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The Kansas City Chiefs said goodbye to longtime punter Dustin Colquitt, releasing the 15-year veteran. It’s a tough pill to swallow for Chiefs fans, as another beloved player leaves the franchise. He was a lovable goofball with the fans and his teammates, as well as one of the best leaders in the locker room.
While Colquitt won’t be easily replaced, Kansas City will spend the offseason searching for their punter of the future. Colquitt also was the holder for the Chiefs’ kicking unit. Earlier this year, Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub called him the best holder he’s ever had during his 19 years coaching special teams. Finding an adequate replacement there will be just as important for as finding one that can boot punts inside the 20-yard line on the regular.
Right now the Chiefs have two punters on the roster, free agent signing Tyler Newsome and undrafted free agent signing Tommy Townsend.
Newsome is 6-3 and 219 pounds, playing college football at Notre Dame. He spent some time with the Chargers in 2019 but was released during 53-man roster cuts. He posted a career average of 44 yards per punt with the Fighting Irish, accumulating 9,909 punting yards in his four-year career. 75 of his 225 punts with Notre Dame landed within the 20-yard line. The one area of concern is that Newsome doesn’t appear to have experience as the holder at Notre Dame. You can find out more about Newsome here.
The newest punter for the Chiefs, Townsend was a transfer to Florida from Tennessee. Listed at 6-2 and 176 pounds, Townsend is a bit slighter than Newsome. During the 2018 college football season, he averaged 45.4 yards per punt on 51 total punts, earning recognition as a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award. During his senior season in 2019, he averaged 44 yards per punt on just 42 punts. Through the course of his career at Florida, 47.3% of his punts landed within the 20-yard line.
Two important factors might give Townsend the edge over Newsome. First, he was also the holder for the kicking game. His kicker in 2019, Evan McPherson, made 47-of-48 extra points and 17-of-19 field goals on the season. The second factor is that Townsend is athletic, running the second-fastest 40-yard dash among punters at the combine. That means he can be utilized on trick plays on special teams.
The Chiefs are gearing up for a training camp battle at the punter position. One of these two players will come out on top. If they don’t, Kansas City will be forced to look elsewhere for a punter, perhaps during 53-man roster cuts.