List of Kansas City Chiefs starting quarterbacks

The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League (NFL). Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL). In 1963, the team moved to Kansas City, Missouri and were renamed the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chiefs have had 57 different quarterbacks attempt a pass, 39 different starting quarterbacks, and 19 different quarterbacks start at least 10 games. Eleven different quarterbacks have been named to either the AFL All-Star team or Pro Bowl for a total of 25 selections. Five of those quarterbacks have been name All-Star or Pro Bowl multiple times. Eleven of the Chiefs starting quarterbacks have led the Chiefs to the playoffs, however, only five have won a playoff game.^[1] Patrick Mahomes has been the Chiefs' starting quarterback since 2018. Mahomes has been the full-time starting quarterback since the beginning of the 2018 season, when he broke multiple single season team records and became the first Chiefs player to win MVP. However, after Mahomes and backup QB Gardner Minshew III injured themselves in December of 2025, Their emergency 3rd quarterback Chris Oladokun became the starter while they recover. Cotton Davidson was the team's first starting quarterback. He played all 14 games for the Texans in their inaugural 1960 season.^[2] Davidson played with the franchise from 1960 to 1962,^[3] and was traded in 1963 to the Oakland Raiders.^[4] Len Dawson signed with the Chiefs (then known as the Texans) on July 2, 1962, and played for the franchise for 14 seasons.^[4][5] With Dawson as the team's starter, the Texans/Chiefs won three American Football League championships and appeared in two Super Bowl championship games.^[5] Dawson was named Most Valuable Player after the Chiefs' victory in Super Bowl IV and retired in 1975 with several franchise records.^[5][6] Three quarterbacks currently in the Pro Football Hall of Fame have started at least one game for Kansas City: Dawson, Joe Montana, and Warren Moon. The most quarterbacks started in one season was five in 1987, however, this was primarily due to the player strike that led to teams using replacement players. The Chiefs have had the same quarterback start every game in a season 15 times. Trent Green started the most consecutive games with 81. Mahomes and Dawson are the only quarterbacks to lead the Chiefs to the Super Bowl, I and IV for Dawson and LIV, LV, LVII, LVIII, and LIX for Mahomes, with the Chiefs winning IV, LIV, LVII, and LVIII.