No. 11 in Chiefs history comes with a little more star power than the numbers that came before it, and it starts with the player who probably belongs at the top of the list: Alex Smith.
Smith arrived in Kansas City after the Chiefs sent two draft picks to San Francisco, and he stepped into a franchise that had hit rock bottom in 2012. The Chiefs were a two-win team, fans were paying for banners to fly over Arrowhead reading "Save Our Chiefs", and the organization was in desperate need of a reset. That reset came with Andy Reid as head coach and John Dorsey as general manager, and both men chose Smith to steady things on the field.
He did exactly that. Over five seasons with the Chiefs, Smith threw for 17,608 yards and 102 touchdowns with just 33 interceptions.
He made three Pro Bowls and posted a league-best 104.7 passer rating in 2017. He also handled the eventual handoff to Patrick Mahomes with the same professionalism that defined his time in Kansas City, then moved on to the Washington Redskins after what turned out to be his best season.
Smith is an all-time great who will someday be in the Chiefs' Ring of Honor.
The jersey also carries one of the stranger footnotes in NFL and pop-culture history with Elvis Grbac. His Kansas City run has a football story and a People magazine story, and both involve Rich Gannon.
On the field, Grbac signed with the Chiefs in '97 to replace Steve Bono, went 8-2 in his first season, then lost his job to injury and watched Gannon play well as QB2. Marty Schottenheimer did not want a starter to lose his job because of injury, so Grbac went back in, the Chiefs went one-and-done in the playoffs, and Gannon eventually left for the Raiders, where he won an MVP award.
Then there was the magazine mix-up. In 1998, People named Grbac its "Sexiest Athlete", though the magazine had meant to honor Gannon.
As Jeff Pearlman has recounted, a photographer was sent to shoot "the Chiefs quarterback," Grbac was the one available, and nobody caught the mistake until after the interview was done. The piece ran anyway.
Grbac also earned his only Pro Bowl nod in Kansas City in 2000, when he threw for 4,169 yards and 28 touchdowns, and he still owns the Chiefs' single-game passing record with 504 yards.
The wide receiver side of No. 11 includes Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who arrived on a 3-year, $30 million deal in 2022 after the Tyreek Hill trade. He gave the Chiefs the deep speed they needed, and he also delivered the kind of frustrating moments that came with his reputation for drops.
He scored the Chiefs' first touchdown in their Super Bowl LVIII win, but his second season in Kansas City sank to a career-low 21 catches. The Chiefs cut him in February 2024 for cap reasons, and he has since been with six different teams as he looks for a longer-term home.
Demarcus Robinson was the steadier presence. A fourth-round pick out of Florida, he spent six seasons in Kansas City and did the job of a lower-end receiver on a contender without much flash.
He never reached 500 receiving yards in a season, but he still had his moments, including an 89-yard catch that came on Patrick Mahomes' 50th touchdown pass of the 2018 MVP year. Dave Toub could get irritated with him for not always running forward, but Robinson still played a real part in some lively offenses.
There are a few more names attached to the number as well. Damon Huard took over as a starter after Trent Green was injured in 2006 and gave the Chiefs efficient enough play, even if his 21 starts across three seasons under Herm Edwards mostly reflected how thin the team was at quarterback. Chris Chambers was more of a useful midstream addition than a long-term answer, giving Kansas City 36 catches for 608 yards and 4 touchdowns in nine games after the Chargers released him in 2009, before the Chiefs later committed three years and $15 million to him in 2010.
And then there’s the rest of the list: Tony Adams, who won the WFL's MVP award in 1974 with the Southern California Sun before going 1-7 as a Chiefs quarterback; Carson Wentz, who came to Kansas City on a one-year deal as one of Mahomes’ veteran backups; Josh Bellamy, a 2012 practice squad receiver better known for fraud charges; and Jalen Royals, the Chiefs' 2025 fourth-round pick, whom the team basically shelved for his entire rookie season.
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