Chiefs special teams concerns are becoming impossible to ignore after Week 6

As the adage goes, "Special teams, special plays, special players."

Special teams is an area of football that no one notices until something goes terrifically or terribly wrong. If it's business as usual, no one says a word. If it goes great, fans are pleased. Now, if it goes badly or terribly wrong, fans start calling for jobs.

Among NFL players, it's one of the most respected areas of the field, with some saying you have to have a different kind of mental toughness to be able to play on special teams regularly. It is an area where you want to thrive as a player to gain more reps on your side of the ball.

For the Kansas City Chiefs, it has been a mixed bag in terms of performance, especially after their Week 6 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. After that win, it is a good time to look and see how the main cast on special teams is matching up.

Matt Araiza

If there's one area we don't have to worry about, it's the Chiefs being able to flip the field and give opposing teams poor field position. Matt Araiza has been on fire, leading the league in average yards per punt with 52.4 on 14 punts this season. Additionally, he is ranked second in net average yards per punt with 45.1.

While no one likes to see the Chiefs punt, it looks like we have this area covered this season:

Harrison Butker

To say Butker has been shaky is a complete understatement. As of Week 6, Butker is 10-for-13 on field goal attempts with a long of 50 yards. Additionally, he missed a PAT against the Chargers, making him 14-for-15 for the year. Among all NFL kickers, he is in the bottom half of the league (23rd) in field goal percentage (76.9%).

Fans are saying his time is up, and the Chiefs must start looking elsewhere due to inconsistency and close calls. On his final field-goal attempt against the Chargers, he almost missed a 30-yard field goal, but it just went over the uprights. He used to be a surefire kicker, but he now leaves Chiefs fans on the edge of their seats.

Special teams need solid consistency, at minimum, to compete at the highest level. While Butker raises concerns, there is another area that raises more issues than any other on the team right now.

Nikko Remigio

Remigio has not had the start to the season he has wanted, and his Week 6 performance added to this. Overall, he is near the bottom in punt-return yards among qualified returners, sitting at 5.7 yards per punt return. In Week 6, he lost a fumble on a punt return and had three returns for nine yards.

This has been an ongoing trend with Remigio. Even after the first three games of the season, he was almost last in punt-return yards among qualified returners (3.8 yards). Even three weeks after this, there has been no significant improvement. Fans are reaching the tipping point with him, and it is starting to boil over with calls to bench him.

What should the Chiefs do from here?

When it comes to kicker, Butker is gonna be around for the season unless things start to go really south for him as the season progresses. We hope that he puts his kicking woes behind him and improves in the following weeks.

In terms of Remigio, they have a few options. For the option that won't cost them anything, they could bench him and swap him out for Brashard Smith and/or Emmett Johnson for returning duties. Both have been solid on kick return duties so far and could receive more reps. Trading for a player is also an option; however, the trade market for returners is slim at the moment.

The Chiefs' special teams unit is a heavily mixed bag, and there is a lot of reasonable concern about it as the season progresses. It will be interesting to see what Coach Reid, Coach Toub, and the rest of the Chiefs coaching staff do moving forward.

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