Dustin Colquitt says goodbye to Chiefs Kingdom after 15 years

The exact reasons for Dustin Colquitt’s exit aren’t yet known, but it’s clear from a post saying goodbye that the punter’s 15-year tenure with the team is over.

The questions were circulating after the Kansas City Chiefs added a third punter to the roster with the signing of Tommy Townsend as an undrafted free agent, yet it was still hard to believe anything other than the fact that Dustin Colquitt would be the team’s punter once again in 2020. That all changed with a late night post saying goodbye to Chiefs Kingdom from Colquitt on his own Instagram.

Colquitt was the Chiefs third round choice in the 2005 NFL Draft and spent the next 15 years of his life as one of the most consistent specialists in the game. He was the longest-tenured player on a young team by far, and now there’s not a single member of the current Chiefs team that pre-dates Andy Reid as head coach (2013).

Here’s a look at Colquitt’s goodbye:

Colquitt was an ironman for the Chiefs, missing only two games in his 15 years with the team. In that span, he was one of the most consistent performers in a game that features plenty of turnover on teams looking for one specialist after another trying to get reliable special teams play.

More than reliable, however, Colquitt was excellent at his craft, a true specialist in his ability to pin an opponent wherever the Chiefs wanted or to help bail out an offense that needed it most. Colquitt wasn’t needed as much in recent years with such a successful offense at work under Patrick Mahomes, but it’s easy to forget how many years that Colquitt felt like one of the team’s best offensive weapons on teams that finished in the AFC West basement.

Fortunately, Colquitt was honored league-wide with a Pro Bowl appearance on two separate occasions in 2012 and 2016 and won AFC Special Teams Player of the Week back in 2011. He’s second among active punters with 1,124 total punts, a total which makes him 15th all time in the NFL. His punt average of 44.8 yards/punt also places him in the top 25 in NFL history as well.

All of Chiefs Kingdom certainly wishes Colquitt well. It’s been an incredible15 years and it will be weird to turn the corner in 2021 without seeing a familiar face on the Chiefs special teams.