Kansas City Chiefs: Dustin Colquitt likely gone in 2018

Dustin Colquitt has been a mainstay for the Kansas City Chiefs for 13 years. However, the signs are pointing to Kansas City moving on from Colquitt in 2018.

I’m probably about to ruin the days of a lot of Kansas City Chiefs fans. Unfortunately, the signs are what they are, and those signs point to Dustin Colquitt playing his final year in Kansas City. The long-time Chiefs punter has been one of the best at his position, and a fan favorite, for 13 years. However, it’s clear that KC is exploring their options.

Just this week, Kansas City invited in a pair of punters for a tryout. Austin Rehkow and Taylor Symmank were two of 13 players the Chiefs had in. This time of year, big tryouts like this indicate the team is looking at “futures” contracts.

On its surface that might not seem like a big deal. However, Dustin Colquitt is coming up on free agency this year. That puts a new spin on things as Kansas City is clearly thinking about what other options they might have. As it stands, Colquitt is already the highest paid punter in the NFL. That’s always a tough justification for a team.

Good Year To Need A Punter

What is also interesting about these tryouts for the Kansas City Chiefs is that there is a lot of buzz around a punter in this year’s NFL Draft. Michael Dickson of the Texas Longhorns is being billed as a top tier punter. The junior punter had already declared for the NFL Draft when he put on a show in the Texas Bowl this week.

There are other quality punters being mentioned as well in this year’s draft. The Chiefs are obviously considering getting younger (and cheaper) at the position. Both Austin Rehkow and Taylor Symmank are younger players. It would not be the least bit surprising if Kansas City made a move like this.

While many Kansas City fans will reference the past 13 years of what Dustin Colquitt has done, it’s the job of Brett Veach to think about the next 13 years. For my money, Michael Dickson is a great option for that and will come at a cheap price for the next four years. That’s just too good a value to be passing on.

An Era Is Ending

There isn’t anything wrong with being sentimental about your favorite Kansas City Chiefs. However, a time does come when players move on. Dustin Colquitt is one of just three players left over from the days of Carl Peterson running the team. The other two, Tamba Hali and Derrick Johnson, are often mentioned as players KC might move on from soon.

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There aren’t many people who want to see Dustin Colquitt with another team. However, the same was true with Jamaal Charles. Unfortunately it has just become far too uncommon for a player to spend his entire career with only one team. I don’t doubt that Colquitt has a couple more years in him, it’s just not likely to be in Kansas City.

Ultimately we trust the Kansas City front office to make these decisions. Moving on from long-time fan favorites is one of the tougher decisions a GM has to make. However, it is also necessary to keeping the franchise competitive. While I’ll miss Dustin Colquitt and what he gave us for the past 13 years, I would love for the Chiefs to land Michael Dickson and be set for the next 13 years.

The Kansas City Chiefs have almost moved entirely out of the past two regimes. There are only a few players left on the roster that came to KC before Andy Reid did. Over the next couple of years, we will see that number continue to dwindle down. While it hurts to see fan favorites go, at least we have a lot to look forward to in the future.