We are 72 days away from the Kansas City Chiefs‘ season-opening game against the Denver Broncos on “Monday Night Football” in Week 1.
The No. 72 jersey has been donned by offensive tackle Chukwuebuka Godrick, who is originally from Nigeria and fills a roster exception as an International Pathway Program player. He started three games for the Chiefs last season.
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He will need more than a few starts to be remembered as easily as some of these 72s:
There’s no question, to me, that the team’s No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 NFL draft, the pick that started head coach Andy Reid’s tenure, is the franchise’s all-time best No. 72. It took him a few years to cement himself on the blind side of quarterback Alex Smith, but Fisher settled into becoming a reliable, underappreciated presence at left tackle through the triumph in Super Bowl LIV and the following year’s AFC title.
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He took over the uniform from another top-5 pick, Dorsey, who didn’t realize his potential despite a similarly rocky start to his NFL career as Fisher’s.
It wasn’t the highest on the team among the running backs, but Kareem Hunt’s 72% on 25 targets is just barely lower than the rate held by former Chiefs, now Detroit Lions running back Isiah Pacheco (73%), who saw 26 passes thrown his way.
It highlights the difficulty the team has had hitting “easy button” plays, like quick passes to a running back, compared to previous years. In 2022, the last season offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy led the unit before his three-year absence, three running backs topped these marks:
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Isiah Pacheco (93%) on 14 targets
Clyde Edwards-Helaire (74%) on 23 targets
In the season before that, Edwards-Helaire caught 83% of the 23 passes thrown to him, and running back Darrel Williams matched that number on 57 targets.
Will the return of Bieniemy also be the return of the running backs as dependable targets in the dropback game? We’ll find out in 2026.
