Chiefs searching for answer at punt returner in wake of another Skyy Moore muffed punt

The Skyy Moore experiment at punt returner appears to be shelved for now.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid indicated Monday morning that the team might take a different direction in the wake of Moore’s third lost muffed punt of the season during the Week 12 win over the Los Angeles Rams.

“We kind of put Skyy in and tried to bring him along with the punt return stuff, but he had a hiccup again (Sunday),” Reid said. “So, we’ll take that responsibility as a coaching staff.

“I was proud of him of stepping up and he ended up with five receptions; he had one right after that. He’s a competitive kid and he was crushed after the other one, but listen, that’s my responsibility. I take that and we’ll see where we go forward here with the punt return.”

The Chiefs’ second-round draft pick in 2022 arrived with limited experience as a returner. Moore recorded just one punt return and three kickoff returns at Western Michigan, but he quickly went about learning the punt returner role for the Chiefs.

He appeared to be settling in during training camp, but it quickly came with challenges once the regular season arrived.

The rookie wide receiver muffed punts in Week 3’s loss to the Indianapolis Colts and in Week 7’s win against the San Francisco Giants. After a Week 8 bye, the Chiefs turned to wide receivers Mecole Hardman, who is now on injured reserve, and Justin Watson to handle punt return duties in Week 9. Wide receiver Kadarius Toney, who the Chiefs acquired in a bye-week trade, took over in Weeks 10-11 before Toney suffered a hamstring injury.

But with Toney and Hardman down, Moore once again absorbed the punt returner responsibilities in Week 12. It quickly became a disaster when Moore muffed the first punt he saw Sunday against the Rams to punctuate some of the Chiefs’ issues on special teams this season.

“I’m not going to put that on Skyy,” Reid said. “We’ve asked him to learn that and go in there and do it. We gave him a second chance to do it; it didn’t work out as well as we hoped. But we’ll figure it out and get it right.”

With Moore’s status as a punt returner in limbo, the Chiefs must figure out options sooner than later, especially without Hardman and Toney, whom Reid categorized as “day to day” in the recovery process.

For now, the top choice could be Watson, who immediately took over as punt returner and completed a clean fair catch after Moore’s turnover.

“He looked like he caught the ball fairly easy back there and comfortable,” Reid said of Watson. “We’ll see. I haven’t met with (special teams coordinator Dave) Toub on it yet, but we’ll see where we go moving forward.”