A look at the connections between the New England Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs.
NEW ENGLAND TIES
- Chiefs RB Anthony Sherman attended North Attleboro (Mass.) HS, just eight miles south of Gillette Stadium, where he was the team captain in football, track and baseball. He was named the Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year in 2006 and was thrice named to the Attleboro Sun-Chronicle All-Star team. During his high school career, Sherman rushed for a school-record 2,537 yards and 48 touchdowns. After graduation, Sherman played 51 games at Connecticut, where he rushed for 61 yards on 17 carries and caught 48 passes for 477 yards and a touchdown.
- Chiefs director of football operations Mike Borgonzi is a native of Everett, Mass., and attended Brown University. He also coached the tight ends at Amherst College in 2002 and served as the assistant recruiting coordinator at Boston College form 2007-08.
- Chiefs assistant director of player personnel Ryan Poles attended Boston College and later worked for his alma mater as a recruiting assistant in 2008-09.
- Chiefs president Mark Donovan played quarterback collegiately at Brown University.
- Kansas City assistant head coach/special teams coordinator Dave Toub played offensive line at Springfield College.
- Chiefs inside linebackers coach Mark Deleone was the director of football operations and assistant offensive line coach at New Hampshire in 2009.
KANSAS-MISSOURI TIES
- Patriots WR Cordarrelle Patterson played at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas before transferring to Tennessee. Hutchinson retired his number and he is the first player from Hutchinson to be drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft.
- Patriots DL Geneo Grissom is from Hutchinson, Kansas.
FORMER PATRIOTS
- Chiefs OL Jordan Devey played for the Patriots from 2013-14. Devey was on the practice squad for the entirety of the 2013 season and saw action in seven games with four starts the following season.
- Chiefs quarterbacks coach Mike Kafka was a quarterback in the league for six years before joining the coaching ranks and spent part of the 2013 offseason with the Patriots.
- Chiefs vice president of sports medicine and performance Rick Burkholder began his career in the NFL with the Patriots as a summer intern in athletic training in 1986.
FORMER CHIEFS
- Patriots wide receivers coach Chad O'Shea began his NFL career as a volunteer special teams assistant for the Chiefs in 2003 and was promoted to special teams/linebackers coach in 2004.
- Prior to joining the Patriots, character coach/team development Jack Easterby was the team chaplain for the Chiefs from 2011-12.
FORMER NFL TEAMMATES
- Patriots CB Stephon Gilmore played with Chiefs LB Reggie Ragland at Buffalo in 2016.
- Chiefs WR Sammy Watkins played for Buffalo with Patriots WR Chris Hogan and CB Stephon Gilmore.
- Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy worked with Patriots wide receivers coach Chad O'Shea and defensive line coach Brendan Daly from 2006-08 when they were members of the Minnesota Vikings coaching staff.
- Chiefs OL Mitchell Schwartz played for Cleveland with Patriots WR Josh Gordon, QB Brian Hoyer and DL Danny Shelton. Chiefs OL Austin Reiter also played for Cleveland, teaming up with Patriots DB Jason McCourty, Gordon and Shelton. Finally, Chiefs OL Cam Erving played with Shelton from 2015-16.
- Chiefs offensive line coach Andy Heck was a tackle for the Bears from 1994-98 when Patriots running backs coach Ivan Fears coached the receivers at Chicago.
- Patriots QB Brian Hoyer played with Chiefs FB Anthony Sherman on Arizona in 2012.
- Patriots OL Trent Brown played with Chiefs OL Jordan Devey on San Francisco in 2015.
- Chiefs secondary/cornerbacks coach Al Harris coached the cornerbacks for the Rams in 2011 while Patriots offensive coordinator/ quarterbacks coach Josh McDaniels and defensive line coach Brendan Daly worked in the same roles for St. Louis.
- Chiefs quarterbacks coach Mike Kafka played quarterback in the NFL for six seasons, playing with Patriots DE Adrian Clayborn in Tampa Bay in 2014 and WR Cordarrelle Patterson in Minnesota in 2015.
- Patriots RB Kenjon Barner played for Philadelphia in 2016 when Chiefs wide receivers coach Greg Lewis worked in the same role for the Eagles.
FORMER COLLEGE TEAMMATES
- Kansas City defensive quality control coach Jay Valai played safety at Wisconsin with Patriots RB James White when Patriots consultant to the head coach Bret Bielema was head coach of the Badgers.
- Patriots C David Andrews and RB Sony Michel played with Chiefs WR Chris Conley at Georgia.
- Patriots RB Sony Michel played at Georgia when Chiefs defensive quality control coach Jay Valai worked in the same role for the Bulldogs.
- Patriots WR Matthew Slater played at UCLA when Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy was a member of the offensive coaching staff for the Bruins.
- Patriots TE Dwayne Allen played with Chiefs DL Jarvis Jenkins and WR Sammy Watkins at Clemson.
- Patriots LB Kyle Van Noy and Chiefs DB Daniel Sorensen played together at BYU.
- Patriots DB Brandon King and DB Jonathan Jones played with Chiefs LB Dee Ford at Auburn.
- Patriots DL Geneo Grissom played with Chiefs LS James Winchester (2011-13) and RB Damien Williams (2012-13) at Oklahoma.
- Patriots DE Adrian Clayborn played for Iowa while Chiefs inside linebackers coach Mark Deleone was a student assistant for the Hawkeyes.
- Patriots tight ends coach Nick Caley coached the secondary at Florida Atlantic while Chiefs defensive quality control coach Terry Bradden was the special teams quality control coach.
- Patriots OL Shaq Mason played for Georgia Tech with Chiefs K Harrison Butker from 2013-14.
- Patriots coaching assistant DeMarcus Covington was a defensive graduate assistant at Mississippi in 2014 when Chiefs LB Breeland Speaks played there.
- Chiefs WR Demarcus Robinson shared the field with Patriots DB J.C. Jackson and OL Trent Brown at Florida.
- Patriots RB Kenjon Barner played with Chiefs WR De'Anthony Thomas at Oregon from 2011-12.
- Patriots OL Brian Schwenke played on the California offensive line with Chiefs OL Mitchell Schwartz from 2009-11.
- Patriots OL Cole Croston teamed up with Chiefs LB Ben Niemann at Iowa from 2014-16. Chiefs LB Anthony Hitchens also played with Croston, as well as Patriots DE Adrian Clayborn.
- Patriots LB Nicholas Grigsby played for Pittsburgh in 2014 when Chiefs wide receivers coach Greg Lewis worked in the same role for the Panthers.
- Patriots DL Lawrence Guy played at Arizona State when Chiefs strength and conditioning assistant Ryan Reynolds worked as a sports performance graduate assistant there.
- Chiefs defensive assistant Alex Whittingham coached the linebackers at Utah when Patriots DB Eric Rowe played there from 2013-14.
