Chiefs fans have a legitimate debate on their hands when it comes to No. 22, because this number has been worn by a run of defensive backs who left real fingerprints on the franchise.
That starts with the pair at the top: Marcus Peters and Trent McDuffie. It’s hard to split them cleanly, and trying to do so almost undersells both.
Peters arrived and immediately played like one of the most disruptive corners in the league, a gambler with the confidence to jump routes and the talent to cash in on those risks. In 2015, his rookie year, he led the NFL with 8 interceptions for 280 return yards and also paced the league with 26 passes defensed, a haul that earned him Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.
He changed how offenses had to prepare for Kansas City.
McDuffie has matched that kind of impact in a different way. A key piece of what may be the greatest draft class in Chiefs history, he has used elite instincts to play bigger than his 5-11, 193-pound frame and become a versatile anchor in Steve Spagnuolo’s secondary. The payoff has been obvious: three Super Bowl appearances and two rings in four seasons.
The separation between the two is razor thin. McDuffie has been in Kansas City one year longer, but Peters may have been the scarier presence at his peak.
Peters was shipped to the Baltimore Ravens after his personality wore on the organization, while McDuffie’s move to the L.A. Rams was tied to financial concerns and a reset that brought back draft picks.
Either way, the Chiefs got elite play from both almost immediately, and the Washington pipeline keeps looking like a smart place to shop.
No. 22 also includes Juan Thornhill, whose Chiefs run swung hard after a promising start. After Steve Spagnuolo took over as defensive coordinator in 2019, Kansas City signed Tyrann Mathieu and then drafted Thornhill in the second round out of Virginia Tech to pair with him.
Thornhill started from Week 1 and looked like a physical safety with ball skills, picking off 3 passes as a rookie. Then came the torn ACL in Week 17, which cost him the postseason and changed the arc of his career.
He missed time the next year, was benched for Dan Sorensen to open his third season, and didn’t really resemble his earlier form again until 2022, his final year in Kansas City before leaving for the Cleveland Browns on a three-year deal.
There’s also Ted McKnight, a useful and productive back from the late 1970s. The Chiefs took the University of Minnesota-Duluth runner in the second round in 1977, and he gave them five seasons of real value.
In 1978, he led the NFL with a 6.0 yards-per-carry average. The next year, he led Kansas City in both rushing and receiving yards.
By the end of his Chiefs tenure, he had piled up 3,076 yards from scrimmage before finishing his career in Buffalo.
Dexter McCluster brought a different kind of flash. Drafted in the second round in 2010, he never quite settled into a permanent role in the offense, with Todd Haley and Romeo Crennel trying him at running back and wide receiver with mixed results.
But his debut was unforgettable. In a rainy season opener against the Chargers, McCluster ripped off a 94-yard punt return touchdown that set a franchise record before Tyreek Hill later broke it.
He added two more touchdown returns over his four seasons in Kansas City and earned a Pro Bowl nod before leaving for the Titans in free agency.
The rest of the No. 22 group is a mix of shorter runs and smaller chapters. Jadon Canady, the Chiefs’ 2026 fourth-round pick out of Oregon, arrives with the hope of helping solve slot corner issues.
Willie Mitchell held a starting job in the secondary near the end of the AFL era, though he was beaten for two touchdowns in the loss to the Packers in Super Bowl I. Rashaan Sheehee, a former third-round pick and Washington Huskies product, lost his love for the game after a couple of seasons.
Sherman Cocroft, an undrafted safety from San Jose State, started on some forgettable mid-1980s defenses. Dexter McLeon also belongs in the mix.
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