The core reason Chiefs ended their punter competition early

Looking back, there are reasons to not be surprised Kansas City made a decision weeks before training camp.

The Kansas City Chiefs’ training camp was expected to be dominated by a punter competition.

Tommy Townsend left the Chiefs after four seasons and signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Houston Texans. Townsend’s exit appeared to be written on the wall since Kansas City hired former San Diego State punter Matt Araiza a month ago.

Following the draft, the Chiefs signed BYU’s Ryan Rehkow as an undrafted free agent to compete with Araiza to replace Townsend. The stage was seemingly set for intense rivalry for the role.

Earlier this summer, Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub declined to provide a deadline for the decision between Araiza and Rehkow. He also stated that kicker Harrison Butker would have some say over which choice will act as his replacement holder.

“We’re practicing everything, the holds, the throws… who can throw better. We’re trying to look at everything to evaluate it,” Toub said of the search. “Holds are important. [Harrison] Butker’s going to be involved. I’m going to talk to him [to see] who he likes when it comes time. We don’t know when we’re going to make that decision.”

It turns out that decision was made at the end of the team’s required minicamp this week, when Rehkow was cut to make room for former Montana defensive tackle Alex Gubner, who had a successful audition.

Based on recent trends, there are two key reasons to believe the punter decision was made well before the team’s training camp at Missouri Western State University in late July.

Installation vs. competition

Toub and head coach Andy Reid are diligent about special teams. While they both frequently use coach-speak about competitiveness in public, Toub and Reid place a high priority on having the playbook in place well before training camp begins.

This would have made a meaningful camp rivalry between Araiza and Rehkow difficult due to their significant disparities.

Splitting valuable practice repetitions between the two in St. Joseph would have made it tough to assess covering gunner possibilities, which is a key way for raw talent to build a case for the active roster. The left-footed Araiza, who has impressive punting distance based on college film and the 2022 preseason with the Buffalo Bills, would most likely necessitate alternate formations from the other ten players over the more typical power of the right-footed Rehkow.

Matt Araiza’s 82 yard punt for the Bills (2022 preseason) pic.twitter.com/aFuURLfoZ0 https://t.co/o1gxlFX83N

— Dan Wetzel (@DanWetzel) February 22, 2024

Nobody should be shocked that the always-thorough Toub decided early on which foot his punter would kick with, allowing him to better plan for the talent around Araiza.

The 2020 punter competition

The Chiefs also made a swift decision the previous time they needed a punter, in 2020. After releasing Dustin Colquitt after 15 years on the job, the team signed former Notre Dame punter Tyler Newsome as a street free agency. Following the 2020 draft, the team signed Townsend out of Florida.

Toub’s thoughts about the 2020 punter battle similarly promised fierce competition.

“They both have really strong legs, really powerful legs,” Toub remarked. “They consistently hit over 5.0 [second] hangtimes, which is really impressive. Tommy’s a little bit more clean in his technique, as far as consistency. Whereas Tyler is a little bit more erratic with his technique, but the results are the same. They both bomb the ball. We just need to clean Tyler up a little more, but I tell you what, the competition is going to be real fun.”

Ultimately, the 2020 punting fight ended early when Newsome was released on July 28. While he did make it to training camp, the epidemic forced him to complete all offseason work online.

The Chiefs certainly made the correct call. Townsend went on to be voted First Team All-Pro for the position in 2022, while Newsome drifted around the league for a while but never played a game.

If Toub can make a fair evaluation based mainly on Townsend’s Zoom workouts, there is no reason to mistrust the judgment after a month of watching Araiza and Rehkow in person.

The bottom line

Even 90-man roster spots are valuable, making it difficult to justify bringing two punters to camp. The Chiefs clearly valued a reserve defensive lineman for practice reasons, given that returning players Derrick Nnadi and Charles Omenihu are recovering from season-ending operations.

More small moves may be required. Now that he appears to be on the mend, the Chiefs will soon have to decide whether or not pass rusher BJ Thompson will be available. Other Chiefs have injury worries heading into camp, and a reunion with free agency tackle Donovan Smith is not ruled out until one of Kingsley Suamataia or Wanya Morris wins the left tackle fight.

With a three-peat on the line, Kansas City made a critical decision early that will have a direct impact on the roster’s fringe players. They also did right by Rehkow, who will have the opportunity to look for a new team before training camp.