List of Kansas City Chiefs first-round draft picks

The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference West Division. The team was founded in 1959 as the Dallas Texans by businessman Lamar Hunt, and was a charter member of the American Football League (AFL). In spring 1963, the team relocated to Kansas City, and assumed its current name. The Chiefs joined the NFL prior to the 1970 season as a result of the AFL–NFL merger.

The NFL draft, officially known as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting", is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings; the teams with the worst win–loss records receive the earliest picks. Teams that qualified for the NFL playoffs select after non-qualifiers, and their order depends on how far they advanced, using their regular season record as a tie-breaker. The final two selections in the first round are reserved for the Super Bowl runner-up and champion. Draft picks are tradable and players or other picks can be acquired with them.

Before the merger agreements in 1966, the AFL directly competed with the NFL and held a separate draft. This led to a bidding war over top prospects between the two leagues, along with the subsequent drafting of the same player in each draft. As part of the merger agreement on June 8, 1966, the two leagues began holding a multiple round "common draft". Once the AFL officially merged with the NFL in 1970, the "common draft" simply became the NFL draft. The first AFL draft was held prior to the start of the 1960 season. The first round of the 1960 AFL draft was territorial selections. Each team received a "territorial pick" which allowed them to select a single player within a pre-agreed upon designated region (the team's "territory"). Teams then agreed on the top eight players at each position, who were subsequently assigned to teams by random draw, with each of the eight teams receiving one of those players. This process was repeated until all 53 roster spots were filled. Beginning in the 1961 draft, the AFL, using the same system as the NFL, began to assign picks based on the previous season's standings.

Since the team's first draft, the Chiefs have selected 62 players in the first round. The team's first-round pick in the inaugural AFL draft was Don Meredith, a quarterback out of Southern Methodist University (SMU); he was the team's territorial selection. The Chiefs have held the first overall pick twice, once in the AFL draft, selecting Buck Buchanan in 1963, and once in the NFL draft, selecting Eric Fisher in 2013. In the most recent draft, held in 2025, the Chiefs selected Ohio State tackle Josh Simmons.

The Chiefs did not draft a player in the first round on nine occasions. Four of the team's first-round picks—Buck Buchanan, Tony Gonzalez, Gale Sayers, and Derrick Thomas—have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame; one of these, Sayers, chose not to play for the Chiefs and joined the NFL instead. The Chiefs used additional first-round picks in the 1960s to select Don Meredith and Ronnie Bull, who also chose to sign with the NFL instead.

Player selections

Symbol	Meaning	*
Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Selected number one overall
Selected number one overall and inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Position abbreviations	C	CB	DB	DE	DT	G	LB	QB	RB	T	TE	WR
Center
Cornerback
Defensive back
Defensive end
Defensive tackle
Guard
Linebacker
Quarterback
Running back
Tackle
Tight end
Wide receiver

Season	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Territorial		QB	SMU	First round was territorial selections. Chose to play for the NFL's Dallas Cowboys instead.
6		C	Texas Tech
3		RB	Baylor	Signed for the NFL's Chicago Bears instead
1		DT	Grambling	Pick received from Oakland Raiders
8		T	Michigan State
2		QB	USC
5		RB	Kansas	Signed for the NFL's Chicago Bears instead
6		DE	Minnesota
24		DT	Miami (FL)
19		G	Texas A&M
22		G	UTEP	Pick received from Houston Oilers
23		DB	Tennessee State
26		T	USC
16		WR	Houston
23		RB	Nebraska
''{{sortname	No	pick	0	nolink=1}}''	Pick traded to Chicago Bears
16		RB	Arizona State
''{{sortname	No	pick	0	nolink=1}}''	Pick traded to Houston Oilers
14		G	Iowa
10		DB	Baylor
2		DE	Kentucky
2		DE	Colorado State
23		QB	Clemson	Moved up draft order in trade with Houston Oilers
11		G	USC
14		TE	South Carolina
11		WR	Tennessee	Moved up draft order in trade with St. Louis Cardinals
7		QB	Penn State
5		DT	Pittsburgh
21		T	Iowa	Pick received from Los Angeles Rams
15		RB	North Carolina
7		T	West Virginia
19		RB	Temple
2		DE	Nebraska	Moved up the draft order in trade with Detroit Lions
4		LB	Alabama
13		LB	Michigan State
21		RB	LSU
20		DB	Tennessee
''{{sortname	No	pick	0	nolink=1}}''	Pick traded to San Francisco 49ers
25		RB	Texas A&M
31		T	Michigan	Moved down draft order in trade with Jacksonville Jaguars
28		DB	Memphis
13		TE	California	Moved up draft order in trade with Tennessee Oilers
27		T	Auburn
14		T	BYU
21		WR	Jackson State
''{{sortname	No	pick	0	nolink=1}}''	Pick traded to St. Louis Rams
6		DT	North Carolina	Moved up draft order in trade with Dallas Cowboys
27		RB	Penn State	Moved down draft order in trade with Pittsburgh Steelers
''{{sortname	No	pick	0	nolink=1}}''	Pick traded to Detroit Lions
15		LB	Texas
20		DE	Penn State
23		WR	LSU
5		DT	LSU
15		G	Virginia	Pick received from Minnesota Vikings. Moved up draft order in trade with Detroit Lions.
3		DE	LSU
5		DB	Tennessee
26		WR	Pittsburgh	Moved down draft order in trade with Cleveland Browns
11		NT	Memphis
1	*	T	Central Michigan
23		DE	Auburn
18		CB	Washington
''{{sortname	No	pick	0	nolink=1}}''	Moved down draft order in trade with San Francisco 49ers
10		QB	Texas Tech	Moved up draft order in trade with Buffalo Bills
''{{sortname	No	pick	0	nolink=1}}''	Pick traded to Buffalo Bills
''{{sortname	No	pick	0	nolink=1}}''	Pick traded to Seattle Seahawks
32		RB	LSU
''{{sortname	No	pick	0	nolink=1}}''	Pick traded to Baltimore Ravens
21		CB	Washington	Pick received from Miami Dolphins. Moved up draft order in trade with New England Patriots.
30		DE	Purdue
31		DE	Kansas State
28		WR	Texas	Moved up draft order in trade with Buffalo Bills
32		T	Ohio State	Moved down draft order in trade with Philadelphia Eagles