Following Tuesday’s next-to-last training camp practice in St. Joseph, the Kansas City Chiefs’ special teams coordinator Dave Toub spoke to media members, providing insight coming out of the team’s first preseason game — Saturday night’s 20-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

A good night for special teams

The Chiefs may not have beaten the Cardinals, but Toub liked what he saw from the game’s third phase.

With touchbacks now sending the opposing offense to the 35-yard line, kickers around the league are training to create problems inside the landing zone. That includes Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker.

“Kicking was exceptional,” said Toub of his placekicker’s opening performance. “Butker is really trying to work the edges with the kickoffs. A little bit too close, really. I mean, that could have easily bounced out, but you want to try to push the limits right now during this preseason. You want to see how far you can go with it. He’s worked so hard at it, and it’s good to see him have some success there.”

Coming off his punter-battle victory over Eddie Czaplicki, Toub also thought Matt Araiza had an excellent performance.

“He had some really good punts,” said Toub. “He had the one touchback where I thought we could have [done] a better job with the hang time on that instead of the distance, but he’s moving the ball well. He’s gotten better from last year, so I’m excited about where we are right now.”

Nikko Remigio’s path to the roster

Kansas City’s wide receiver room looks deeper than expected — especially given the Game 1 performances of Tyquan Thornton and Jason Brownlee. Wideout Nikko Remigio continued to show his value as a specialist with a 48-yard kickoff return early in the second quarter.

“We know what Nikko can do,” said Toub. “He needs to do a lot more on offense, which he has been doing, so we’ll just keep working him in there.”

Remigio added two catches for 24 yards with the offense.

“Everybody knows how I feel about Nikko,” said Toub. “I love having a guy that you can depend on, solid. He’s not going to cost you a game. That’s important. It’s so important.”

Running back Brashard Smith is also among the team’s options at the returner positions. Toub alluded to the rookie continuing to be a work-in-progress on special teams.

“I had him back there a bunch,” said Toub of Smith. “He had the fair catch that he obviously should have returned; it was blocked up. But we’ve got to keep throwing him in there until he gets some more reps. Tyquan, he got one. There’s only so many reps to go around. You’ve got to try to get as many guys in as you can. Hopefully, we’ll get Brashard some more this week [to] see if he can be a dynamic guy like we think he can.”

A continued testing ground for the new kickoff

The “dynamic” kickoff has a rule that permits up to three return players to line up off the restraining line. Toub and his unit are trying to make the most of this wrinkle.

“You can have three guys off the line now, which is I think is an advantage for the kickoff-return team,” he said. “It helped us a little bit, I thought, in the game. I think teams are going to use it to their advantage like we did.

“Other than that, obviously, teams are going to be kicking in the target zone. I mean that’s going to happen. There’s going to be a lot more returns — like I said before — [and] a lot more coverages. It’s all good for special teams.”

  • Returned to practice: N/A
  • Out of practice (due to injury): TE Jake Briningstool (out with hamstring since 7/26), WR Hollywood Brown (out with ankle since 7/30), OT Ethan Driskell (out with appendectomy since 8/11), CB Jaylen Watson (out with concussion since 8/11),
  • Left practice early (due to injury): N/A
  • Reserve/Injured list: S Deon Bush (ruptured Achilles 8/11), DE Janarius Robinson (toe fracture 8/11)
  • Non-football injury (NFI) list: DL BJ Thompson
  • Physically unable to perform (PUP) list: N/A

As always, our John Dixon compiled all of Tuesday’s posts here. Here is the post of the day:

We’re all feeling this, Chris.

Special teams coordinator Dave Toub on Andy Reid not needing sleep (as revealed in the ESPN documentary): “It’s real. I have to have seven hours — if I don’t have seven hours, I’m toast. I got to get home. I don’t know how he does it.”

Tuesday’s practice leads into the final practice in St. Joseph on Wednesday, beginning at 8:15 a.m. It is Military Appreciation Day.

Here’s the complete 2025 training camp schedule.