The 10 best safeties in the history of the Kansas City Chiefs

When it comes to the back end of the defense, the Kansas City Chiefs have certainly employed some front-line performers over the years. Various generations of Chiefs Kingdom have had their own heroes to watch at safety, whether they're heavier hitters laying the wood, playing up in the box, or providing some incredible range on the back end to stifle the big gain.

Making a list of the Chiefs' best safeties ever isn't easy for a number of reasons, many of which would be true for any position given rule changes, the evolution of the game itself, and the talent around each player. That said, when it comes to safety, issues at the top of the list make it difficult to determine a winner.

At a few places on the list, some significant questions can be asked in terms of rewarding short-term impact versus long-term production. We tried our best to thread that needle here and came out with the following list of the top 10 safeties in Kansas City Chiefs history.

Criteria for selection

As we've already mentioned, some Chiefs safeties in years past have enjoyed long, steady careers marked by solid production. Others have come in and opened eyes around the NFL, only to depart sooner than expected via free agency or wrestle with health concerns. Thus it's important to note the subjective nature of any top-10 ranking—but especially this one.

Remember, when it comes to safeties, interceptions are not the end-all, knowing how flexible the position can be. Some safeties are more linebacker than anything else, holding up strong in run support while providing greater coverage than the linebacking corps. The stat sheets can be deceiving in these cases, so we looked to the context of each player as much as we could.

Other facets included career production, team success, how history seems to remember them, impact on the game, and more.

Quick note: It will be interesting to see how history remembers the current crop of safeties since they're so young but have earned significant championship experience at the same time. In a bit of a spoiler, we're missing current players like Justin Reid, and Bryan Cook is an exciting young player here as well. Juan Thornhill also just missed our list.

However, history has enough candidates we have to mention for now.

The 10 best safeties in Chiefs history

10. Mike Sensibaugh

There are guys known for making plays on the ball, and then there's Mike Sensibaugh.

Decades after he hung up his cleats in Columbus, Sensibaugh still holds the Ohio State record for most interceptions in a single season with nine (his first year as a starter, by the way, as a sophomore) and a career with 22.

The Chiefs made Sensibaugh their eighth-round pick in the 1971 NFL Draft, and all he did was pick up where he left off in college. (But seriously, what took the Chiefs so long to take a guy with such great ball production?)

Sensibaugh needed a year to adjust (or the coaches needed a year to trust him), but in his sophomore NFL season, he grabbed eight interceptions in a full season as the starter. He never again had fewer than three interceptions in a single year until his final bow after eight NFL seasons—five with the Chiefs and three with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Had Sensibaugh hung around K.C.. any longer, he'd be higher up this list, as well as the all-time franchise stat rankings. Regardless, he makes our first entry at No. 10.

9. Jerome Woods

Just like Nick Bolton puts on a masterclass each and every Sunday as a sure-handed tackler for the Chiefs today, Jerome Woods was that sort of player in the secondary during his 10-year career with the team from 1996-2005.

Woods came to the Chiefs as a first-round safety at No. 28 overall after wowing scouts during his two seasons at the University of Memphis. The hard-hitting safety proved himself to be an impactful playmaker in all facets of the game there, and his skill set was an easy transfer to the NFL as he eased into a starting free safety role by the start of his second season.

With 15 interceptions, 11 forced fumbles, and five sacks, Woods showed himself to be the sort of versatile defender who would function well in today's game. Even more, he showed tremendous grit after missing the entire 2002 season with a broken leg, only to come back and serve up his only Pro Bowl performance by anchoring the Chiefs defense in 2003 with three INTs (two returned for touchdowns), three forced fumbles, and 79 tackles.

8. Bobby Hunt

Bobby Hunt entered into Chiefs Kingdom via the last gasp of the franchise's stay in Dallas (as the Texans) in the 1962 NFL Draft. Taken in the 11th round, Hunt was finally able to focus on a single side of the ball instead of playing both quarterback and defensive back, as he did with the Auburn Tigers (where he was named the SEC Sophomore of the Year).

As a full-time defensive back, Hunt was second in AFL ROY voting in '62 after intercepting an incredible eight passes in his first professional season. He went on to be named first-team All-Pro that season, and two more second-team All-Pro honors followed in the next six seasons with K.C.

Hunt led the entire NFL in interceptions in his fifth season when he forced 10 turnovers in 1966. In just six years, he put up 37 INTs and returned one for a score. He went on to play his final two years in Cincinnati, but he should be remembered as one of the team's first truly great defensive backs.

7. Jim Kearney

Jim Kearney took quite a circuitous path to Chiefs glory, but that only adds further dimensions to appreciate in the end.

The Detroit Lions were the first team to notice Kearney's talents (or at least to act on them) when they made him their 11th-round selection in the 1965 NFL Draft. From there, he flamed out in the Motor City before signing with Montreal in the Canadian Football League in 1967 for a single week before the Philadelphia Eagles offered him a preseason shot in '67.

While the Eagles eventually dumped him, his short stay in Philly somehow caught the eye of Hank Stram that summer, and the Chiefs finally gave Kearney, a former Prairie View A&M star, a chance at real playing time. He went on to start three games that season before starting every single game for the next eight years for the Chiefs–including their championship year in '70.

Kearney forced 23 interceptions in his NFL career, and five of them turned into touchdowns for the Chiefs. He also added five forced fumbles to further prove his penchant for making plays on the ball. Kearney finished his career with a single season in New Orleans after a nice long run of production in K.C.

6. Lloyd Burruss

There have been frustrating stretches for each position over the years in K.C. where a specific strength or player's talents have been wasted. Think of Dwayne Bowe catching passes from Tyler Palko and Brodie Croyle. Picture Jamaal Charles' best years coming before Andy Reid arrived. You get the picture.

Well, in the 1980s, it was the Chiefs' secondary that was almost entirely wasted on a decade of ineptitude in terms of leadership and organizational strategy. Two of the players on this list were entrenched as long-term starters in the decade, and both are members of the team's Hall of Fame. We'll get to the slightly better one in a second, but Lloyd Burruss deserves a mention here.

The Chiefs made Burruss a third-round pick out of Maryland in 1981 with high hopes, but few would have predicted an 11-year career with 22 interceptions in 145 games. He also made big plays with four INT returns for a score, and he led the NFL with three of those in a single season—his only Pro Bowl appearance in 1986.

The team only had two winning seasons during Burruss's first eight years in the league, but at least it had a safety tandem worth celebrating.

5. Tyrann Mathieu

It feels a bit odd to interrupt a stretch of Chiefs Hall of Famers (beginning with Burruss) to carve out space for Tyrann Mathieu, but Mathieu will likely be a member of the exclusive club himself when all is said and done.

Mathieu joined the Chiefs in March 2019 at a pivotal point in the team's current run of success. That's the same time Brett Veach went to work to give new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo the pieces he needed to put his vision into play. Together with pass rusher Frank Clark, the Honey Badger provided a headhunter mindset in the secondary and became an instant hit among fans for his leadership, charisma, and talent.

While only a Chief for three seasons, Mathieu was a two-time first-team All-Pro and a two-time Pro Bowler in that same stretch and was consistently voted among the NFL's Top 100 players. He had 13 interceptions and two defensive scores in that span as well.

Despite turning 30 the offseason following his contract season with the Chiefs, Mathieu earned another big-money deal from the New Orleans Saints for three seasons before the 2022 campaign. It's a sign of how dominant he was even later in his career—a run of excellent play that still continues to this day.

4. Gary Barbaro

With just another season or two, Gary Barbaro could have made things a lot more interesting on the national level in terms of conversation around his legacy. As it stands, he remains one of the most accomplished defensive backs in Chiefs history.

Barbaro was an instant hit for K.C. on the field as the Mack Lee Hill Award winner as the team's top rookie in 1976—a year in which he also made the NFL's All-Rookie Team. As a small-school prospect out of Nicholls State, he took over for the departed Sensibaugh and helped the team move on quickly at the free safety position.

Unfortunately, Barbaro made the choice to sit out the 1983 season due to a contract dispute and later joined the upstart USFL in response. A knee injury kept him from ever really making an impact there, and just like this, his career was over—right as he was playing his best football (his three Pro Bowls all came in his final three seasons in the league).

Even with those lost years during his prime, Barbaro still has 39 total interceptions and is second in Chiefs history in interception yardage. He also has 10 fumble recoveries and three defensive touchdowns to his credit. He was elected to the team's Hall of Fame in 2013.

3. Deron Cherry

Deron Cherry might represent the single greatest player slight in Chiefs history.

Cherry was the team's starting free safety for almost a full decade after playing on the team from 1981-91. In fact, he was also basically the AFC's starting free safety after making six consecutive Pro Bowls from 1983-89. He was the best free safety of a generation and was named to the second team of the NFL's All-'80s roster alongside greats like Ronnie Lott and Joey Browner.

What made Cherry so good? He was a relentless playmaker with a knack for changing a game on any given play. He finished his career with 50 interceptions and led the Chiefs in that category on six separate occasions. He also has 14 fumble recoveries and two blocked punts for touchdowns.

Cherry could have been even better had he been given a starting role earlier in his career. As a former punter at Rutgers, the Chiefs brought him as a rookie free agent to try him out as a specialist before converting him to defensive back. There he sat in relief of others for his first two NFL seasons before the Chiefs turned him loose in '83—the first of his five All-Pro nods.

Cherry has arguable Hall of Fame credentials, but the truth is he's never even been named as a finalist. The conversation needs to be had, hopefully sooner than later.

2. Johnny Robinson

Starting at No. 3, we're into the realm of truly great players, and Robinson is certainly one of those. In fact, if Cherry has any hope of having his HOF case "retried," he has Robinson to serve as a prime example.

Forty-five years after Robinson made the Chiefs Ring of Honor, the Pro Football Hall of Fame came calling in 2019 with an official induction for one of the single most productive defensive bcaks to ever play the game. Robinson retired as the Chiefs' all-time leader in interceptions with 57. Emmitt Thomas set a new mark with 58 a few years later, but Robinson is still second in the present day.

Robinson led the NFL in total interceptions in both 1966 and 1970 with 10 apiece, and his presence in coverage, playing the back end of a loaded defense, helped the Chiefs win their first Super Bowl. When you factor in his time as the team's tailback in his first two seasons and the 15 touchdowns on offense in that time, it's clear Robinson was a complete player in the NFL.

1. Eric Berry

If you find yourself doubting this placement, we wouldn't blame you. After all, there are HOFers and potential HOFers, along with other team greats, situated behind our top-rated entrant. But for those who watched him when healthy, Eric Berry's impact on the football field was second-to-none.

From the moment Scott Pioli made Berry the earliest safety off of the board in NFL Draft history at No. 5 overall, it was clear that the All-American from Tennessee was as pro-ready as they come. Berry had 92 tackles, four interceptions (one for a TD), nine deflections, one forced fumble, and two sacks in his rookie season and earned his first Pro Bowl nod then.

From there, health concerns began to sideline Berry's ability to put up the sort of career numbers that reflected his on-field dominance. A torn ACL in 2011, a battle against Hodgkins lymphoma in 2014-15, and a ruptured Achilles and bone spur in 2017-18 all kept him off the field for long stretches—including full seasons.

Somehow, in the midst of all of that, Berry still made five Pro Bowls, earned three All-Pro nods, and had five pick-sixes (and a game-winning pick-two against the Falcons). More than that, Berry changed the entire face of the game when he was healthy and in the Chiefs' secondary. Even with his injury history, the Chiefs still made him the highest-paid safety in the NFL with a lucrative extension in 2017.

The truth is that few safeties who have ever played in any decade can match the intensity, instincts, and impact of Eric Berry. Valid arguments can be made on the basis of longevity and availability, but if we're simply measuring "the best," we believe the best to ever suit up in red and gold was EB.

The best safeties in Chiefs history by interceptions