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Chiefs' Montana Played Role Last Time This Happened
Kansas City quarterback, Joe Montana didn't play against the Bills Friday August 26, 1994. Jamie Germano / USA TODAY NETWORK

Chiefs' Montana Played Role Last Time This Happened

Originally posted on Kansas City Chiefs on SI
By Zak Gilbert  |  Last updated Apr 21, 2025 2:00 PM ET

The Chiefs have won the AFC West nine consecutive seasons. But in 1993, division titles were an endangered species in Kansas City.

Five days before the 1993 NFL draft, Carl Peterson and Marty Schottenheimer engineered a blockbuster trade that included the Chiefs’ first-round selection to acquire future Hall of Famer Joe Montana from San Francisco.

According to ESPN’s Evan Kaplan, this year is the first time since that trade that the NFL was this close to a draft with every team retaining its first-round selection. None of the 32 teams has traded their first-rounder as of Sunday morning. The league has never had four days to the draft during the common-draft era (1966-present) without a first-round pick changing hands.

After guiding the 49ers to four Super Bowl titles in the 1980s, Montana led Kansas City to an elusive AFC West title – its first in 22 years -- in his first season with the Chiefs. In 1993, they also fell one win shy of the Super Bowl, advancing to the championship game for the first time since they won Super Bowl IV at the end of the 1969 season.

Kansas City wouldn’t win a divisional playoff game until it drafted Patrick Mahomes, returning to the AFC title contest in his first full season as a starter, 2018.

San Francisco in 1993 took Kansas City’s first-rounder (No. 18) and traded it again to move down and draft defensive tackle Dana Stubblefield at No. 26. The following season, the 49ers won a Super Bowl with Montana’s replacement, Steve Young 1994.

And after Kansas City got Montana, the trade paved the way for Marcus Allen’s five productive seasons in Kansas City. The Chiefs also obtained safety Dave Whitmore and a third-round choice from the 49ers, who initially wanted the Chiefs’ choices in the first, second and third rounds for their Hall of Famer, according to Adam Teicher.

Carmen Policy, who negotiated the trade with Peterson, left the 49ers in 1998 to become president and minority owner of the expansion version of the Cleveland Browns. His son, Ed, is the newest CEO of the Green Bay Packers and will assume that role in place of Mark Murphy this July.

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This article first appeared on Kansas City Chiefs on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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