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Fascinatingly enough, the Kansas City Chiefs have more of a rich history around the tight end position than the wide receiver position. It's very easy to laud the careers of Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez along with contemporary Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce.
However, there have been quite a few studs to come through and compete for the Chiefs, the NFL's reigning Super Bowl champions.
Here are the five best wide receivers in Chiefs franchise history.
5. Henry Marshall (1976-87)
First to make an appearance on this list is Henry Marshall, a 6-foot-2 wide receiver who spent his entire 12-season with the Chiefs organization.
Marshall was originally a third-round selection by Kansas City in the 1976 NFL Draft out of homestate Missouri. Never a Pro Bowler, Marshall still produced very well at a high level for over a decade for the Chiefs.
Marshall's best receiving season may have come in 1984, when he was then a nine-year vet. That year, Marshall recorded 912 receiving yards in 16 games, with the Chiefs barely missing the playoffs with an 8-8 record.
Marshall is fourth all-time on Kansas City's receiving yards leaderboard along with totaling the franchise's eighth-most touchdowns in his career.
4. Chris Burford (1960-67)
Next up is an early entry in the team's history, Chris Burford. the one-time All-Pro First Team member helped the former AFL franchise win two titles in the former league before leaving the team for retirement after just eight seasons.
Burford was a standout at Stanford, leading the NCAA in receptions before later in his football career becoming an early leader in Chiefs career receptions (later surpassed). A first-round pick in the 1960 AFL Draft, Burford spent his entire team with the then-Dallas Texans and later relocated Chiefs.
Today, Burford's records are still up there with the bests: he's eighth in career receiving yards and an amazing third in total receiving touchdowns (55). His impact has withstood the test of time.
3. Stephone Paige (1983-91)
Stephone Paige makes the list of best Chiefs receivers at No. 3. An undrafted free agent out of Fresno State, Paige came to Kansas City in 1983, spending nine seasons with the Chiefs.
Despite never earning a Pro Bowl selection, Paige twice recorded double-digit receiving touchdowns for Kansas City (in back-to-back seasons in 1985-86) and once led the NFL in yards per reception (21.9) in '85.
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Paige topped 1,000 receiving yards for the first, and only, time in his NFL career in his penultimate season with the Chiefs, in 1990, also catching a single-season career-best 65 receptions. To this day, Paige sits with the seventh-most receiving yards in franchise history (fifth-best discounting tight ends) and hauled in the fourth-most receiving touchdowns.
2. Dwayne Bowe (2007-14)
The most recent face to appear here is Dwayne Bowe, the one-time Pro Bowl selection for the Chiefs back in 2010.
Bowe was originally the 23rd overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft by Kansas City, spending the next eight seasons with the organization (later playing one season with the Cleveland Browns before signing a one-day contract to retire as a Chief). Bowe once led the league in receiving touchdowns, with 15, back in 2010. Additionally, he hauled in more than 1,000 receiving yards in three separate seasons.
On the leaderboard, Bowe is third all-time in Chiefs receiving yards (second for just receivers) and fifth in the team's receiving touchdowns.
1. Otis Taylor (1965-75)
The greatest wide receiver in Chiefs history is fairly obvious if one is familiar with the franchise. It has to be Super Bowl champion wideout Otis Taylor.
Taylor, now 77 years young, was the 29th overall pick in the 1965 AFL Draft, joining the Chiefs from HBCU Prairie View A&M. After an O.K. rookie showing, Taylor broke onto the scene with nearly 1,300 receiving yards and 58 catches in his sophomore campaign, earning his first Pro Bowl selection and first-team All-Pro membership.
Memorably, Taylor caught the Super Bowl IV game-sealing touchdown in the third quarter, which delivered the Chiefs' their first AFL-NFL merger title; eventually a 50-year drought ended earlier this year with the Super Bowl LIV victory.
Taylor is remembered passionately and fiercely by fans and the organization. He, along with Burford and just-missed-the-list's Carlos Carson, are the only three wide receivers in the Chiefs' Hall of Fame. To this day, Taylor is the second leader in both receiving yards and touchdowns—only eclipsed by Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez.
