The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference West Division. The team was founded in 1959 as the Dallas Texans by businessman Lamar Hunt, and was a charter member of the American Football League (AFL). In spring 1963, the team relocated to Kansas City, and assumed its current name. The Chiefs joined the NFL prior to the 1970 season as a result of the AFL–NFL merger.

The NFL draft, officially known as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting", is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings; the teams with the worst win–loss records receive the earliest picks. Teams that qualified for the NFL playoffs select after non-qualifiers, and their order depends on how far they advanced, using their regular season record as a tie-breaker. The final two selections in the first round are reserved for the Super Bowl runner-up and champion. Draft picks are tradable and players or other picks can be acquired with them.

Before the merger agreements in 1966, the AFL directly competed with the NFL and held a separate draft. This led to a bidding war over top prospects between the two leagues, along with the subsequent drafting of the same player in each draft. As part of the merger agreement on June 8, 1966, the two leagues began holding a multiple round "common draft". Once the AFL officially merged with the NFL in 1970, the "common draft" simply became the NFL draft. The first AFL draft was held prior to the start of the 1960 season. The first round of the 1960 AFL draft was territorial selections. Each team received a "territorial pick" which allowed them to select a single player within a pre-agreed upon designated region (the team's "territory"). Teams then agreed on the top eight players at each position, who were subsequently assigned to teams by random draw, with each of the eight teams receiving one of those players. This process was repeated until all 53 roster spots were filled. Beginning in the 1961 draft, the AFL, using the same system as the NFL, began to assign picks based on the previous season's standings.

Since the team's first draft, the Chiefs have selected 64 players in the first round. The team's first-round pick in the inaugural AFL draft was Don Meredith, a quarterback out of Southern Methodist University (SMU); he was the team's territorial selection. The Chiefs have held the first overall pick twice, once in the AFL draft, selecting Buck Buchanan in 1963, and once in the NFL draft, selecting Eric Fisher in 2013. In the most recent draft, held in 2026, the Chiefs selected LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane and Clemson defensive tackle Peter Woods.

The Chiefs did not draft a player in the first round on nine occasions. Four of the team's first-round picks—Buck Buchanan, Tony Gonzalez, Gale Sayers, and Derrick Thomas—have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame; one of these, Sayers, chose not to play for the Chiefs and joined the NFL instead. The Chiefs used additional first-round picks in the 1960s to select Don Meredith and Ronnie Bull, who also chose to sign with the NFL instead.

Player selections

+ Key Symbol Meaning Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame * Selected number one overall Selected number one overall and inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Position abbreviations C Center CB Cornerback DB Defensive back DE Defensive end DT Defensive tackle G Guard LB Linebacker QB Quarterback RB Running back T Tackle TE Tight end WR Wide receiver

+Kansas City Chiefs first-round draft picks Season Pick Player Position College Notes 1960 Territorial QB SMU First round was territorial selections. Chose to play for the NFL's Dallas Cowboys instead. 1961 6 C Texas Tech 1962 3 RB Baylor Signed for the NFL's Chicago Bears instead 1963 1 DT Grambling Pick received from Oakland Raiders 8 T Michigan State 1964 2 QB USC 1965 5 RB Kansas Signed for the NFL's Chicago Bears instead 1966 6 DE Minnesota 1967 24 DT Miami (FL) 1968 19 G Texas A&M 22 G UTEP Pick received from Houston Oilers 1969 23 DB Tennessee State 1970 26 T USC 1971 16 WR Houston 1972 23 RB Nebraska 1973 Pick traded to Chicago Bears 1974 16 RB Arizona State 1975 Pick traded to Houston Oilers 1976 14 G Iowa 1977 10 DB Baylor 1978 2 DE Kentucky 1979 2 DE Colorado State 23 QB Clemson Moved up draft order in trade with Houston Oilers 1980 11 G USC 1981 14 TE South Carolina 1982 11 WR Tennessee Moved up draft order in trade with St. Louis Cardinals 1983 7 QB Penn State 1984 5 DT Pittsburgh 21 T Iowa Pick received from Los Angeles Rams 1985 15 RB North Carolina 1986 7 T West Virginia 1987 19 RB Temple 1988 2 DE NebraskaMoved up the draft order in trade with Detroit Lions 1989 4 LB Alabama 1990 13 LB Michigan State 1991 21 RB LSU 1992 20 DB Tennessee 1993 Pick traded to San Francisco 49ers 1994 25 RB Texas A&M 1995 31 T MichiganMoved down draft order in trade with Jacksonville Jaguars 1996 28 DB Memphis 1997 13 TE California Moved up draft order in trade with Tennessee Oilers 1998 27 T Auburn 1999 14 T BYU 2000 21 WR Jackson State 2001 Pick traded to St. Louis Rams 2002 6 DT North CarolinaMoved up draft order in trade with Dallas Cowboys 2003 27 RB Penn StateMoved down draft order in trade with Pittsburgh Steelers 2004 Pick traded to Detroit Lions 2005 15 LB Texas 2006 20 DE Penn State 2007 23 WR LSU 2008 5 DT LSU 15 G Virginia Pick received from Minnesota Vikings. Moved up draft order in trade with Detroit Lions. 2009 3 DE LSU 2010 5 DB Tennessee 2011 26 WR Pittsburgh Moved down draft order in trade with Cleveland Browns 2012 11 NT Memphis 2013 1 * T Central Michigan 2014 23 DE Auburn 2015 18 CB Washington 2016 Moved down draft order in trade with San Francisco 49ers 2017 10 QB Texas Tech Moved up draft order in trade with Buffalo Bills 2018 Pick traded to Buffalo Bills 2019 Pick traded to Seattle Seahawks 2020 32 RB LSU 2021 Pick traded to Baltimore Ravens 2022 21 CB Washington Pick received from Miami Dolphins. Moved up draft order in trade with New England Patriots. 30 DE Purdue 2023 31 DE Kansas State 2024 28 WR Texas Moved up draft order in trade with Buffalo Bills 2025 32 T Ohio State Moved down draft order in trade with Philadelphia Eagles 2026 6 CB LSU Moved up draft order in trade with Cleveland Browns 29 DT Clemson Pick received from Los Angeles Rams

See also History of the Kansas City Chiefs List of Kansas City Chiefs seasons

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