- Member of the 2000s All-Decade Team
Like Lowery, Hall doesn’t have a long precedent of players at his position to enter the Hall of Fame as a specialist. Former Chicago Bears legend Devin Hester is currently the only return specialist to be inducted into the Hall of Fame (2024), but he did it on the strength of an NFL record 14 punt return touchdowns and 19 total return touchdowns.
Still, if Hester is the best pure return specialist, Hall may be a close second. Nicknamed X-Factor and The Human Joystick for his ability in the open field, Hall was electric when the opposing team let him return a punt or a kick during his time in Kansas City. He returned six punts and six kickoffs for touchdowns during his nine-year career. But the most memorable may have been his 92-yard kickoff return for a score in the infamous “No Punt Game” against the Indianapolis Colts during the 2003 playoffs.
The ability earned Hall a spot on the 2000s All-Decade team and while return specialists have found it hard to get into Canton, Hester’s inclusion may have opened a path for him to get there someday.
LB Derrick Johnson (2005-18)
- 1x First-Team All-Pro (2011)
- 1x Second-Team All-Pro (2015)
- 4x Pro Bowler (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015)
- 1,171 total career tackles
- 955 solo tackles
Johnson was one of the most consistent defenders in Chiefs history as their first-round pick out of the University of Texas. His 1,154 total tackles and 941 solo tackles in Kansas City are both franchise records and he was also able to impact the game as a pass-rusher and a coverage linebacker with 14 interceptions, 27.5 sacks and 23 forced fumbles.
With the added impact of four interception returns for touchdowns, Johnson was a mainstay on the Kansas City defense before his departure following the 2017 season. While his production is deserving of getting into the Hall of Fame a constant line of elite linebackers including Luke Kuechly of the Carolina Panthers are also knocking on the door, potentially leaving Johnson with a long wait to get into Canton.