Where does Alex Smith rank among the Kansas City Chiefs best quarterbacks ever?

Here are the numbers for all the quarterbacks not named Montana, Green, or Smith over the last 30 years while they were playing for the Chiefs.

Note: All numbers were collected from Pro Football Reference.

Steve Deberg – 1988-1991, 51 starts, 31-20-1 record (60.8% winning percentage)
2 playoff appearances, 1-2 playoff record
57.8% completion percentage, 81.8 quarterback rating
11,873 yards, 7.3 yards per attempt, 208.3 yards per game
67 touchdowns, 50 interceptions

Dave Krieg – 1992-1993, 21 starts, 13-8 record (61.9% winning percentage)
1 playoff appearance, 0-1 playoff record
55.6% completion percentage, 80.4 quarterback rating
4,353 yards, 7.2 yards per attempt, 155.5 yards per game
22 touchdowns, 15 interceptions

Steve Bono – 1994-1996, 31 starts, 21-10 record (67.7% winning percentage)
1 playoff appearance, 0-1 playoff record
55.3% completion percentage, 74.3 quarterback rating
6,489 yards, 6.0 yards per attempt, 175.4 yards per game
37 touchdowns, 27 interceptions

Rich Gannon – 1995-1998, 19 starts, 11-8 record (57.9% winning percentage)
0 playoff appearances (where he was the starter)
57.9% completion percentage, 81.7 quarterback rating
3,997 yards, 6.3 yards per attempt, 148 yards per game
23 touchdowns, 11 interceptions

Elvis Grbac – 1997-2000, 47 starts, 26-21 record (55.3% winning percentage)
1 playoff appearance, 0-1 playoff record
57.9% completion percentage, 80.6 quarterback rating
10,643 yards, 6.9 yards per attempt, 217.2 yards per game
66 touchdowns, 47 interceptions

Damon Huard – 2006-2008, 21 starts, 10-11 record (47.6% winning percentage)
0 playoff appearances (where he was the starter)
61.5% completion percentage, 83.3 quarterback rating
4,612 yards, 7.0 yards per attempt, 177.4 yards per game
24 touchdowns, 18 interceptions

Brodie Croyle – 2006-2010, 10 starts, 0-10 record (0.0% winning percentage)
0 playoff appearances (where he was the starter)
56.7% completion percentage, 67.8 quarterback rating
1,669 yards, 5.2 yards per attempt, 92.7 yards per game
8 touchdowns, 10 interceptions

Tyler Thigpen – 2007-2009, 11 starts, 1-10 record (9.1% winning percentage)
0 playoff appearances (where he was the starter)
54.5% completion percentage, 74.7 quarterback rating
2,649 yards, 6.2 yards per attempt, 165.6 yards per game
18 touchdowns, 13 interceptions

Matt Cassel – 2009-2012, 47 starts, 19-28 record (40.4% winning percentage)
1 playoff appearance, 0-1 playoff record
57.4% completion percentage, 77.5 quarterback rating
9,549 yards, 6.4 yards per attempt, 198.9 yards per game
59 touchdowns, 44 interceptions

There simply isn’t anyone on this list that has the resume in Kansas City that Alex Smith has. Of these quarterbacks Steve Deberg is the best of the group. He’s the only one with a playoff win and he and Elvis Grbac put up the most stats of the guys on this list. If you want to argue any of these guys had a better career with the Chiefs than Alex Smith did, you can, but I think you’ll look really foolish doing it.

So now let’s look at the the resumes of Joe Montana, Trent Green, and Alex Smith to see who really had the best career as a Kansas City Chief.