Justin Reid’s kicking skills shouldn’t be taken lightly for Chiefs

Don’t laugh at the idea of Justin Reid kicking field goals. It could prove to be an invaluable asset down the road for the Kansas City Chiefs.

There was 20 seconds to go in the first half of the Kansas City Chiefs‘ preseason opener against the Chicago Bears. After a bullet pass from Chiefs quarterback Shane Buechele found wide receiver Justin Watson for a touchdown, the Chiefs special teams unit took to the field.  Noticeably, it wasn’t Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, who boasts the second highest career field goal percentage in NFL history, who lined up for the kick. Instead, it was safety Justin Reid.

And he nailed it.

Although a little wobbly, the ball sailed straight through the middle of the big sticks.

Last Saturday’s preseason outing wasn’t the first time Reid’s kicking skills have been on display – last year he took the opening kickoff in Houston’s game against Tampa Bay, booting the ball all the way to the goal line.

And earlier at training camp, Reid drilled a field goal from inside his own half.

It is easy to dismiss the moment as just a preseason shenanigan or another example of Andy Reid being Andy Reid – more on that later – but I don’t think the potential importance of the moment should go unnoticed.

There is no chance of Reid lining up in front of the big sticks over Butker in any situation that is even remotely important. But there is, however, a situation in which Reid’s kicking skills could prove invaluable. NFL teams don’t generally carry two kickers on their active roster, and if Butker was to go down in warmup or get injured during a game, it would leave the Chiefs scrambling.

That isn’t just a random hypothetical scenario. That exact thing happened to the Carolina Panthers last season in their game against the Buffalo Bills. Panthers kicker Zane Gonzalez suffered an injury in the warm-up, and with nobody else on their roster able to take a kick, Carolina opted to go for two two-point conversions after their touchdowns and did not attempt a field goal all game.

Now imagine if that happened to the Chiefs this year, and imagine if it was in a key regular season clash, or even in the postseason—what would the Chiefs do?

First thoughts might go to Tommy Townsend stepping in, but the third-year punter has zero career field goal or extra point attempts, including during his college career. Punting and kicking, despite both being done with the feet, are obviously two very different skills, and it should not be assumed that just because you can do one, you can do the other. Carolina opted not to even let their punter Lac Edwards attempt a single field goal or extra point against Buffalo after Gonzalez went down.

Looking back in recent NFL history, punters taking kicks hasn’t exactly been common. In fact, over the last three seasons only four NFL punters—Bradley Pinion, Mitch Wishnowsky, Jamie Gillan and Ty Long—have attempted a field goal or extra point in a game. Long was seven-from-nine on field goals and made all nine of his extra point attempts in 2019, while Wishnowsky and Pinion were both one-for-two on their XPAs last season and both missed their sole field goal attempt. Gillan missed his one FGA in 2020.

Townsend might be able to step in should Butker be unavailable, but we don’t know for sure if he would be able to do it. At least with Reid, the Chiefs know that he would be capable of nailing a field goal or extra point if called upon.

It might just be done as a laugh for now, but who knows when that skill might be called upon in a moment of need. Maybe a Justin Reid extra point or field goal proves to be the difference in a key regular season win against the LA Chargers, or perhaps he fills the role during a playoff game. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs’ offense are arguably the team best equipped to go for it all the time on fourth down or solely rely on two-point conversions. But as we saw against Buffalo in the playoffs last season, sometimes you need a field goal to tie the game.

Even if Butker remains healthy, we still might Reid take aim at the uprights during a game this season. Coach Reid has shown in the past he loves giving his players a chance to do something cool during a game – there was Dontari Poe’s TD pass against the Denver Broncos or Nick Allegretti’s touchdown catch in a playoff game against Pittsburgh.

After nailing his extra point against Chicago and with evidence he has clearly been practicing during the preseason with the Chiefs, Reid has shown his kicking skills are legit. It might never happen, but Reid’s kicking abilities give the Chiefs a backup option that could prove to be invaluable in a game that counts down the road.