SADLY: American football might lost Patrick Mahomes to Chicago due to

Patrick Mahome Will Be the Chiefs’ Backup Punter on Sunday: ‘He Can Do It All’

Kansas City’s special teams coordinator revealed to reporters on Thursday that the quarterback is the team’s emergency punter

 

Anna Lazarus Caplan

Published on October 20, 2023 05:12PM EDT

Pictured: Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City, Missouri on June 15, 2023

Patrick Mahomes photographed in Kansas City, Missouri on June 15, 2023. PHOTO: KYLE RIVAS/GETTY

Kansas City Chiefs fans are used to Patrick Mahomes’ improvisatory style, but last week, the team nearly called an audible on using the quarterback himself as their backup punter.

 

With punter Tommy Townsend’s participation questionable for the game against the Denver Broncos after suffering a left knee injury during practice, Chiefs coaches deliberated whether to sign a free-agent punter to the team.

 

Townsend ended up playing in the game — which the Chiefs won 19-8 — but special teams coordinator Dave Toub later revealed to reporters the surprising identity of the team’s emergency kicker.

 

“The backup punter? Yeah, we had a plan,” Toub said in a press release shared on the Chiefs’ official website. “We had a plan, and believe it or not, [Patrick Mahomes] is our backup punter.”

 

On Thursday, when Toub’s comments were reported, Mahomes, 28, added his own kicker.

 

“I been trying to tell yall!!!” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

 

Mahomes has been honing his skills since high school in Texas.

 

Pictured: Patrick Mahomes in Glendale, Arizona on Feb. 12, 2023

Patrick Mahomes photographed in Glendale, Arizona on Feb. 12, 2023. CHRISTIAN PETERSEN/GETTY

While attending Whitehouse High School, he was a three-sport star who averaged 37.8 yards per punt, and even had a long kick of 71 yards, according to MaxPreps.

 

“I still got it,” Mahomes said on the NFL’s SiriusXM show with Alex Marvez and Charles Davis last year. “I still work on it probably about twice a week, you know, just in case.”

 

As far as this week’s game goes, Mahomes’ feet-first heroics will likely continue to live in the shadows of Arrowhead Stadium.

 

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Townsend is on the injury report, but Toub is confident he will play when the Chiefs take on the Los Angeles Charger

s on Sunday, according to ESPN.