The 10 best defensive linemen in the history of the Kansas City Chiefs

From one-man wrecking crews inside to dynamic edge rushers, the Chiefs have employed some great disruptors over the years.

The Kansas City Chiefs have a storied history of dominant defensive linemen who have left their mark on NFL history. From the franchise's early days to its recent Super Bowl triumphs, the Chiefs have consistently fielded some of the most fearsome defenders in the league.

Legends like Buck Buchanan, a Hall of Famer and cornerstone of the Chiefs' formidable defense in the 1960s, set the standard for excellence. Further legacies were born in the folllowing decades, from the dominance of Neil Smith to the disruption of Chirs Jones.

Where do today's biggest stars rank? How do they rank against early heroes? Let's take a look at the top defensive linemen in Chiefs history.

Criteria for Selection

It can be difficult to rank all defensive linemen together. After all, the burdens placed upon defensive ends and defensive tackles require different skill sets—from getting after the passer to eating up multiple linemen that frees up teammates to do their jobs even better. The Chiefs have employed truly great players across all responsibilities.

With this in mind, we tried to balance the rankings to keep from overappreciating sack artists compred to those who did more of the dirty work in the trenches. The list ended up as a hearty mix of interior linemen and bookends measured on their production, longevity, legacy, and the unit's success at the time.

The 10 best defensive linemen in Chiefs history

10. Mel Branch

Going back to the earliest days of the Chiefs, er, Texans franchise to search for some legit pass rushing, you're eventually going to bump into Mel Branch, the very man who led the entire AFL in sacks during his rookie season in the league's inaugural year.

Branch came into the AFL as a former LSU Tiger hoping to find his path forward at the professional level and found out he was quite good at disrupting the passer with 10 sacks in his first season. He went on to log 57 total tackles between stints in K.C. and Miami over the next nine years and landed three Pro Bowl nods for his efforts.

9. Dan Saleamua

There's something so compelling about the lunch-pail guys on a football team — the sort of glue guys who are in the trenches doing the dirty work, creating or filling gaps, whose work is never going to stand out on the stat sheet. For those of a certain generation in Chiefs Kingdom, Dan Saleamua was one such player.

That's not to say Saleamua's accomplishments don't sound good or that he lacked statistical production. In fact, our point is the opposite — that a guy doing so much of the heavy lifting and foundational work to free up others managed to accomplish so much is worth celebrating, which is why he's in our top 10.

Saleamua, for the initiated, was the Detroit Lions' seventh-round pick out of Arizona State in the 1987 NFL Draft. Two years later, he landed with the Chiefs and found a long-term home for the next eight years before finishing with two more in Seattle for a nice 12-year stint in the league. In that span, the 315-pound tackle put up 35.5 sacks, forced four fumbles, recovered 18 fumbles, and even intercepted three passes.

Playing alongside Neil Smith and Derrick Thomas, Saleamua often had some favorable matchups in key situations. His best year came in the Chiefs' 13-3 season in 1995 when he had seven sacks and went to his first and only Pro Bowl.

Side bit of Saleamua trivia: He's a 2019 inductee into the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame Class, which you might not even know existed.

Another side bit of Saleamua trivia: His sister married longtime Chiefs offensive lineman Tim Grunhard.

8. Jared Allen

Some fans who can find the silver lining in most things will gloss over the 2008 trade that sent Jared Allen to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for a first-round pick and two third-rounders because the trade return included both offensive lineman Branden Albert and running back Jamaal Charles. But you won't hear those reasons here because the Chiefs could have drafted either player anyway and kept Allen if they'd made it a priority.

If you're feeling a bit confused, let's clarify real quick with a description of what's currently happening. Jared Allen was just passed over as a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the fourth time in 2024 despite being one of the greatest pass rushers in NFL history. He began his career with the Chiefs as a fourth-round pick and was leading the league with 15.5 sacks in a single season by the time his rookie deal was done.

Instead of finding common ground on an extension, the Chiefs traded him away to Minnesota, where he continued to harass quarterbacks with such a rare consistency that he finished in the top five of DPOY voting on three separate occasions. Allen even led the league with 22 sacks in 2011.

After leaving Kansas City with 43 sacks in four years, Allen put up another 93 with the Vikings, along with late-career stints with the Bears and Panthers. He's No. 12 on the NFL's all-time sack list, which makes it ridiculous that he's not yet been honored in Canton. It's unfortunate the Chiefs let him go because he could have been a franchise legend.

7. Art Still

When Marv Levy arrived in Kansas City, he knew he needed to change things up front on the defensive line if he was going to change the team's approach — or at least that was the belief. So he set out to add significant talent up front in the draft with back-to-back first-round picks at defensive end, and the first was Art Still.

Still was the second overall selection in the 1978 NFL Draft and settled right into a starting role up front for K.C. opposite fellow rookie Sylvester Hicks. (Another first-rounder, Mike Bell, joined them the next season.) The early returns were good with 6.5 sacks as well as strong play against the run — proving his SEC Player of the Year award as a senior at Kentucky was a signal of things to come.

Still led the Chiefs in sacks for six years and finished his tenure with 74 total sacks in 10 seasons —good for sixth on the team's all-time list at present. Still also made four Pro Bowl rosters and earned two All-Pro honors with the team before being traded to Buffalo for his final two seasons in 1988-89.

The Chiefs inducted him into their Hall of Fame in 1998.

6. Jerry Mays

No matter where you placed Jerry Mays in the trenches, he got the job done.

Mays began his career as a two-way player (as a defensive end and left tackle) for the Dallas Texans after being drafted in the fifth round out of SMU in 1961. Electing to go with Dallas and the AFL in order to stay closer to his Texas home, he spurned the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL and went to work piling up one honor after another in the newer league.

For his first two seasons, Mays earned All-AFL honors as a tackle and defensive end before switching to defense full-time in his third season with the Chiefs. An early leader with the team, Mays was a captain on the Super Bowl squads that lost the first Super Bowl and won the fourth. He was also named an AFL All-Star six times and made the All-AFL team after the league merged with the NFL.

With 65.5 sacks as the Chiefs' first great defensive end, Mays was inducted into the team's HOF in 1972.

5. Curly Culp

When you think of Curly Culp, you should think of one thing: nose tackle. That's because he was the first and the greatest.

In a league filled with 3-4 defenses, it was Culp who worked with Bum Phillips, his defensive coordinator with the Houston Oilers, to alter his defensive approach. The plan was to place him in the middle of the defense and free up others to attack the passer from various angles. Culp's ability to handle two — or even three — other players was inimitable, which is why he's a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame today.

What's even more notable here is that Culp is part of two of the most lopsided trades in Chiefs history — one in the team's favor and the other one, well, not so much. The Denver Broncos were the team that drafted Culp in the first place, but they tried to force him to play guard and, when that didn't work, flipped him to the Chiefs for a future fourth-round pick in training camp.

Culp went on to play seven seasons for the Chiefs up front and helped them win a Super Bowl while going to two Pro Bowls himself. In 1975, however, the Chiefs sent him and a first-round pick to the Oilers for defensive end John Matuszak. The results weren't pretty for the Chiefs with such a loose cannon like Matuszak. Meanwhile, Culp was second in DPOY voting during his first year in Houston and went on to make five more Pro Bowls.

4. Neil Smith

Derrick Thomas was destined to be a legend with any NFL team, but with the Kansas City Chiefs, it's impossible to separate him from his running mate, Neil Smith. Together, the pair were the most feared pass-rushing duo in the league and anchored the team's defenses through their greatest run of success since winning Super Bowl IV (that is, until the present day).

Smith was a massive presence up front on the Chiefs' defensive line with a seven-foot wingspan, forcing 28 total fumbles and notching 85.5 sacks in his nine seasons with the team. Unfortunately, he finished his career with the Denver Broncos, where he won two Super Bowls because the Chiefs didn't have the money to keep him.

That last part stings, but it's the team's own fault, and the truth is that Smith's heroics far outweigh any bad blood stemming from a rivalry. Smith is a legend who deserves far more conversation for the Pro Football Hall of Fame than he's ever gotten to date.

3. Tamba Hali

This fall should be a lot of fun for Chiefs fans, not only because the team is chasing after a three-peat but also for the chance to honor Tamba Hali as its 2024 inductee into the team's Ring of Honor.

The Chiefs selected Hali as a first-round pick out of Penn State in 2006, a defensive end with a reputation for a non-stop motor that would only quit when the whistle blew (and even then you weren't sure). Hali went on to make the NFL's All-Rookie team that year and slowly developed his game to the point of making five consecutive Pro Bowls from 2011-16.

Hali's final stats place him alongside the best players in team history with 177 games played (fourth among defensive players), 89.5 sacks (second in team history), and 33 forced fumbles (second). He remains a fan favorite to this day for his work with young linemen in the offseason, and he has been and will continue to be a strong advocate for those less fortunate.

2. Chris Jones

Chris Jones is truly one-of-a-kind. Only he could sit in the stands during Week 1 last season with his agents while holding out, only to return to the field days later with a new deal and pull off first-team All-Pro honors after missing a game and all of training camp to get ready for the year.

The Chiefs landed Jones in the 2016 NFL Draft after reading the draft board perfectly and dropping out of the first round entirely. The 49ers traded a nice bounty to move back into the first for OL Joshua Garnett out of Stanford, and Chiefs GM John Dorsey took the extra picks and still got his man in the second round at No. 37 overall.

Dorsey's vision for Jones could not have predicted the sort of game-altering superhuman he's turned into — the best interior player this side of Aaron Donald. With another season or two, the Hall of Fame is likely to come calling with five All-Pro nods and five Pro Bowls to his credit. Given his lucrative new $30 million annual salary, Jones has plenty of incentive to stay productive, so he's likely to get there.

1. Buck Buchanan

There's a chance this spot will be occupied by Chris Jones someday, but for now, the road to the top runs through Buck Buchanan.

It feels like everything about Buchanan is worth noting because there was no part of his game that wasn't amazing. As a 6-foot-7, 270-pound athletic freak, he was a man out of his own time, a long and strong defensive end with sideline-to-sideline speed. It's what made him the first overall draft pick in 1963, and it's why he could likely still play in the NFL today.

Buchanan was not only ridiculously talented and very productive, but he was also as reliable as a player can be, blessed with the sort of durability that seems unfair to others. The Chiefs leaned on him for a total of 182 games (172 starts) as he racked up 70.5 sacks. HIs eight Pro Bowls/All-AFL awards tell the story of his long-term excellence, and there's no way the Chiefs would have won Super Bowl IV without him.