De’Anthony Thomas, Akeem Hunt compete for return duties
By Matt Conner
Both De’Anthony Thomas and Akeem Hunt drew praise from Dave Toub as the competitors for return duties for the Kansas City Chiefs.
In 2016, Tyreek Hill made everything simple. As a fifth round rookie learning his way in the NFL, he was instant dynamite on special teams and Dave Toub enjoyed employing Hill as his primary returner across the board. Whether receiving kicks or punts, Hill was undoubtedly the man and he rewarded Toub’s belief with a Pro Bowl season, multiple return touchdowns and the fastest on-field time recorded in the NFL last year.
Given glimpses of what Hill could do, the Chiefs adjusted accordingly and elevated him to No. 1 wideout. They cut Jeremy Maclin and were content to let Hill blossom with further offensive responsibility knowing he could take the top off of a defense. In Week 1, he did just that with 133 receiving yards against the defending Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots.
Life after Hill, however, isn’t quite as straightforward as before for Dave Toub. Finding a kick returner who can provide the same kind of threat has proven difficult after two regular season games—so much so that general manager Brett Veach has already made a move to bring in further competition once it seemed like De’Anthony Thomas might not provide the hoped-for results.
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So far this season, Thomas has returned 2 punts for 3 total yards, a terribly small sample size that doesn’t allow for any real analysis other than to say that DAT has yet to do anything on punt returns. Kick returns shows a different side, since Thomas has 6 returns to his credit for a total of 135 return yards. That’s not good. With a 22.5 average and a longest return of 31 yards, it’s clear that the Chiefs have to do better if they’re going to keep opposing units afraid on special teams. That’s why Veach brought in Akeem Hunt.
Toub, however, who has been unwavering in his support of Thomas in recent months, refused to back down at all. The Chiefs special teams coach insists that they still very much like Thomas despite the presence of the newly-added Hunt.
"“We aren’t down on De’Anthony by any means as a kick returner,” said Toub to the media on Thursday. “We’re going to keep going to him, we’re going to keep coming out with the ball like we do. He’s going to get his big returns this season, for sure.”"
The Chiefs certainly hope so. Thomas showed what he can do in the preseason with a 95-yard return for a touchdown, and those are the sorts of big breaks that raise the average as well. Unfortunately fans have seen Thomas dance around and even struggle to get back to the 25-yard line where they would start if he’d just knelt down for a touchback. That’s where Hunt comes in, giving the team another return option with tremendous speed out of the gate.
"“I like that he’s very fast,” said Toub about Hunt. “I mean he’s a 4.39 guy. He’s strong. He hits the returns going north and south. He breaks tackles. He kind of fits our scheme in what we’re trying to do in our kickoff return game.”"
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Hunt was added last week to the roster and replaced C.J. Spiller in the process, who was released for the third time this year. Hunt immediately gave the Chiefs their single longest kick return on the year so far with a 40-yard return against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2.