The 5 best punters in the history of the Kansas City Chiefs

It's fun to rank the best players at various positions for a team, and it often draws out arguments between longtime season ticket holders and newer fans to the bandwagon. Yet even the most diehard fans of any team might have a difficult time naming five punters worthy of consideration for such a list as this one.

When it comes to the Kansas City Chiefs' selection of historic punters, there are some nice candidates, to be sure. Still, even compared to another specialist role like kicker, punter is a diminished spot at which the team hasn't seen a lot of high-profile performers—if such a thing exists at the position at all.

Still, we'll not be daunted in our quest to rank the best players in Chiefs history, and that means we'll do the work. It's a sacrifice, to be sure, but someone has to make it.

Criteria for selection

Punting metrics aren't exactly all that exciting, but there's a real balance between longevity and productivity when ranking the best of the best. What makes this even more difficult is the high rate of turnover at the position.

For some perspective, Tommy Townsend is fourth on the list in total games among punters in Chiefs history. Yeah, that same Tommy Townsend who just stopped by long enough to pick up three rings before cashing in with the Houston Texans during the 2024 offseason. Either the team holds onto a punter for well over a decade or it tosses them aside on a seasonal basis thanks to the mercurial nature of the position.

Our rankings are a mix of both—taking into account longevity as well as production in what little (or long) amount of time they were on the roster. And we'll begin with a very short stint, indeed.

The top 5 punters in Chiefs history

5. Todd Sauerbrun

Todd Sauerbrun was a helluva punter who played 13 NFL seasons, earned three All-Pro honors, and garnered three Pro Bowl votes as well. Yet when it comes to the Chiefs, he makes this list of the team's top five on the basis of a single season that didn't come with the aforementioned postseason accolades.

Sauerbrun suited up for the Chiefs when Y2K was a thing, serving as the punter on a middling Gunther Cunningham-led team that scratched its way to a 7-9 record—a stat so boring when you say it that you have to yawn after recalling it. He played for the Chicago Bears the previous five seasons and the Carolina Panthers the following four years. And for one year, he put in an average effort (by his standards) for the Chiefs in 2000.

What's amazing (and perhaps a little sad) is that his single season was enough to crack our top five.

Lesser players gave three or four seasons of their mediocrity to the franchise, but Sauerbrun's average of 35.8 net yards per punt puts him third on the Chiefs all-time list, behind two guys coming up on this list. He's also third all-time for the Chiefs with punts inside the 20-yard line.

Sauerbrun was only in KC for a single season, and it was a forgettable one by his standards. But that made a lasting impression on a franchise that's often struggled to find solid punters in decades past. (Apologies to the Jim Arnolds and Bryan Barkers of the world.)

4. Louie Aguiar

The only decent punter in Chiefs history, Louie Aguiar did enough in his five seasons at Arrowhead to land at No. 4 on the all-time punter list. If that sounds like a backhanded compliment, maybe it is, but it's telling the truth about both the team's history and Aguiar's career.

Aguiar's story is a meaningful one of perseverance as a former undrafted rookie out of Utah State who tried out for the Buffalo Bills in training camp in successive summers only to be cut before the regular season. A tryout in the World League of American Football (WLAF) earned him a look from the New York Jets in Year 3 and led to his first NFL action.

Aguiar remained the Jets punter for three seasons before catching on for another five with the Chiefs, a span in which he'd earn his lone All-Pro nod under special teams coordinator Kurt Schottenheimer. Aguiar then closed his career with single seasons in Chicago and Green Bay.

As for his standing with the Chiefs, he ranks third all-time in total punts (411) and fifth all-time in punting average (42.6), making him ideally suited for fourth on our list.

3. Tommy Townsend

During the last few seasons of Dustin Colquitt's career (we'll get to him), the Chiefs decided to bring in some offseason competition—including current Detroit Lions punter Jack Fox—and in 2020, the potential to grab a fresh and talented punter like Tommy Townsend was too great for the front office to avoid.

The Chiefs released Colquitt shortly after securing the services of Townsend as a rookie free agent, and while they forced Townsend to compete with Tyler Newsome for a spell, they'd planned to give him the job all along if things went as planned. In that first season, he set a single-game team record for best punt average, earned a Special Teams Player of the Week Award, and went on to make the NFL's All-Rookie team.

Overall, Townsend was with the Chiefs from 2020-23 before earning a nice paycheck from the Houston Texans in 2024 free agency. He left the team with the best overall net punt average at 42.8 yards/punt and sits just behind Colquitt in second place for percentage of punts inside the 20-yard line (40.8). He earned Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors in '22 and should enjoy a long and productive career—even if it won't be for the Chiefs.

2. Jerrel Wilson

For modern fans familiar with Dustin Colquitt (see: next), consider Jerrel Wilson the first version of a similar performer. Both players were known for their consistency and longevity with one team, and Wilson played 15 seasons with the Chiefs after joining in the 11th round of the 1963 AFL Draft.

Nicknamed "Thunderfoot," Wilson was a highly regarded special teams prospect out of Southern Miss. He went on to lead the league in punting average on five separate occasions, including three consecutive years from 1971-73. He was named to three Pro Bowls while with the Chiefs. He also retired with several team records in his name, including total punt yards and longest punt.

Wilson was named the punter for the NFL's All-AFL team, and the Chiefs inducted him into their Ring of Honor in 1988 as the first truly excellent punter in Chiefs history.

1. Dustin Colquitt

It would be a major disappointment to not see Dustin Colquitt somewhere near or at the top of this list if you go back to his draft day. That's because Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson decided Colquitt's skill set as a punter was so potentially impactful on special teams and the game itself that he invested a third-round pick in the specialist.

Yes, a third-round pick.

Fortunately for the Chiefs, from that point forward, Colquitt provided a steady and strong body of work that stood up for the next 15 seasons—from the franchise's lowest point (2012) to the beginning of its golden era.

Colquitt was invited to two Pro Bowls after starring at the University of Tennessee and being named a first-team All-American. He leads the Chiefs in number of punts, punt yards, and punt percentage inside the 20-yard line. He also has the longest punt in Chiefs history at 81 yards.

It was hard to see Colquitt leave at the end, since the punter made it clear via his own social media accounts that he felt he had one more year left in him. But the Chiefs felt the need to move on. That said, he did earn a few late-career looks from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Atlanta Falcons, and Cleveland Browns.

Most importantly, Colquitt was a consummate teammate who was twice named the team's Walter Payton Man of the Year entrant and won the team's Ed Block Courage Award in 2010.