Thomas Townsend (born November 12, 1996) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

punter for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He went to high school at

William R. Boone High School William Rennick Boone High School is a public high school in Orlando, Florida. Built in 1952, the school is one of twenty high schools in the Orange County Public Schools system, created to accommodate the growing number of students at Orlando H ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

. He played his freshman year of

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

before transferring to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. His older brother,

Johnny Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Varian ...

, is also a professional punter who played at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

Professional career

2020 season

In the fourth game of his rookie season in 2020, he had two punts that went 65 yards against the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

. He finished the game with an average of 60.8 yards, a Chiefs franchise record for punt average in a game (minimum 4 attempts), 47.8 yard net average. On November 1, he completed his first career pass on a fake punt against the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

. The completion went for 13 yards, which resulted in a first down. In Week 15 against the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

, Townsend punted six times, landing three inside the 20-yard-line with a long of 61 yards, earning AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. Overall, Townsend finished the 2020 season with 52 punts for 2,339 net yards for a 44.98 average. For his rookie season, he was named to the

Pro Football Writers Association The Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA), sometimes known as Pro Football Writers Association, is an organization that purports to be " heofficial voice of pro football writers, promoting and fighting for access to NFL personnel to best serve ...

's All-Rookie team. In the Chiefs playoff game against the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

, he did not punt a single time for the first time in his career. It was the second time in franchise history a Chiefs punter did not punt a single time in a playoff game. The other was

Jason Baker Jason Michael Baker (born May 17, 1978) is a former American football punter. He was signed by the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent in 2001. He played college football at Iowa. He has also played for the Philadelphia Eagles, Kans ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2021 season

In the Chiefs Week 9 game against the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

, Townsend punted six times with an average of punt of 56.8 yards with five being downed inside the 20 yard line. For his performance, he was named AFC Special Teams player of the week. The following week, he completed his second career pass on a fake punt for 16 yards. After kicking six punts inside the 20, as well as completing a pass on a fake punt, Townsend was named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for November. He was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list on December 24, 2021. He was activated on December 29. Overall, Townsend finished with 37 punts for 1,746 net yards for a 47.19 average.

2022 season

For the month of September, Townsend earned AFC Special Teams Player of the Month. He earned AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors for his Week 15 game against the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

. He finished the 2022 season with 53 punts for 2,672 net yards for a 50.42 average. He earned Pro Bowl and first team All-Pro honors for the 2022 season. In

Super Bowl LVII Super Bowl LVII is the upcoming championship game of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2022 NFL season. The game is scheduled to be played on February 12, 2023, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. It will be the fourth Super B ...

, Townsend punted twice for 98 yards in the Chiefs 38–35 victory over the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

References

External links

Tennessee Volunteers football bio

Florida Gators football bio

Kansas City Chiefs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Townsend, Tommy 1996 births Living people William R. Boone High School alumni American football punters Tennessee Volunteers football players Florida Gators football players Kansas City Chiefs players Players of American football from Orlando, Florida American Conference Pro Bowl players