Inductees

In the history of the Kansas City Chiefs, there are 54 players in the team’s Ring of Honor, the best of the best.

Of that group, Jerrel Wilson has been the only punter, but before long, Dustin Colquitt could well join him.

Colquitt played for the Chiefs from 2005 to 2019 and his final game with the team was in Super Bowl LIV, a victory against San Francisco in Miami.

Colquitt averaged 44.8 yards per punt, set a team record with an 81-yard punt, had 41.1% of his punts downed inside the 20-yard line and that is a few reasons why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is proudly inducting Colquitt with the Class of 2026.

Colquitt played in 238 games with Kansas City and punted 1,124 times, the seventh most in NFL history, coming into the 2025 season. He and Wilson both played 15 years for the franchise and Colquitt’s numbers bested all of Wilson’s.

Colquitt saw highs and lows with the Chiefs, from being Super Bowl champions to being the worst team in the NFL during the 2012 season. He played under Dick Vermeil (2001 Missouri HOF inductee), Herm Edwards, Todd Haley, Romeo Crennel and Andy Reid, who undoubtedly will join Colquitt in this hall in the future.

The Chiefs drafted the University of Tennessee All-American punter with the 99th pick in 2005, a rarity for a position that is often drafted late or not at all.

From 1995 to 2025, only four punters had been drafted as high as the third round.

“I knew I wanted to kind of make a mark in the city and when I walked in the door during OTAs (organized team activities), I remember Jared Allen saying, ‘Third Round? You better be good,’” said Colquitt, a two-time Pro Bowl selection and second-team All-Pro in 2012.

He averaged more than 40 yards per punt in his final 14 years with the Chiefs. In 2007, 2010 and 2017, he had the longest punt of the season in the NFL. His use in the Chiefs’ special teams varied based on the offense. In a pair of 4-12 seasons, he punted 96 and 95 times. In the year the Chiefs lost in the AFC championship game to New England, he punted a career-low 45 times. In the Super Bowl year, he was punted only 48 times.

He was the holder on field goals and PATs. He learned a lot from his first kicker, Lawrence Tynes, and first long snapper, Kendall Gammon. Colquitt learned it more than just catching the ball and putting it on the ground. He learned impacts like wind, rain, winter, the lean of the football and how the laces are pointed.

“I’m literally holding these guys’ jobs in my hand,” he said. “So I took holding very seriously. Most NFL games are three- or seven-points [wins] and there are so many two- or one-point games; that comes directly down to finishing drives with your field goal kicker.”

Colquitt later played for Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, Atlanta and Cleveland. He officially played in 255 games, but that does not include 12 playoff games with the Chiefs.

The 31-20 win against the 49ers was memorable for the obvious reasons and then some, only he and his family knew.

The nerves didn’t hit until Colquitt looked up on a scoreboard at Hard Rock Stadium and saw the note that if the Chiefs won, he would join his brother Britton (Denver Broncos) and father Craig (Pittsburgh Steelers) as Super Bowl champions.

“That’s when it was on; that’s when the pressure was on,” he said. “I was like, ‘Man, I wish I did not read that.’”

Like many Chiefs fans, even the Colquitt family had a Super Bowl story about the game. In the third quarter, the Chiefs were down 20-10 and Patrick Mahomes was intercepted off a tipped pass by Tarvarius Moore at the 13-yard line.

Colquitt’s then 11-year-old son, Colston, ran up the steps and threw up in a trash can, thinking it would be a pick-6. His mom, Christia, told him the 49ers didn’t score on the play.

“She told him we can come back and then we ended up coming back,” Colquitt said. “But, man, I’ve heard a million stories about that comeback and where people were. I love listening to those Super Bowl stories.”