What’s the deal with Chiefs players all wearing white turtlenecks in team photos?
The mystery has swirled around, and within, the Kansas City Chiefs organization for years.
Why in the world do all the players wear white mock turtlenecks in their official team photos? Google it. It’s like every player.
Patrick Mahomes, Jamaal Charles, Trent Green, you name it. All of them donned crisp white mock turtleneck shirts under their jerseys in their team photos.
The fashion choice has sparked countless jokes, questions and rumors over the years as fans, both casual and hardcore, tried to figure out why the Chiefs appear to be the only NFL team with an affinity for the turtleneck.
“is there a story behind the chiefs making their players wear those white mock turtlenecks for their profile pics?” NFL writer Steven Ruiz asked his social media followers in 2022.
We were curious too. So, ahead of the Chiefs playoffs run, The Star set out to solve the great white turtleneck mystery.
We tried Hall of Fame coach Dick Vermeil. He didn’t know. We asked the team’s historian. No luck. We even asked a Kansas City state lawmaker in the Missouri Capitol. Nothing.
Finally, we got an answer. Straight from a team spokesperson.
According to the spokesperson, the Chiefs introduced the turtlenecks ahead of the 1995 football season. That was the first season after Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana retired. The team went 13–3 before losing in the playoffs.
The turtleneck idea, according to the spokesperson, came from the team’s public relations department. It was a way to bring a more uniformed look to the player headshots and the department asked the equipment team for assistance.
But it wasn’t just the public relations department. The spokesperson said that Lamar Hunt, the team’s late founder and owner, liked the look of turtlenecks underneath the players’ jerseys.
So, Hunt’s partiality for turtlenecks has now become the official look for player headshots over the past two decades. And the great white turtleneck mystery has been solved.
This story was originally published January 16, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
