Kansas City Chiefs loved bringing in 49ers castoff quarterbacks

The Kansas City Chiefs finally have themselves a franchise quarterback and he led them to the Super Bowl for the first time in 50 years. Before Patrick Mahomes was a Chief, however, 49ers castoffs were always coming to KC.

Super Bowl LIV is this Sunday in Miami and it’ll pit the Kansas City Chiefs against the San Francisco 49ers. With these two teams squaring off in the sport’s biggest game, what better time than now to talk about the quarterback connections between these two?

Before Patrick Mahomes was quarterbacking the Chiefs and winning big games for them, the organization had a tough time finding a franchise quarterback. Maybe it was because they struck out in 1983 with their first round of selection of Todd Blackledge, but whatever the reason, the Chiefs didn’t attempt to draft a quarterback in the first round again until they took Mahomes in 2017.

Not only did the Chiefs not draft quarterbacks to take over their offense, but they were notorious for bringing in former 49ers quarterbacks to lead the charge. From Joe Montana to Alex Smith, the Chiefs would usually see success with the former San Francisco signal callers, but they never got to the Super Bowl and only made it to the AFC title game once.

More from Kansas City Chiefs

• How to Bet on the Chiefs vs. Cardinals in NFL Preseason Week 2
• The 3 Most Intriguing Games on the Chiefs’ Schedule
• DraftKings + FanDuel Kansas Promos: INSTANT $150 Bonus Plus Two Chances to Win!
• Fan-Favorite Locks Up Chiefs Roster Spot With Stellar Preseason Performance
• DraftKings NFL Kansas Promo: Bet $5 on Chiefs vs. Saints, Win $150 Bonus!

We’ll go a little out of order here when covering these guys, starting with the biggest name to come over from San Francisco: Joe Montana, who had won four Super Bowls during his time with the 49ers. The Niners opted to hand the keys off to Steve Young and that made Montana expendable. He wound up being traded to Kansas City and instantly made the Chiefs a Super Bowl contender.

While Montana was regarded as one of the best quarterbacks to ever play for the Chiefs, he only spent two seasons in Kansas City and was injured frequently during that time. KC made it to the AFC Championship in Montana’s first year with the team, but in year two, the Chiefs bowed out of the playoffs early, beginning the long streak of disappointing in the postseason.

Before Montana, the Chiefs brought in Steve DeBerg, who didn’t come directly to Kansas City from San Francisco. DeBerg had been a journeyman quarterback, playing for the 49ers, Broncos, and Buccaneers before landing in Kansas City. DeBerg managed to stay with the same team for several years and by the time he linked up with the Chiefs in 1988, he was in his mid 30s.

The Chiefs, rather than draft another quarterback after Blackledge had crashed and burned the way he did, opted to bring in DeBerg, who played for them for four years. The Chiefs had success with DeBerg, but he was never the exciting factor during his time in Kansas City.

More from KC Kingdom

• Win $650 GUARANTEED Plus $100 Off NFL Sunday Ticket With Caesars, FanDuel and DraftKings Kansas Promos!
• This Plus-Money Bobby Witt Jr. Prop Bet is on Fire (Hit in 15/21 Games)!
• How to Bet on the Chiefs vs. Cardinals in NFL Preseason Week 2
• The Royals Need to Extend Bobby Witt Jr. Immediately
• The 3 Most Intriguing Games on the Chiefs’ Schedule

After DeBerg came Montana and then the Chiefs turned to yet another 49ers castoff to take charge in Steve Bono, who made headlines by trashing Kansas City cuisine. Not a great way to introduce yourself to a new city, pal.

Bono only spent three years with the Chiefs and put up the best numbers of his career in KC. He was awful in that Divisional Round loss to the Colts and eventually lost his job to Rich Gannon.

Speaking of Gannon, he wasn’t a 49ers castoff, but he did compete with one in Elvis Grbac. Grbac, for all of his shortcomings, did show potential when he was a Chief, but we all know that the team made the wrong decision when picking him over Gannon and that decision still hurts fans to this day.

Last, but most certainly not least, we have Alex Smith, who the Chiefs traded for in 2013 after they went 2-14 and held the number one pick in the draft. With no quarterbacks worth taking in that spot, the Chiefs brought in Smith and paired him with Andy Reid and the rest is history.

No, Smith wasn’t the kind of guy who lit it up every week, but he did wonderful things for the Kansas City Chiefs while playing for them and he handled the transition from him to Mahomes with class. He didn’t have an attitude about the Chiefs drafting Mahomes and helped groom him during the 2017 season, even when he knew it meant his job was on the line.

Smith led the Chiefs to the playoffs in all but one season of his Chiefs tenure and he also had a winning record every year as well. He resurrected his career in Kansas City and will go down as one of the best quarterbacks in Chiefs history.

~~~

When looking back at what these signal callers did, a lot are still near the top when it comes to all-time records for the franchise. Smith and DeBerg are in the top five in passing yards while Grbac and Bono are in the top ten.

For whatever reason, the Chiefs loved bringing in former San Francisco guys to take the snaps on offense and more often than that, the team did have success with those players. They could never take them to the next level and that’s why the Chiefs knew they finally had to draft their own guy.