The Super Bowl threepeat has happened before, just not the way you think

With a win this Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Kansas City Chiefs would become the first team in NFL history to win three consecutive Super Bowls. They’re already the only team to even reach the Super Bowl in their “threepeat” attempt, but that ain’t the goal for this juggernaut.

While the Chiefs are knocking on the door of NFL team immortality, none of the players can lay claim to being the first to win three consecutive Lombardi Trophies. There’s even a former Chief on the Eagles who can also pick up a third straight title.

Has a player ever won three straight Super Bowls?

Photo by TIM ROBERTS/AFP via Getty Images

Ken Norton Jr. was one of the NFL’s top linebackers in the 1990s, earning two All-Pro selections and three Pro Bowl nods (back when Pro Bowl nods carried a bit more meaning than they do now).

Norton started his career with the Dallas Cowboys in 1988, enduring a combined 11-37 record in his first three seasons before Dallas began its dynastic run in the 1990s. In Super Bowl XXVII, he scored the final touchdown of Dallas’ 52-17 blowout over the Buffalo Bills, recovering a Frank Reich fumble for the scoop and score. He also made a tremendous goal-line tackle on Kenneth Davis to prevent a tying touchdown in the second quarter.

The following season saw Norton voted to his first Pro Bowl and the All-Pro Second-Team, leading the Cowboys in tackles as they once again blew out the Bills in Super Bowl 28.

When the NFL instituted the salary cap in 1994, Norton left in free agency for the San Francisco 49ers, completing his Super Bowl trifecta while thwarting the Cowboys’ own threepeat efforts in the NFC Championship Game.

Norton wouldn’t reach another Super Bowl as a player, but he did win a ring as a linebackers coach for the Seattle Seahawks in 2013. He’s currently the linebackers coach for the Washington Commanders.

A Philadelphia Eagles player can get his own threepeat

Offensive tackle Darian Kinnard was a fifth-round pick of the Chiefs back in 2022, playing a grand total of six special teams snaps in one game as a rookie. Alas, he was on the active roster when the Chiefs beat the Eagles in Super Bowl 57.

The following season, Kinnard was waived in the preseason and re-signed to the practice squad, where he remained for the entire season as Kansas City won its second title in a row over the San Francisco 49ers.

Kinnard signed a reserve/futures contract with the Eagles in the 2024 offseason, remaining on the active roster all season and even starting the Week 18 finale against the New York Giants.

Practice squad players are entitled to Super Bowl rings, so Kinnard counts! No one will confuse Kinnard as having the same impact as Ken Norton Jr., but he could potentially be a great obscure trivia answer if the Eagles win.

Which Chiefs players would join Ken Norton Jr on the threepeat list with a win?

Offense

• QB Patrick Mahomes
• QB Chris Oladukun (currently on practice squad, has never been signed to active roster)
• RB Isiah Pacheco
• WR Skyy Moore (currently on injured reserve)
• WR JuJu Smith-Schuster
• WR Justin Watson
• WR Mecole Hardman (currently on injured reserve)
• WR Justyn Ross (currently on practice squad, has never been signed to active roster)
• TE Travis Kelce
• TE Noah Gray
• TE Jody Fortson (currently on injured reserve, was also on injured reserve for all of 2023)
• OL Creed Humphrey
• OL Joe Thuney
• OL Trey Smith
• OL Mike Calie

Defense

• DL Mike Danna
• DL Chris Jones
• DL Derrick Nnadi
• DE George Karlaftis
• DE Malik Herring
• LB Nick Bolton
• LB Leo Chenal
• LB Jack Cochrane (currently on injured reserve)
• CB Nazeeh Johnson
• CB Trent McDuffie
• CB Jaylen Watson
• CB Joshua Williams
• S Justin Reid
• S Deon Bush (currently on practice squad)

Special Teams

• K Harrison Butker
• LS James Winchester

The players to highlight are McDuffie, Karlaftis, Moore, Cook, Chenal, Williams, Watson, Pacheco, Johnson, Caliendo, Cochrane, and Ross. Those are the 12 players who were either drafted or signed as undrafted free agents by the Chiefs in 2022, which means all they’ve ever known in their respective NFL careers are Super Bowl appearances.

Mahomes, Kelce, Hardman, Jones, Nnadi, Butker, and Fortson would be the seven Chiefs players on the cusp of picking up their fourth rings.