Arrowhead History: Best Punt Return Average
The New Arrowhead Stadium will debut at the end of August when the Chiefs host Philadelphia in a pre-season game. After 38 seasons of Chiefs home games, the building has been updated with 21st Century amenities.
Remaining within the stadium shell are memories of the hundreds of games that have been played there since the summer of 1972. Within those games have been some memorable performances by members of the Chiefs and the visiting teams that will be featured over the next weeks leading up to the opening of the new Arrowhead.
Today, it’s the top 20 punt returners with the best career average in Arrowhead Stadium.
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Best Career Average Punt Returners at Arrowhead Stadium (1972-2009)*
*10 or more returns to qualify
| Returner |
Seasons |
Games |
Returns |
Average |
| Rick Upchurch |
1975-81 |
7 |
14 |
16.6 |
| Eddie Payton |
1978 |
7 |
15 |
12.5 |
| Neal Colzie |
1975-78 |
4 |
13 |
11.8 |
| Michael Clemons |
1987 |
4 |
11 |
11.8 |
| Billy Thompson |
1972-79 |
5 |
13 |
11.8 |
| Tamarick Vanover |
1995-99 |
36 |
96 |
11.4 |
| Tim Brown |
1988-2003 |
15 |
29 |
11.3 |
| J.T. Smith |
1979-84 |
38 |
121 |
11.2 |
| Jeff Smith |
1985-86 |
13 |
15 |
11.2 |
| Dante Hall |
2000-06 |
50 |
101 |
11.0 |
| Ed Podolak |
1972-77 |
34 |
20 |
10.0 |
| Lionel James |
1984-88 |
5 |
12 |
9.8 |
| Larry Brunson |
1974-80 |
27 |
26 |
9.8 |
| Garcia Lane |
1985-87 |
9 |
26 |
9.7 |
| Darrien Gordon |
1993-2000 |
8 |
17 |
9.2 |
| Danan Hughes |
1993-98 |
43 |
21 |
9.0 |
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Hopefully, Either RUN DMC or Arenas will be on this list soon. We haven’t had significant threat on punt returns since Dante.
It’s too bad there’s no category for “returned for TD”. In my mind, The average doesn’t mean a lot, without knowing how often a player did that. Thanks for the stats, Bob. It’s nice to be reminded of the older players, and seeing how they matched up with the newer (even though the game was different in ’70s, compared to even the 80s.