Kansas City Chiefs second-year punter Tommy Townsend happy to see ‘hard work’ pay off
Chiefs punter Tommy Townsend didn’t discover that he was selected as the NFL’s AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for November the normal way.
Instead of hearing about it from the team or seeing an announcement on social media, the second-year pro learned of his accomplishment while on the way to the team’s training facility Thursday morning for work.
Townsend received notification from the people closest to him.
“My oldest brother, Clay, sent like one of the pictures of it, a screen shot of it, to our family group text,” Townsend said Friday with a smile. “As soon as I saw it, I was so happy, I was ecstatic.
“I mean, that’s like obviously one of the top awards that you can get during the season. It was such an incredible feeling just to see all my hard work really paying off.”
Did it ever.
The Chiefs’ punter turned heads with an incredible November, a month where he totaled 10 punts and averaged 54.9 yards (50.7 net) per attempt. Six of his 10 punts, which included a long of 68 yards, landed inside an opponent’s 20-yard line to help turn field position in the Chiefs’ favor.
He also showed off his arm strength by completing a pass to wide receiver/gunner Marcus Kemp on a fake punt against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 10. And he’s prepared just in case he’s called upon again to attempt another pass.
“Just try and keep the arm loose,” Townsend jokingly said. “That’s about it. Just try to keep it loose.”
Townsend, who secured AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors in Week 9 for his day against the Green Bay Packers, also became the first punter in Chiefs history to claim a monthly award.
“That’s another incredible honor,” he said. “Obviously there are so many greats here and being a first to anything is really cool.”
The Chiefs originally signed Townsend in 2020 as an undrafted free agent out of Florida to replace long-time veteran Dustin Colquitt. So far, he’s been everything the Chiefs could’ve hoped for.
“Nobody works harder,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Friday. “He and (kicker Harrison) Butker are relentless working with one another. It’s paid off for him this past month, so now his challenge is he keeps going. He’s got to keep pounding here and consistency is a huge thing for a punter in this league.”
Through 11 games this season, Townsend has answered the call with 26 punts for 1,263 yards, averaging 48.6 yards per try.
Whether there are more awards awaiting him on the horizon remains to be seen, but he remains focused on doing his job to the best of his ability.
“I’m going to try and keep doing what I’m doing, and let everything else take care of itself,” Townsend said.
This story was originally published December 3, 2021 at 3:04 PM.
