This NFL puzzle ran on Sep 6, 2026. The task was to connect Brian Kelly to Kiko Alonso with a chain of real players. The objective: “Your chain must include an Oklahoma State alum.” Par was 3 links.
Brian Kelly (DB) played in the NFL from 1998 to 2008. Career stops: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1998 to 2007) and the Detroit Lions (2008). College: USC. As the Start of the chain, a household name like this gives you a lot of teammates to branch from, which makes it a friendly place to begin.
Kiko Alonso (MLB) played in the NFL from 2013 to 2019. Career stops: the Buffalo Bills (2013), the Philadelphia Eagles (2015), the Miami Dolphins (2016 to 2018), and the New Orleans Saints (2019). College: Oregon. As the Finish of the chain, a household name like this gives you a lot of teammates to branch from, which makes it a friendly place to begin.
Brian Kelly and Kiko Alonso do not share a team or a college, so there is no direct link. You need at least one connector in between, and the objective decides which ones are allowed to count.
This was a college objective. The chain has to pass through a player from the named school at some point, not necessarily as a link to the Start or Finish. Of the 17,973 players in the pool, 148 satisfy it. The best known are Reggie White (RB, 2001), Barry Sanders (RB, 1990 to 1998), Tyreek Hill (WR, 2016 to 2025), Thurman Thomas (RB, 1990 to 2000), Kevin Williams (DT, 2003 to 2016), and Dez Bryant (WR, 2010 to 2020).
22 of those players share a team or college with Brian Kelly, and 21 share one with Kiko Alonso. The Finish is the tighter side, so it often pays to work backward from Kiko Alonso.
One shortest chain found by searching the full player pool, preferring the best known names at every step:
Many other chains work. Scoring rewards lower-profile connectors, so the best-known route is rarely the highest scoring one.
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