Chiefs 2023 53-Man Roster Prediction: Special Teams

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The Kansas City Chiefs enter 2023 with a handful of spots up for grabs. Once again, wide receiver will be fascinating to watch, in terms of who steps up and produces consistently. Kansas City will also have many opportunities for a defensive line that is extremely young, overall.

Every team has just one cut day this year. NFL squads will be down to 53 players by Tuesday, August 29th. In just a couple of days, we will officially know who ends up making the Chiefs roster for 2023. In the meantime, we are going to do our best to try and predict who makes the cut, going position by position.

The special teams are our last position to do in this series. You can read all of our other Chiefs 2023 53-man roster prediction articles by clicking on each position: QB, RB, WR, TE, OL, DL, LB, DB

Steady Trio

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Obviously, there is not much of a challenge to predict the main special teams spots. Compared to other position groups, there is no competition on the Chiefs at long snapper, punter and kicker. James Winchester will be entering his ninth season as Kansas City’s long snapper. Kicker Harrison Butker, who was once signed off of the Carolina Panthers practice squad, will be entering his seventh total season with the Chiefs. Finally, punter Tommy Townsend is entering his fourth season with the team.

Part of the reason as to why there is continually no competition for these spots, is due to the fact that this group is steady, when called upon. You never want to have to rely on Townsend too much. Yet, he generally averages a gigantic boot with his punts. His 50.4 yards per punt in 2022 were second in the NFL to Tennessee Titans punter Ryan Stonehouse (53.1 yards per punt).

Elsewhere, Butker has been tremendously consistent and clutch when the game is on the line. He will occasionally miss an extra point or a shorter field goal attempt, here and there. However, it is amazing to see how confident Butker is from long range or when needing to make a kick to either tie or win the game. That is an item that you cannot take for granted in the NFL, given how close most games are. Some teams struggle to find the right kicker for years.

New Face Taking Over?

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Even though we already projected him to make the roster in our wide receiver prediction article, Richie James is the other name that we have to focus on in the special teams article. As of now, it feels like this is the man who will be the leading candidate to be both the kick returner and the punt returner. This particular new face looked comfortable when asked to return punts in the first two preseason games.

James has experience as both a kick returner and a punt returner throughout his career. Largely, he was effective in those roles while with the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants. In his career, James has averaged 7.3 yards per punt return on 75 total punt returns. He has also averaged 23 yards per kickoff return with one touchdown on 47 total kick returns in his career. With that experience and trust held in that area, along with some other roster cuts, James could be counted on in both return spots.

PROJECTED FINAL DEPTH CHART:

Long Snapper: Winchester

Punter: Townsend

Kicker: Butker

Punt Returner and Kick Returner: James

Be on the lookout for more FPC Chiefs articles and analysis throughout this week. For more great sports and NFL content, stay tuned to Full Press Coverage.

– Braden Holecek is the Kansas City Chiefs managing editor for Full Press Coverage. He covers the NFL. Like and follow on Follow @ebearcat9//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Follow @FPC_Chiefs//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js and Facebook.