KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City Chiefs kicker Cairo Santos had been perfect through the first several days of training camp, having made all of his almost 30 field goal attempts. Then came Saturday, when on a wet, windy and raw day, he pushed a kick to the right from 41 yards.
“We know he’s human now," special teams coordinator Dave Toub said.
Since Toub’s arrival with coach Andy Reid in 2013, the Chiefs have often looked as though they’re something more than human in the kicking game. Success on special teams has been a big part of Kansas City's 43-21 record over the past four seasons.
The Chiefs have consistently and across the board been better than their opponents in the kicking game. Over the past four seasons, Kansas City has scored 11 special-teams touchdowns, including Knile Davis' TD on the opening kickoff in the playoff victory over the Texans two years ago -- and they’ve allowed none during that span. Punter Dustin Colquitt has been remarkably consistent in pinning opponents deep in their own end. Santos not only had the best field goal percentage of his career last season at 88.6, but he entered the realm of the clutch kicker by making two walk-off winners.
Kansas City has that special-teams glow again. Most of the key components are back, other than special-teams star D.J. Alexander, who was traded to the Seahawks.
The Chiefs also moved Tyreek Hill off kickoff returns because he will play more on offense. That could be a risky move because of Hill’s speed and skills in the open field. But they still plan to use Hill to return punts.
Much of the Chiefs' special-teams success stems from the ability to retain many of their top special-teams players, though Alexander was a notable exception.
“We’ve got a lot of great vets," Colquitt said. “I’d say the sheriffs in the room are [Frank] Zombo and [Anthony] Sherman and Dan [Sorensen], these guys that have been here for multiple years in the same system. Continuity is there, and when [new] guys come in, they try to get everybody on the same page. When you have those core guys, two, three, four, now into the fifth year, that’s a big deal for us."
The Chiefs told Santos, who just had his best season, that they would bring in another kicker for competition at camp this year. But he’s the only kicker around, just as Colquitt is the only punter.
“I was expecting there to be [another kicker] here but there’s not, and I still feel like I need to prove to them that they made the [right] choice to keep me being the only guy here," Santos said. “I put that pressure on me that I’ve got to be perfect in practice and give these coaches the confidence and the confirmation that I’m the guy."
His missed field goal in Saturday's practice ruined his chance at training-camp perfection. But it doesn’t have to ruin his regular season or Kansas City’s opportunity for another big year on special teams.
“Our core is back," Toub said. “This will be like the third or fourth year we’ve been all together. We lost D.J. Alexander, but we’ve also gained [Kevin Pierre-Louis, acquired in the Alexander trade], and he’s a good player, too. If I can keep the core together -- obviously we’re going to keep our kicker and punter -- there’s no reason to think we’re not going to be good again."