KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After weeks of begging — his words not mine — the Kansas City Chiefs finally made a change on the kickoff time.
That’s how, for the fourth time in five weeks, a new specialist handled kickoff duties Sunday during a 19-17 win against the Los Angeles Chargers.
And this one was incredibly special by NFL standards — safety Justin Reid.
“Not a lot of safeties in the league are doing that right now,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said.
It’s not the first time Justin Reid has kicked for Kansas City either.
He banged five touchbacks among seven kickoffs and made one of two extra points in the 2022 season opener at Arizona, filling in when Harrison Butker was sidelined with a sprained ankle.
Justin Reid also kicked an extra point during a preseason game that season, but there was a strategy to the kickoff switch Sunday.
“I took a couple practice kicks during the week, it looked good and we wanted to have an extra cover guy when we knew that 12 (Derius Davis) was taking it out of the end zone no matter what,” Justin Reid said. “It’s just beneficial to have another tackler on the field.”
The Chiefs may have used Justin Reid in that role earlier were it not for a preseason injury.
“(I’ve been) begging (Special Teams) Coach (Dave) Toub for weeks on weeks,” Justin Reid said. “We would have started it earlier in the year then I had the quad back in training camp. It’s just time to bring it out.”
Reid said the game plan was to “kick it deep; if he takes it out, go make a tackle.”
“I think I did decent,” he said. “I’m happy with it. There’s some things that can be better, but overall I’m happy with it. I got a tackle.”
Matthew Wright handled other kicking duties, making four field goals — including the game-winner from 31 yards away off the left upright as time expired, and converting his only extra-point try.
But Wright had never had a safety usurp his kickoff duties.
“I said to (punter) Matt Araiza that it felt weird,” Wright said. “If it’s the punter, it feels a little more normal. So, it felt weird, but he did a great job tonight. It was awesome to see.”
Harrison Butker, of course, usually handles kickoff for Kansas City, but he has been sidelined since the Nov. 10 game after undergoing knee surgery.
Spencer Shrader filled for in for two weeks before suffering a hamstring injury and also landing on injured reserve.
Wright stepped in last week and handled kickoffs during the Black Friday game against Las Vegas before Justin Reid took over for the Chargers game.
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