Kansas City Chiefs: What Tommy Townsend can provide in 2020

The Kansas City Chiefs signed UDFA punter Tommy Townsend. What should fans expect from the Florida punter?

This offseason marked the end of an era for the Kansas City Chiefs and that was the Dustin Colquitt era. After 15 seasons as the punter for the team that drafted him in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft, Colquitt was released by Kansas City.

It might seem silly to get emotional over a team releasing their punter, but Colquitt was with this team through it all. The fact that he at least got to finish his Chiefs career as a Super Bowl champion made it a little easier for Chiefs fans, but with Colquitt out the door and onto new things, Kansas City is now tasked with finding the successor to Colquitt.

That’s where Tommy Townsend comes into play.

Tommy Townsend has a chance to make a strong impact for the Kansas City Chiefs as a rookie.

Unlike most of the UDFAs I’ve written about so far, Townsend has a solid chance of not only making it onto the 55-man roster, but being a big part of the 2020 team. He only has one person to compete with this summer in training camp and preseason – Tyler Newsome – but Townsend is likely the favorite heading into the competition.

The reason Townsend is perceived as the favorite is because the Chiefs gave him $75,000 in guaranteed salary. Money certainly talks and it’s hard to fathom KC giving a rookie punter that kind of money if they don’t see him as their option in 2020.

Something that stands out about Tommy Townsend when reading about him is that – unlike Colquitt – he’s fiery. Via Adam Teicher of ESPN,

"“I’ve always had a little bit of fire as a football player,” Townsend said. “Growing up I played running back and in high school I played corner and safety, so I’ve always been pretty aggressive. That’s one thing I have in my mind that I think is an advantage. I’m a little bit more aggressive than the typical punter.”"

In that same article by Teicher, there’s a paragraph that mentions how Townsend sees himself as more of a position player. He ran the ball on a fake punt, got the first down, and never let the defenders bring him down. The article also mentions he and the opponent got into a shoving match.

It’s rare to see that kind of fire from a punter and after seeing someone so mild mannered in Colquitt hold the position for 15 years, it’ll be weird to see Townsend be a little more in your face about things; Not necessarily a bad weird though, just different.

The fact that Townsend is a little more aggressive means that Dave Toub can come up with more trick plays. Having an athletic punter who’s willing to take some hits and not be brought down without a fight will bring more opportunities to attempt fake punts.

Townsend won’t be handed the job on a silver platter – he’ll still have to compete with Newsome who spent last season on the Chargers practice squad. If Tommy Townsend is able to be the better punter this summer, there’s a good chance he serves as the Kansas City Chiefs’ punter for the next several years.

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For the first time in 15 years, the punter position is open for the taking and Tommy Townsend is going to do everything he can to secure that job. Here’s to hoping he’s the next big thing at punter in Kansas City.

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