Punter happy to not do his job
MIAMI — Dustin Colquitt knows he might get bored Sunday.
When you are the punter for the Chiefs, sometimes you don’t see much action. Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, Sammy Watkins and the rest of Andy Reid’s offense have been moving the ball and putting up points in the playoffs. That means Colquitt is usually watching from the sideline.
“When you walk into Arrowhead Stadium or the Super Bowl, it’s probably the only position on the field where Chiefs fans are saying, ‘I hope you don’t work today,’ ” Colquitt said.
Over the last two seasons, those fans have gotten their wish. The high-flying Chiefs offense needed Colquitt to punt just 48 times this season. Only Sam Koch with the Ravens punted fewer times among punters who played 16 games. In 2018, Colquitt punted 45 times. By comparison, Jets punter Lachlan Edwards led the league with 87 punts in 2019.
Colquitt was asked jokingly if he would prefer to play for the Jets rather than the Chiefs since he would be able to work more. Colquitt recalled earlier times in his 15-year career in Kansas City when he punted much more.
“I was just like Lac,” Colquitt said. “He punts all the time. I can remember years when I punted 95 times and we just punted 48 times this year. It is literally almost cut in half. You just have to stay poised, keep working, have heavier practices, which is what we’ve done to kind of counterbalance not working as much during the game. When you do get in, make it count.”
The 37-year-old Colquitt is the longest-tenured player on the Chiefs. He was a thirdround pick in Kansas City when Dick Vermeil was still the team’s coach. The twotime Pro Bowler has gone through two 2-14 seasons and played under five different head coaches.
With the dark days behind him, Colquitt is enjoying this run and hoping to become the latest in his family to win a Super Bowl ring. His father, Craig, won two with the Steelers in the 1970s and his brother, Britton, won one with the Broncos in 2015.
“I think that God has me here for a reason whether it’s mentoring a lot of these younger kids because we do have a lot of young kids,” Colquitt said. “I believe in God’s timing, and for me to be able to stay here 15 years and finally be able to play in this big game, I feel very fortunate.”
This season, Colquitt has had two games in which he punted only once and seven when he punted twice. He punted three times in each of the Chiefs’ playoff games. His season high was six punts in two games. By comparison, Edwards punted 10 times in one Jets game this year and never had a game with fewer than three punts.
“Just individually, like professionally, I do like to punt as much as possible,” Colquitt said. “There’s games where I’ve had five, six punts a game and I’ve felt really comfortable and I love it. I still have the mentality where I think I have about eight punts to work with today. The reality is I have to say I’m only getting three, so I have to be aggressive on this first one and then kind of lay out the rest of the game and my plan after that.”
Last year’s Super Bowl was a punting clinic, much to the dismay of many fans. Ryan Allen of the Patriots could have been the game’s MVP. He pinned the Rams inside their 10-yard line three times. Rams punter Johnny Hekker pinned the Patriots inside their own 15 three times and had a 65-yard punt.
Colquitt was at that game in Atlanta.
“[Allen] had one of the better Super Bowl games I’ve ever seen,” he said. “As a punter, I was watching that game like, ‘ This is awesome.’ Everybody else was like, ‘ This is one of the most boring Super Bowls I’ve ever watched.’ ”
Could this game come down to Colquitt’s punting or would the Chiefs be better off if he is a spectator?
“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “If I get a six-punt game, that would be great. If I don’t work at all, that means we did well.”