You'll never guess Chiefs' emergency option at punter with Tommy Townsend hurt
Kansas City Chiefs punter Tommy Towsend toughed out a left knee injury suffered late in the practice week ahead of the team's Week 6 game against the Denver Broncos on "Thursday Night Football." The team did go through contingency plans had Townsend been unable to play in Week 6, including working out several free agent […]
Kansas City Chiefs punter Tommy Towsend toughed out a left knee injury suffered late in the practice week ahead of the team's Week 6 game against the Denver Broncos on "Thursday Night Football."
The team did go through contingency plans had Townsend been unable to play in Week 6, including working out several free agent punters, like former Oklahoma P Michael Turk. They ultimately didn't add any players to the practice squad and allowed Townsend to play through his injury.
Had Townsend aggravated the injury during the game, who would have been the Chiefs' emergency option at punter? Toub told reporters on Thursday, that the emergency punter is none other than star quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
"The backup punter? Yeah, we had a plan," Toub explained. "We had a plan, and believe it or not, (Patrick Mahomes) is our backup punter."
It wasn't too long ago that a QB/P combination wasn't rare in the NFL (see Randall Cunningham and Kordell Stewart), but nowadays it's practically unheard of. Thankfully, the Chiefs didn't need to use Mahomes in Week 6 against the Broncos. Townsend's ability to play and hold kicks for Harrison Butker led to what Toub believes was one of the best games of Butker's NFL career.
Townsend was a full participant in practice on Wednesday, so he should be in the clear heading into Week 7 against the Los Angeles Chargers unless he were to suffer a setback.
Moving forward, however, if Townsend suffers an in-game injury, Mahomes could very well stay on the field on fourth down as the team's punter.
"He can do it," Toub proclaimed. "He shows me all the time. He's out there going on Saturday hitting punts. He can do it all that guy."
This development could even wind up as a bit of trickery for Kansas City in the future. Can you imagine Townsend feigning injury only for Mahomes to come into the game and run a fake punt passing play? That'd sure be something.
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