ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — When the Chiefs visit New Orleans for their preseason opener in eight days, special teams coordinator Dave Toub will have a close eye on undrafted free agent rookie running back Deneric Prince.
“I want to see him, he’ll start off as kick returner for us,” Toub said after Saturday’s practice. “I want to see him with live bullets, guys coming down the field, how to set up blocks and how to hit it, and he’s strong.”
Last year, seventh-round rookie running back Isiah Pacheco won the kick return job in training camp, and Prince is on pace to pull off the feat this summer. Pacheco owns a larger role as the team’s starting running back, and offseason surgeries for his shoulder and hand have taken him out of consideration for kick return duties for now.
Prince shares another characteristic with Pacheco in his kick-return experience. Until his rookie season, Pacheco hadn’t returned kick-offs since his freshman year at Rutgers in 2018. Prince hasn’t received kicks in a game since his 2020 sophomore campaign at Tulsa. He returned four kicks 68 yards for the Golden Hurricane.
Despite the lack of experience, Prince believes he has the skill set to succeed as a kick returner.
“Just my ability to run in space, I feel like that’s gonna show a lot,” Prince said.
Toub also has confidence Prince can thrive in the role.
“Everything I’ve seen in practice I think I’m going to see in the game, but you still got to see it,” Toub said.
Unlike last season when Toub had to rely upon a long list of rookies for special teams duty, it’s a much shorter list of first-year players on his roster this season. Fourth-round safety Chamarri Conner and seventh-round cornerback Nic Jones are strong candidates to pick up playing time this year.
For roster bubble candidates such as Ekow Boye-Doe, an undrafted free agent cornerback from Kansas State, special teams are where these young players must make their mark. For Boye-Doe in particular, he needs to prove his slight frame — 6-foot, 177 pounds — isn’t a detriment.
“We got him at gunner, so we’re going see him in there,” Toub said. “He’s going to have to use speed to be able to get out on guys to be able to run. But he can, he’s got the top-end speed. But the big question is, is he going to play bigger than he actually is? Because he’s about 177 pounds. He’s kind of slight but, we’ve had guys that have been that small that come on and became good players for us. So it’s not impossible.”
But even with the loss of Nazeeh Johnson with a torn ACL, Toub says second-year cornerbacks Jaylen Watson and Joshua Williams are his top gunners on punt coverage right now.
“Hopefully some of these young guys maybe Boye-Doe, maybe he comes through, and (Justin) Watson the wide receiver, (Justyn) Ross, the other wide receiver, all those guys will have a shot,” Toub said. “They’re all gonna get reps. But we’ll start off with those two.”
Ross, who has turned heads with highlight-reel plays on offense, is an option on special teams as well but has often run with the second-team units in training camp. He did get attention earlier this week when he downed a Tommy Townsend punt at the 1-yard line.
“That’s part of the gunner job,” Toub said. “In the pooch area, you don’t get doubled a lot, you have eight guys in the box. So you’re singled up and get out and run, and then your job is to go down and make a play on the ball when Tommy hangs it up. That’s what we’re working on that day, and he’s got that skill.
