Dave Toub, Dustin Colquitt and a closer look at great special teams

Here’s a closer look at why the Kansas City Chiefs have a truly gifted punting unit under special teams coach Dave Toub.

Dustin Colquitt is the highest-paid punter in the NFL. For a team against the salary cap, the longtime Kansas City Chiefs punter is occasionally cited as an easy cut, a way for the franchise to find the supposed breathing room they need. After all, punters are, according to Madden football, a dime a dozen. Might as well replace one with a rookie and save a few million.

Then again, the rest of us know that’s not true. While in one breath, we might frown at the cost of special teams, we also applaud the group knowing the Chiefs have one of the best special teams units and coaches in the entire NFL, perhaps the best. Dave Toub is getting head coaching interviews for a reason, and the Chiefs can only hope to retain him for as long as possible. If Chuck Pagano doesn’t last another season with the Indianapolis Colts, it’s not hard to picture general manager Chris Ballard calling up his old friend to take over the reins. Until then, however, the Chiefs will experience the joys of excellent special teams play.

Last season, Colquitt earned his second Pro Bowl nomination (the first was in 2012). At the age of 34, Colquitt seems to be getting better (or maybe the NFL is waking up), and much of it has to do with what is rarely seen at the position.

It’s typical to look at punters and praise the one who kicks it the farthest. That’s how Shane Lechler has earned so many accolades in his career. Yet consider this: most punters on bad teams are going to have much more room to kick the football than teams who stalled at midfield and needed to put together a nice corner punt downed just 35 yards away.

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Let’s look at the difference between the league’s best punter (in my opinion) Johnny Hekker of the Los Angeles Rams and Shane Lechler of the Houston Texans (who is often mentioned among the league’s best). Last season, Hekker averaged 47.8 yards per punt. Lechler had 47.5 yards per punt. The two were virtually identical. Yet a closer look at the numbers shows how wildly different these punters actually were last year.

Lechler punted 72 times for the Texans and had 48 of them returned for a total of 477 yards. He also allowed 3 touchbacks, which is another 60 yards positive for the opponent (as the ball moves from the zero-yard line, so to speak, to their 20-yard line). That’s a total of 537 yards allowed back—an insane number. If you do the math, Lechler allowed 71% of his punts to be returned for some positive yardage in 2016.

Hekker punted an incredible 98 times (remember he plays for the Rams) and allowed only 35 returns and a single touchback for a total yards returned of 172. In other words, Lechler and the rest of the Texans’ punt coverage allowed 365 more yards on 26 less punts than the Rams. Therein lies the difference between winning and losing most games in the NFL (if only the rest of the Rams roster was as talented as Hekker).

Using this sort of formula to look at Kansas City’s special teams, it’s clear that Dave Toub is one of the best at getting quality from all parties involved. Dustin Colquitt punted 76 times last season and had 9 touchbacks. That’s the bad news, since you don’t want the ball to bounce into the end zone and give the opposing team any breathing room on offense. Colquitt tied for the league lead with Marquette King and allowed. That said, the Chiefs punting unit overall allowed only 30 returns and 157 return yards—sixth best among regular punters and punting units.

What makes Colquitt look better is that he finished second to Hekker in punts landed inside the 20 with 38, exactly half of his punts. Hekker had 13 more but he also had 22 more punts. That means that 50% of the time, Colquitt and the rest of the punting unit gave the Chiefs defense exactly the sort of field position they want—the perfect scenario to do some damage and create turnovers.

This has been the story since Toub arrived for the Chiefs, and Colquitt has actually been better in previous seasons even if the Pro Bowl mentions haven’t come his way. Last year, Colquitt again managed to get 50 percent of his attempts inside the 20-yard line while limiting touchbacks to only five. Meanwhile, the punt unit allowed only 170 total return yards, the second best overall mark next to the Green Bay Packers.

If this sounds like we’re getting too far into the weeds, it’s not. In reality, it’s the difference between winning and losing in a tough division like the AFC West. All of the focus is on big name stats and quarterback play, but consider the Raiders. Oakland allowed 250 more return yards than the Chiefs last season (because Marquette King is not as good of a punter as his charisma would have you to believe). Would a team win more if their opponents didn’t march down the field from one end to the other 2.5 more times in a season? Yes.

It’s nice to know that Toub is one of the best special teams coaches in the league and that Dustin Colquitt is a fine punter, but it’s also fun to be able to break down some numbers and see how things stack up compared to other teams. We can only hope that Toub stays in Kansas City or at least is able to impart his wisdom enough to his future replacement so that the Chiefs enjoy this level of excellence for years to come.

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