The best Kansas City Chiefs to ever wear the uniform: No. 45

In this special offseason series, we analyze the best players in Kansas City Chiefs history to wear every single uniform number. Here’s No. 45.

As we near the halfway point, we hope you’re enjoying this tour through Kansas City Chiefs history. I know, as the writer, it’s been nice for me to learn more about familiar names I’ve heard here and there, to unearth hidden gems and to confirm certain opinions.

In this case, the players who have worn No. 45 are an interesting lot, a mish-mash without any real common threads running between them who didn’t really enjoy that much productivity, save for our winner. Even then he didn’t play for the Chiefs all that long.

Still it’s nice to hear their stories, look at their stats and understand what they brought to the game.

The Others

What would be wonderful news for Chiefs fans is if the current wearer of No. 45 actually made this list somehow in the future, but it’s hard to see Ukeme Eligwe even getting a chance to do so. He was brought in as a very athletically gifted linebacker who could somehow supplant Derrick Johnson in a perfect world, but the Chiefs have made serious investments to bring over Reggie Ragland, Kevin Pierre-Louis and now Anthony Hitchens since then, which pretty much says what the coaching staff thinks of Eligwe’s starting chances.

Some of you will, of course, remember another recent wearer in tight end Leonard Pope. Cornerback Bucky Brooks, who now writes for NFL.com, played a limited run with the Chiefs. Cornerback Tony Stargell pulled into the driveway for one of seven years. Tight ends like Billy Baber, Mike Merritt and Jimmie Johnson all wore the number as well. A mish-mash.

The Runner-up: Robert Holmes

Robert Holmes currently sits at No. 18 among the Chiefs all-time rushing leaders, so it’s easy to overlook his contributions when taking a quick glance. However Holmes was a key figure on the Chiefs’ only Super Bowl winning team ever, a promising young fullback who had named to the Pro Bowl a season before, in 1969.

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Holmes played for the Chiefs from 1968, when he came in as a 14th round pick, until 1971 when he left to play for the Houston Oilers for two more seasons. During his tenure he split carries with Mike Garrett and Ed Podolak, which helps to explain the lack of lead back numbers. But he made the most of his opportunities and carved out a nice 4.2 yards/carry average in nearly four seasons with the Chiefs.

Unfortunately he passed away earlier this spring at his home in Canada.

The Winner: Dave Grayson

If you’re a younger fan of the Chiefs, then you might not realize that a few older players have a nice argument to be made for eventual Hall fo Fame inclusion. Johnny Robinson is likely the most compelling case on the outside looking in of any former Chiefs players, but Dave Grayson has a nice bit of supporting evidence himself.

Grayson played only eight full seasons in the NFL but found himself in the Pro Bowl for six of them—three times with the Dallas Texas/Kansas City Chiefs and the other three with the Oakland Raiders. His 48 career interceptions is actually more than Johnny Robinson during the team’s tenure in the AFL, which means that Grayson is forever immortalized as the AFL’s all time leader. (Robinson had a much longer career than Grayson.)

Grayson was also dangerous when given the football and it would be intriguing to consider what he could do in modern offenses. Grayson was a great kick returner who averaged 26.4 yards/return for the Chiefs and even ran one back 99 yards for a touchdown. When you add that to the fact that five of those INTs were returned for touchdowns and you have a guy who knows what to do once he has the ball.

Next: The Best to Wear It: No. 44

Congratulations to Dave Grayson for being the greatest Chiefs player to ever wear the No. 45 on his uniform!

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