Who was Ranked the Chiefs' Biggest Draft Bust?

With the 2025 NFL Draft just around the corner, the Kansas City Chiefs as a franchise have bounced back through storng draft selections across each round of the draft. Going into this year's draft, the Chiefs have been heavily predicted to lean toward adding more depth to the offensive line.

That being said, let's take a flash back to the past. While the Chiefs have done well in recent years of the draft, they weren't always successful in their selections. According to a new article published by Sports Illustrated's Matt Verderame, one former first round draft selection found himself as the biggest draft bust in Chiefs history.

The former first round draft selection in question for the Chiefs that found his name attached with the article is quarterback Todd Blackledge. Blackledge was taken by the franchise seventh overall in the 1983 NFL Draft, but his time as a Chief did not go according to plan for the front office.

"Blackledge was part of the famed 1983 draft in which six quarterbacks were selected in the first round including Hall of Famers John Elway, Dan Marino and Jim Kelly. Unfortunately for the Chiefs, Blackledge was the worst of them. He started 24 games across five seasons for what was, at the time, a rudderless organization. The Chiefs didn’t take another quarterback in the first round until Patrick Mahomes in 2017," Verderame wrote.

As the Chiefs quarterback, between 1983 to 1987, Blackledge threw for 4,510 passing yards, averaging 902 passing yards per season. He also held a completion rate of 49.1%, as he was only able to secure the team 26 touchdowns in five seasons and got picked off 32 times.

As Verderame stated, the Chiefs waited over three decades before taking a quarterback in the first round, but luckily for the franchise this time around, they struck gold with Mahomes.

While Blackledge's career didn't go so well as a Chief, at least he will always be able to say that he was once good enough to be regarded as a Top 10 draft pick in the National Football League; and that is something that no one will ever be able to take away from him.

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