The No. 31 is all about unexpected finds for the Kansas City Chiefs. From the best free-agent signing in franchise history to a pair of unexpected Mack Lee Hill winners to an all-time corner who was a draft afterthought, there's a lot to explore as we arrive at the latest entry in our pilgrimage through Chiefs history, from numbers 1 to 99.
The complete history of Chiefs players to wear No. 31
The Best: Priest Holmes
The greatest signing in Chiefs history? Likely.Â
Priest Holmes landed in K.C. on a five-year deal worth up to $7.5 million in 2001 after being phased out by Jamal Lewis in Baltimore. While the Chiefs were hoping Holmes’ proven track record as a receiver might make him a well-rounded weapon out of the backfield, what followed was the most positively disproportional return on investment possible. Holmes went on the single greatest three-year run of production in Chiefs history and built himself a fringe Hall of Fame case in the process—all as a formerly discarded back by the Ravens.
For the sake of review, let’s talk numbers. Holmes led the NFL with 1,555 rushing yards in 200. He also topped the league with 21 rushing touchdowns in 2002, then broke the single-season record with 27 more in 2003, which snapped marks held by Marshall Faulk and Emmitt Smith along the way. He still holds the NFL record for yards from scrimmage per game in a single season (163.4), an insane number that survived prime Adrian Peterson and Christian McCaffrey’s best work.
If injuries (knee, neck) had not cut his fourth season in K.C. short, he’d have a clear path to Canton even after spending his first four years laboring in rotational work. (Remember that he was leading the NFL with 111 yards/game through the first half of the 2004 season with 15 touchdowns in 8 games.) He left the Chiefs as the all-time leading rusher in franchise history (6,070) before Jamaal Charles topped him a decade later. His 76 rushing scores are still the mark. No one saw it coming before it happened, but even after the fact, it’s still hard to believe.
The Deserving Corner: Kevin Ross
Kevin Ross would be the headliner on so many other numbers. As a former seventh-round pick out of Temple in 1984, Ross was already an excellent find as a rookie starter, but he would spend the next decade playing much bigger than his 5-9 stature with physical coverage and a nose for the ball. Ross intercepted 30 passes in 156 games with the Chiefs, and his efforts sent him to two Pro Bowls and earned him second-team All-Pro in 1990.
Ross was immortalized by the Chiefs in their Ring of Honor in 2011, but the football achievement kept coming for him even away from Kansas City. For the last six seasons, he’s served as defensive backs coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and, in 2021, he collected a Super Bowl ring by shutting down the Chiefs in Super Bowl LV.Â
The Husker Legend: Jeff Kinney
NFL history is littered with former college stars who never found a way to make the same impact at the professional level. Jeff Kinney is one of them. The two-time national champion at Nebraska came up big when the games meant the most—check his 174-yard, 4-touchdown effort in the Game of the Century against No. 2 Oklahoma—but despite investing a first-round pick (No. 23 overall) in 1972 to secure his talents, he didn't play. Kinney would later say that head coach Hank Stram was committed to the veterans, but even in his fifth season, he only ran for 482 yards in 12 games (8 starts).
The Mack Lee Hill Winners: Maurice Leggett & Marcus Cooper
Maurice Leggett was an undrafted corner out of Valdosta State who not only made the Chiefs' roster in 2008 but would go on to become the first rookie free agent to win the Mack Lee Hill Award, given to the team's top first-year player. Leggett had two touchdowns for the Chiefs—one on a 27-yard interception return and another on a 67-yard fumble recovery that earned him Special Teams Player of the Week.
Five years later, cornerback Marcus Cooper would also be named the Mack Lee Hill winner as a former waiver claim from the San Francisco 49ers. The Chiefs claimed the seventh-round rookie and he grew to become a starter on the boundary with 3 interceptions and 19 deflections. Teams eventually found out how to bait him, and Cooper's slide down the depth chart was punctuated by a trade to the Arizona Cardinals in 2016.
The Current Wearer: Jeffrey Bassa
The Chiefs shelved Bassa for most of his rookie season behind more experienced backups and a starting veteran trio of Leo Chenal, Nick Bolton, and Drue Tranquill. With Chenal gone to Washington and Tranquill a bit older, there's much more room for someone like Bassa to enter the picture with his youth and athleticism in the hopes of adding dynamism in the second level in '26.
Et Cetera
- Jerry Reese, DB - Former undrafted Sooner safety who caught on with the Chiefs for two years in 1979-80.
- Tysyn Hartman, DB - Former K-State star who caught on with the Chiefs in 2012 as a rookie free agent and earned playing time in 11 games.
- Nic Jones, CB - The 250th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft lasted parts of two seasons with the Chiefs before landing with the Giants in 2025.
- Leroy Thompson, RB - Former Steelers back generated 2.6 yards/carry in a single-season stint at Arrowhead in '95.
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