Dave Toub Reveals Chiefs Kickoff Plans with Justin Reid and Harrison Butker

Kansas City Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub shed some light on the team's plans for the kicking game in 2024, with safety Justin Reid giving KC options in addition to kicker Harrison Butker.

Nov 3, 2023; Frankfurt, Germany; From left: Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones, safety Justin Reid (20), place kicker Harrison Butker and tight end Travis Kelce (87) during press conference at DFB Campus. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas City Chiefs have some unique options for how they could approach the NFL's new kickoff rules entering the 2024 season, and special teams coach Dave Toub has revealed a portion of the team's plans for the future.

Toub and safety Justin Reid, who has filled in at kicker when forced into action due to injury, have discussed the possibility of using Reid as a kickoff/coverage specialist, allowing Reid to be on the field as a much-superior tackler over usual kicker Harrison Butker. However, there's no arguing the fact that Butker is the better pure kicker of the duo. So, how could Butker and Reid split kickoff duties? Speaking after training camp practice on Saturday, Toub explained that Butker will still be the team's primary kicker on kickoffs.

"Butker's gonna be our main kickoff guy," Toub said. "I mean, hands down. Because he can move the ball and do a lot of different things. He's our most talented kickoff guy. Other guys that can kick off, Justin and [former rugby star] Louis [Rees-Zammit], he'll be able to kick off and be able to cover, so you just want them to get the ball into the target zone, where you're trying to pin them down there, just with a good kick, and you've actually got 11 guys covering instead of 10."

It's worth noting that Reid hasn't practiced since the Chiefs arrived at training camp, dealing with an injury suffered shortly before the start of camp.

Toub also discussed how he's feeling about seeing the new kickoff rules in action, starting with the Hall of Fame game on August 1.

"I'm excited and nervous about it, to be honest," Toub said. "We've been working on it a lot, [we'll be] working on it again tomorrow in practice, we work on it in walkthroughs mostly every time, but there's a lot of unknowns with it. How are teams going to attack you? What are they gonna do? What are the kickers gonna do? What's gonna be the philosophy? And how are they going to officiate it, too? We have the officials here, and we're going to sit down today, in fact, and watch our tape and have those guys tell us, good or bad, what we're doing, so it's going to be an ongoing [process]. These preseason games are going to be important for us."

Toub explained what the team has learned so far about the ins and outs of the new kickoff layout, shedding some light on why kicking precision still matters with the new rules.

"We've learned a lot," Toub said. "We've learned that you want to try to kick the ball without a lot of hang time, low ball that goes probably inside the 10, maybe skips into the end zone. A ball that they can't get to right away. If they catch a ball on a line drive at the 10-yard line, it's gonna be easy for them to get it out to the 30 like that, so you have to try to kick it away from the returners if you can. Hit it into the target zone and skip it into the end zone, possibly for a touchback where you get the ball at the 20. That's the ultimate goal on the kickoff."

Read More: Chiefs Safety Justin Reid Discusses Preparation for Kickoff Work with New NFL Rules