On March 10, the Kansas City Chiefs placed an original round tender on All-Pro punter Tommy Townsend. On April 25, Townsend re-signed with the defending Super Bowl champions according to the NFL’s Personnel Notice.
Chiefs All Pro P Tommy Townsend has re-signed with Kansas City. He had been tendered as a restricted free agent at the original round tender.
Placing an original round tender on Townsend meant the Chiefs would receive no compensation if another NFL team signed Townsend to an offer sheet and Kansas City didn’t match it. However, now that Townsend signed his tender, he will be paid $2.6 million for the 2023 season.
Townsend Coming Off of Career Year
Tommy Townsend, 26, entered the NFL undrafted out of Florida and signed with the Chiefs in April 2020. Three days later, the Chiefs released veteran punter Dustin Colquitt, who had been with the team for 15 seasons, marking the official start of the Townsend era in Kansas City.
Since becoming the Chiefs’ full-time starter in 2020, Townsend has averaged 47.6 yards per punt during the regular season and has had 62 of 142 total punts downed inside the opponent’s 20 yard line according to Pro Football Reference. During the playoffs, he has averaged 43.3 yards per punt and has had 11 of 24 punts downed inside the opponent’s 20 yard line.
During the 2022-2023 regular season, Townsend ranked second in the NFL in punt average (50.4), first in net average (45.6), and tied for the second-longest punt of the season (76), per NFL.com. These stats are a large part of the reason why he was named an All-Pro this past season for the first time in his career.
Townsend had a total of 10 punts during Kansas City’s Super Bowl run, and 5 of them were down inside the opponent’s 20 yard line. His longest punt went for 60 yards, which is the farthest punt he has had during the playoffs in his three-year career, per Pro Football Reference.
Chiefs 2023 Free Agency Tracker
Here is a list of the players the Chiefs have signed during free agency thus far, along with their contracts, according to Over The Cap:
- OT Jawaan Taylor (4 years, $80 million)
- DE Charles Omenihu (2 years, $20 million)
- S Mike Edwards (1 year, $3 million)
- LB Drue Tranquill (1 year, $5 million)
- DT Tershawn Wharton (1 year, $2 million)
- OL Nick Allegretti (1 year, $2.5 million)
- OL Prince Tea Wanogho (tendered)
- TE Jody Fortson (tendered)
- QB Shane Buechele (tendered)
- DT Derrick Nnadi (1 year, $1.2 million)
- TE Blake Bell (1 year, $1.1 million)
- DT Byron Cowart (1 year, $1.08 million)
- DT Phil Hoskins (1 year, $940,000)
- S Deon Bush (1 year, $1.3 million)
- WR Richie James (1 year, $1.2 million)
- WR Justin Watson (2 years, $3.5 million)
- QB Blaine Gabbert (1-year, $1.1 million)
Here are the players that remain free agents:
- DE Frank Clark
- DE Carlos Dunlap
- DT Brandon Williams
- TE Jordan Franks
- RB Jerick McKinnon
- LB Darius Harris
Twitter Reacts to Tommy Townsend Re-Sign With Chiefs
Twitter users reacted to Tommy Townsend re-signing with Kansas City.
YAY!!! This news makes me so very happy!!! I’ve only had it a couple months, but I’ll be proudly wearing my @tommy_townsend #5 jersey this coming season!” one Twitter user wrote. “Thank you Tommy for once again committing to our World Champion Kansas City Chiefs! WOOHOO!”
“This is good. Lol never had to punt much, but when he did, he was usually pretty good at it. Field position matters,” another user wrote.
“Probably won’t sustain his historic production from last year but I imagine he will still be at least a top 5 punter next season,” another user wrote.
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Chiefs P Tommy Townsend Makes Final Decision on Future With KC