Kansas City Chiefs OTAs Preview: Harrison Butker’s reliability and 3 more special teams questions that need answers
The offense and defense aren’t the only phases of the game with burning questions to answer as the Kansas City Chiefs begin OTAs. Dave Toub’s special teams unit has questions about incumbents like Harrison Butker and Matt Araiza, as well as newcomers in the rookie class.
If you didn’t know it by now, the Kansas City Chiefs are among the 11 NFL clubs kicking off Organized Team Activities (OTAs) on Tuesday, May 26.
While there’s still a long way to go until real football with padded practices and live contact, this is where the foundation begins to be laid for the 2026 NFL season. The team will participate in on-field workouts, with individual and group components. 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 team drills and walkthroughs are permitted during OTAs.
Chiefs Phase III Offseason Workout Schedule
The Chiefs will hold two sessions of Organized Team Activities (OTAs) and one mandatory minicamp weekend before breaking for the summer ahead of training camp.
- Organized Team Activities Group 1: May 26-28
- Organized Team Activities Group 2: June 1-3
- Mandatory Minicamp: June 9-11
We’ll get our first glimpse of the roster during OTAs, providing an early look at its strengths and weaknesses. The offense and defense aren’t the only phases of the game with questions left unanswered heading into these workouts. There are several burning questions about Dave Toub’s special teams unit that need to be answered as well.
Chiefs K Harrison Butker is in need of a bounce-back year
Butker is coming off of what can only be described as his worst two-year stretch as a professional. The soon-to-be 31-year-old kicker posted a career-low 88.6 extra point percentage and the second-lowest field goal percentage of his career (86.8) during the 2025 season. The reality is that he’s in desperate need of a bounce-back season if he’s to stay in Kansas City.
At $6.4 million APY, Butker has the third-highest average annual salary of any kicker in the NFL behind only Brandon Aubrey and Ka’imi Fairburn. He’s taking up 2.4% of the Chiefs’ salary cap space in 2026. If Butker is unable to return to his previously reliable form, the team can get out of his contract next year. They’d have minimal dead cap space ($2.8 million) compared to savings ($4.4 million), if they were to make that decision.
How will Dave Toub replace all of the special teams snaps he lost
Chiefs STC Dave Toub has some snap production to replace as he lost two players who accounted for a combined 483 special-teams snaps last season. One of those players is LB Leo Chenal, who will likely be replaced by some combination of Jack Cochrane, Cooper McDonald, and Jeff Bassa. However, Joshua Williams seems like the more interesting of the two players who need replacing.
Williams was entrusted with one of the two gunner positions in Kansas City. The Chiefs also used Kevin Knowles and Nohl Williams there in 2025, but they’ll likely open up some competition to other players as well. Just as there’s a ton of competition in the cornerback and the wide receiver room for the Chiefs, there will be equal competition among those players for these key special teams spots for Coach Toub.
The Chiefs are overdue for a return specialist who can take it the distance
You have to go back five NFL seasons to find the last time that the Chiefs had a punt return or kick return for a touchdown in an NFL regular-season game. For a kick return, you have to go back to before the rule changes to October of 2020, when Byron Pringle returned a kick 102 yards against the Denver Broncos. On punts, the last time they had a return touchdown was when Tyreek Hill housed one against the Miami Dolphins in December of 2020.
Nikko Remigio and Brashard Smith are the incumbent return specialists, but I expect some competition here given the need for improvements. Rookie draft picks like Cyrus Allen and Emmett Johnson could be utilized. One underrated name to watch here? UDFA WR Jacob De Jesus earned First-Team All-ACC All-Purpose honors because of his production as a return specialist after leading the ACC in kick return average with 20.2 yards per return.
Will Matt Araiza continue to improve without competition pushing him?
For the first time during his tenure as a Chiefs player, Matt Araiza will not face competition at the punter position. In 2024, the Chiefs brought in now-Bengals punter Ryan Rehkow to compete with Araiza. In 2025, Dave Toub had USC P Eddie Czaplicki on the 90-man offseason roster to compete with Araiza.
Each year, that competition has forced Araiza to elevate his game. Last season, he took legitimate strides with more hang time, control, and precision with his punts. Nearly 45% of his punts landed inside the 20-yard line. He averaged fewer yards and net yards per punt, but overall, he showed he was heading in the right direction. This offseason, he’s going to have to be a self-starter when it comes to making improvements. There’s no one breathing down his neck coming for his job, which is a vote of confidence by Dave Toub, but also a challenge.