The preseason opener is not about polishing a masterpiece. For the Chiefs, it is about sorting the useful from the merely intriguing, and Dave Toub has made that brutally clear. Saturday against the Los Angeles Rams, Kansas City will use special teams the way it should use preseason football: as a live audit of who can block, who can tackle, and who can actually handle real game pressure.
Toub has been with Andy Reid since 2013, and he did not sound remotely interested in turning this into a dress rehearsal for the starters. He said the front-line guys will be out early, but the real meat of the evaluation comes when the depth chart starts to stretch. “I can’t wait,” he said, because this is when special teams stops being theory and becomes a proper test.
That matters because the Chiefs are not just looking for bodies. They are looking for answers. Toub wants to see whether players can block or tackle on special teams with live tackling to the ground, and he wants that competition to spill across kickoff, kickoff return, and punt return. In other words, this is not a game for one flashy return and a few harmless snaps. It is a chance to see who survives contact and who looks lost once the pads are flying.
Front-line players first, then the real sorting begins
Toub’s plan is as straightforward as it is revealing. Early in Saturday’s game, the Chiefs will use their front-line players. After that, the table is set for the twos and threes. Toub said he has “four deep everywhere,” and that the third and fourth quarter should be packed with different bodies. That is the important part: the Chiefs are not hiding the competition, they are amplifying it.
This is where preseason football still earns its keep. The early reps give the starters and established players a tune-up, but the later work is where roster edges are made. Special teams is often where the final spots are won, and Toub is making sure there is nowhere to hide. That is especially true with the Chiefs arriving at Saturday’s preseason opener after Wednesday’s practice brought injury concern for Nick Bolton, Jared Wiley and Peter Woods, while Mansoor Delane wore a yellow non-contact jersey and increased his participation.
The plan also says something about the way Kansas City is treating the return game. Toub was blunt about Nikko Remigio: “I don’t need to see a lot of Nikko.” If he gets one touch on punt and one on kick return, Toub is satisfied. That is not dismissal; it is confidence. The focus, he said, is on the off returners blocking more than anything. That is exactly the sort of detail that separates a useful preseason from a cosmetic one.
And then there is Brashard Smith, who is clearly in the mix for a punt return look. Toub said he would like to see him get one punt return for sure, and maybe even Cyrus Allen if he is up to speed with his leg and everything. That sits neatly alongside the recent buzz around Cyrus Allen is already making an early case in Chiefs camp, because the Chiefs are not merely auditioning speed here. They are judging whether speed can survive the full job description. Allen is also part of a broader camp conversation, even if the louder Carson Beck Draft angle is missing here, as noted in Cyrus Allen is the Chiefs camp darling, but the Carson Beck Draft angle is missing here.
Toub even hinted at what he really wants from the return game: more touchdowns. That is the obvious dream, but the more realistic prize is cleaner decision-making and better blocking. He praised Allen’s vision, saying he sees the crack, plants his foot, and gets upfield for 15 or 20 extra yards instead of drifting wide. That kind of detail is what preseason special teams is for. It is not glamorous, but it can be decisive.
So yes, the Chiefs’ opener against the Rams is still a preseason game. But for Toub, it is also a proving ground. Front-line players first, then the twos and threes, then a long look at the return battle. The depth chart will not be settled on Saturday, but it absolutely can be sharpened. And in Kansas City, that is the whole point.
