The Kansas City Chiefs are established as a legitimate contender, but that doesn\u2019t mean that jobs aren\u2019t up for grabs as they continue OTA workouts. After a year in which the Chiefs failed to complete an unprecedented three-peat, Kansas City is combing through its weaknesses so they can get back to the top of the NFL in 2025.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, if your name isn\u2019t Patrick Mahomes or Travis Kelce, your job isn\u2019t safe. That became true in the case of one Kansas City specialist when he was called out by his coach earlier this week and opened the door to an unanticipated competition as the season draws near.<\/p>\n
Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub discussed his team\u2019s punters as they enter the upcoming season. While the Chiefs have brought in a UDFA punter for the second straight season, Toub hinted that newcomer Eddie Czaplicki has the ability to dethrone Matt Araiza as OTAs conclude.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, he\u2019s an NFL punter,\u201d Toub said of Czaplicki via Charles Goldman of A to Z Sports. \u201cAgain, this would be the third time we\u2019ve had this. We had it with Jack Fox. We had it with [Ryan] Rehkow, and we have it again because both of these guys are NFL-caliber guys, and the competition is really. So Eddie\u2019s doing a great job at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toub\u2019s comments may be surprising to Araiza, who successfully defeated Rehkow to win the Chiefs\u2019 punter job during last year\u2019s training camp. Araiza finished 10th in the league in yards per punt and finished 16th in punts downed inside the 20-yard line. But he failed to put touch on his kicks, tying for the most touchbacks in the NFL.<\/p>\n
The league\u2019s decision to move the touchback on kickoffs to the 35-yard line also impacts Araiza\u2019s need to improve his accuracy, and wasn\u2019t lost on Toub when speaking to the media.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking for him \u2013\u00a0he\u2019s got a bomb of a leg,\u201d Toub said of Araiza. \u201cHe can hit the ball long. We need more hang time on his punts, more vertical power, and then we need more accuracy in the pooch area, which is, you know, getting balls inside the 20-yard line. So, that\u2019s what he\u2019s really emphasizing during this offseason.\u201d<\/p>\n
Czaplicki showed the traits the Chiefs would like during his collegiate career at USC. He averaged 47.8 yards on his punts last season and also had 25 of his 43 punts land inside the 20-yard line. Most notably, he had just one touchback on those punts, amounting to a 2.3% touchback rate that would be an improvement on Araiza\u2019s 14.5% rate from last season.<\/p>\n
Of course, Czaplicki needs to show that during OTAs and camp, which is something Rekhow didn\u2019t do before latching on with the Cincinnati Bengals. If Araiza can\u2019t improve, the rookie could run away with the job and produce a change that wasn\u2019t expected at the beginning of the offseason.<\/p>\n
The Kansas City Chiefs are established as a legitimate contender, but that doesn\u2019t mean that jobs aren\u2019t up for grabs as they continue OTA workouts. After a yea<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":60110,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n