We are 60 days away from the Kansas City Chiefs‘ season-opening game against the Denver Broncos on “Monday Night Football” in Week 1.
The No. 60 is worn by interior offensive lineman Hunter Nourzad, who is entering his third year with the organization after being drafted in the fifth round in 2024.
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He has a significant training camp ahead of him; he needs to earn his spot on the team as an understudy. If he does become the team’s next reliable backup center and guard over time, he doesn’t need more than an important start or two to climb the ranks of memorable No. 60s in team history.
All three players were career-long Chiefs, but Herkenhoff — with 122 career starts at left tackle — did not experience the highs of championship football that Reynolds and Daney did
Leading into Herkenhoff’s rookie year, the organization had strung together nine consecutive winning seasons, but 1974 was the start of the franchise’s first dark age. Kansas City won no more than five games over the next five seasons; head coach Marv Levy led the team to a 9-7 record in 1981, but the Chiefs were unable to make the postseason before Herkenhoff retired after his tenth season.
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Unfortunately for him, the Chiefs finally made the playoffs in 1986.
The mark of 60 passes defended (or broken up, a better label for the stat) ranked 26th in the NFL. That goes along with the Chiefs’ 22nd ranking in interceptions (10).
While Kansas City’s defense has never broken up or intercepted passes at an impressive rate under coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, the 2025 season total is still a new low, especially considering half of the previous seasons had one less week.
2024: 71 (16th ranked)
2023: 72 (20th)
2022: 85 (6th)
2021: 69 (20th)
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2020: 64 (19th)
2019: 65 (23rd)
Three of the top six individuals to lead the Chiefs in this category departed this offseason, but the player who tied cornerback Trent McDuffie for the team lead (7) is still around: cornerback Nohl Williams. Linebacker Nick Bolton finished close behind with six.
It’s worth considering the drop-off in defensive line production for this statistic. Batting passes down at the line of scrimmage has been a strength of the Chiefs’ pass rush in the past, but 6 of the 60 defended passes were credited to linemen in 2025; the season before, edge rusher George Karlaftis had five by himself.
Kansas City is relying on Williams to build on this mark in his second year, and the rest of the secondary should feel a collective challenge to improve this number in 2026.
