Could you catch a punt from an NFL punter? (1 Viewer)

[H.K.]

I voted yes, but then again I was my HS punt returner and played WR at a small college. With that experience even, I promise I would drop about 20-30% of them.Catching punts is real hard. If you've never done it, than your answer should most likely be no.

What chance do you give yourself catching the first one from an NFL punter and absolutely no preparation on your part?

 

[Jayrod]

I voted yes, but then again I was my HS punt returner and played WR at a small college. With that experience even, I promise I would drop about 20-30% of them.Catching punts is real hard. If you've never done it, than your answer should most likely be no.

What chance do you give yourself catching the first one from an NFL punter and absolutely no preparation on your part?

About 1:2 to 1:3. Not good odds really.

 

[H.K.]

I voted yes, but then again I was my HS punt returner and played WR at a small college. With that experience even, I promise I would drop about 20-30% of them.Catching punts is real hard. If you've never done it, than your answer should most likely be no.

What chance do you give yourself catching the first one from an NFL punter and absolutely no preparation on your part?

About 1:2 to 1:3. Not good odds really.

Clearly you are not FFA material

Could you catch a punt from an NFL punter?Yes, no doubt [ 70 ] [69.31%]

 

[Jayrod]

I voted yes, but then again I was my HS punt returner and played WR at a small college. With that experience even, I promise I would drop about 20-30% of them.Catching punts is real hard. If you've never done it, than your answer should most likely be no.

What chance do you give yourself catching the first one from an NFL punter and absolutely no preparation on your part?

About 1:2 to 1:3. Not good odds really.

Clearly you are not FFA material

Could you catch a punt from an NFL punter?Yes, no doubt [ 70 ] [69.31%]

I voted yes. The OP said "could you". I absolutely could. I also didn't read the whole deal about coming out of the stands with no practice before I voted. That makes it a lot more difficult. Give me a couple of warm up attempts and my odds raise quickly.

 

[Darth Cheney]

I caught a 40 yard punt outside the other day from someone.

 

[H.K.]

The OP said "could you". I absolutely could. I also didn't read the whole deal about coming out of the stands with no practice before I voted. That makes it a lot more difficult. Give me a couple of warm up attempts and my odds raise quickly.

I agree, you're probably one of the few who would have a shot at the first one.

 

[Bankerguy]

80% chance I haul it in.

 

[Short Corner]

If I can catch a fly ball anywhere in the OF near me, over the shoulder etc, I should be able to catch a football, right?

The flight of a round object is much easier to judge than the flight of a leather torpedo.

I think a football would be much easier to judge than a batted baseball.

You would think wrong.

Pretty sure a batted ball has a greater chance of top-spinning or knuckling. A football is pretty much just a projectile.

 

[Gadabout]

If I can catch a fly ball anywhere in the OF near me, over the shoulder etc, I should be able to catch a football, right?

The flight of a round object is much easier to judge than the flight of a leather torpedo.

I think a football would be much easier to judge than a batted baseball.

True.A baseball is tiny, way harder to pick up, blends in with the sky/clouds, and has the potential of going a lot further than a football. A football in the air looks like a swarm of locusts. Since I have coordination and can track down flyballs, I can catch a silly punt.

 

[koby925]

If there was talk of shagging and NFL cheerleaders on the field, I'd have 0% chance of fielding a punt.

 

[pdlglm]

I think the percentage would be 10% or less.

I think I would have a shot (played baseball in college - can track down a fly ball - have decent hands) but it would by no means be guaranteed.

 

[jhib]

Half of us would fall down and cry when the point of the ball crashed into our sternums.

Average FBG.

 

[Wrigley]

Um, no

I usually have a hard enough time just standing up during football games

We get to the stadium around 5:30am for a noon game......I've got a couple beers down before the sun is up.

 

[Sheriff66]

Can I have Mitch Berger kick it?

 

[Gadfly]

If you are a god athlete and have good hand/eye coordination and there aren't 10 guys (I excluded the punter) waiting to take your head off...then yes, no doubt. It is only a football after all.

Well, if you are a god athlete then you can probably do it. I'd say there would be steep odds against me catching it, but I'd have a shot. Probably 10 percent chance at best. This is not easy.

 

[slayer666]

Yes, no doubt

 

[goldenchild]

I voted yes, but then again I was my HS punt returner and played WR at a small college. With that experience even, I promise I would drop about 20-30% of them.Catching punts is real hard. If you've never done it, than your answer should most likely be no.

I have, but obvioulsy not at the NFL level. If you say no coverage (i.e. not having to worry about getting jacked up), then I'd say there is a 80% chance I'd catch the first 1, but I'd bet my house that I'd get the 2nd.

 

[kutta]

Heck, I caught a grape in my mouth from 20 stories.

You did what now?

I'm the best guy I know at catching grapes in my mouth. About 15 years ago, my buddy and I went to downtown Phoenix and at the Hyatt, on each floor, they have a spot that overlooks the sidewalk. He took a bunch of grapes and started going up. I stood below and caught grapes in my mouth from floor 3 to floor 20.It was pretty cool. I had a bunch of people on the sidewalk cheering me on. It was pretty tough though because I couldn't see the grape until about floor 10, so I had to make some quick adjustments.So catching a punt is no problem...

 

[goldenchild]

Heck, I caught a grape in my mouth from 20 stories.

You did what now?

I'm the best guy I know at catching grapes in my mouth. About 15 years ago, my buddy and I went to downtown Phoenix and at the Hyatt, on each floor, they have a spot that overlooks the sidewalk. He took a bunch of grapes and started going up. I stood below and caught grapes in my mouth from floor 3 to floor 20.It was pretty cool. I had a bunch of people on the sidewalk cheering me on. It was pretty tough though because I couldn't see the grape until about floor 10, so I had to make some quick adjustments.So catching a punt is no problem...

you can catch punts with your mouth?!?

 

[kutta]

Heck, I caught a grape in my mouth from 20 stories.

You did what now?

I'm the best guy I know at catching grapes in my mouth. About 15 years ago, my buddy and I went to downtown Phoenix and at the Hyatt, on each floor, they have a spot that overlooks the sidewalk. He took a bunch of grapes and started going up. I stood below and caught grapes in my mouth from floor 3 to floor 20.It was pretty cool. I had a bunch of people on the sidewalk cheering me on. It was pretty tough though because I couldn't see the grape until about floor 10, so I had to make some quick adjustments.So catching a punt is no problem...

you can catch punts with your mouth?!?

Maybe...Actually, it shows I have outstanding mouth, eye, foot coordination. It's not a leap from there to understand that I also have great hand, eye, foot coordination.

 

[Battles]

I highly doubt it and I returned punts in HS. The trajectory would be impossible to judge coming from a pro kicker. An end over end HS punt is much different than a pro spiral that turns over and drops like a rock. I would guess that 10% of normal males would catch it and half of those would be luck. They did this on pros vs joes and it was an epic fail by the joes if I remember correctly.

 

[Tom Servo]

I managed the HS football team for a year. One practice, the coach asked me catch punts from our punter. All I will say is that I kept them from rolling into the parking lot.

Thus, I said probably not.

 

[DPRugby]

Background in Football, Rugby and Baseball. I've caught many "punt" like kicks in Rugby so I can't imagine that catching one punt would be to hard. It's all about tracking the ball and getting square so you aren't off balance when you try to catch the ball.

 

[Tat]

its tough for the average person. I did it for a while when I was in a few tryouts, had multiple WR's/DB's think it was easy.

The easiest ones are the floaters, the ones that dont turn over. Left footed punters have an edge as well.

The hardest are the new style you see when the punters kick the end over end sky balls.

 

[goldenchild]

Heck, I caught a grape in my mouth from 20 stories.

You did what now?

I'm the best guy I know at catching grapes in my mouth. About 15 years ago, my buddy and I went to downtown Phoenix and at the Hyatt, on each floor, they have a spot that overlooks the sidewalk. He took a bunch of grapes and started going up. I stood below and caught grapes in my mouth from floor 3 to floor 20.It was pretty cool. I had a bunch of people on the sidewalk cheering me on. It was pretty tough though because I couldn't see the grape until about floor 10, so I had to make some quick adjustments.So catching a punt is no problem...

you can catch punts with your mouth?!?

Maybe...Actually, it shows I have outstanding mouth, eye, foot coordination. It's not a leap from there to understand that I also have great hand, eye, foot coordination.

Easy there, killer... just poking fun.What happened after floor 20?

 

[TinHat]

Last summer my daughters were working out on the track at the local HS.There were two college aged kids on the football field practicing their FGs and punting...I was just standing there so I said I would shag for them.One kid was going to Grand Valley State, the other to Eastern Michigan. It was a somewhat windy day and they punted the ball very high. The high spirel kicks I handled pretty easy, the high balls that were out of rotation were much more difficult to catch..muffed quite a few of those, the line drive knuckleball kicks were very difficult to handle.

That said, I'm wondering if the current NFL strategy of high hang-time kicks is the wrong approach?

 

[Yankee23Fan]

I'm pretty sure I'd have no chance in hell.

 

[joffer]

i'd probably catch 3 or 4 out of 10.

 

[dotman]

I'd like to try, haven't dropped one yet in flag football

It would be tough though. I fielded a couple that were well kicked spirals and they can just nose dive hard at the end sometimes, if they're kicked well. I'm guessing that they'll dive even harder off the foot of an NFL punter.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

THe results of this poll are hilarious. Anyway I've witnessed NFL players (non returners of course) screwing around and trying to field punts and they weren't catching half of them. I guess the FFA has better athletes than the NFL, not surprising.

 

[Christo]

I voted yes, but then again I was my HS punt returner and played WR at a small college. With that experience even, I promise I would drop about 20-30% of them.

Catching punts is real hard. If you've never done it, than your answer should most likely be no.

What chance do you give yourself catching the first one from an NFL punter and absolutely no preparation on your part?

About 1:2 to 1:3. Not good odds really.

Clearly you are not FFA material

Could you catch a punt from an NFL punter?

Yes, no doubt [ 70 ] [69.31%]

I voted yes. The OP said "could you". I absolutely could. I also didn't read the whole deal about coming out of the stands with no practice before I voted. That makes it a lot more difficult. Give me a couple of warm up attempts and my odds raise quickly.

And that's the thing. The issue isn't whether it's definitely going to be caught. It's how confident you are that you can catch it. The most experienced NFL punt returner is going to muff one now and then. So even they can't guaranty it's going to be caught. I think I'd have a good chance. I played fullback on my HS rugby team. I had to catch kicks all the time. And a rugby ball makes a lot more awkward movements than a football.

 

[dotman]

THe results of this poll are hilarious. Anyway I've witnessed NFL players (non returners of course) screwing around and trying to field punts and they weren't catching half of them. I guess the FFA has better athletes than the NFL, not surprising.

What did you expect? Half of the FFA has at least an 85mph fastball too.

 

[kutta]

Heck, I caught a grape in my mouth from 20 stories.

You did what now?

I'm the best guy I know at catching grapes in my mouth. About 15 years ago, my buddy and I went to downtown Phoenix and at the Hyatt, on each floor, they have a spot that overlooks the sidewalk. He took a bunch of grapes and started going up. I stood below and caught grapes in my mouth from floor 3 to floor 20.It was pretty cool. I had a bunch of people on the sidewalk cheering me on. It was pretty tough though because I couldn't see the grape until about floor 10, so I had to make some quick adjustments.So catching a punt is no problem...

you can catch punts with your mouth?!?

Maybe...Actually, it shows I have outstanding mouth, eye, foot coordination. It's not a leap from there to understand that I also have great hand, eye, foot coordination.

Easy there, killer... just poking fun.What happened after floor 20?

That was pretty much the top. There is a restaurant at the top floor and he couldn't go any higher.My bottom lip was sore for a week. Those things hurt. And use the purple ones. They are more predictable and you can see them better.

 

[Darth Cheney]

People...it's punting. Noone in the NFL respect the punters. Even the punters are ashamed of what they do. It's not hard.

 

[flapgreen]

I would catch the punt and then beat the hell out of the punter is he didn't weigh over 150 and could box.

 

[SacramentoBob]

Is the defense bearing down on me or just a free punt?

 

[Parrothead]

NFL punters are going to punt the ball very high - the longer you have to think about catching it, the better chance of muffing.. catching low punts like in HS, is much much easier.. I'll say probably not..

 

[3C's]

If you are a god athlete and have good hand/eye coordination and there aren't 10 guys (I excluded the punter) waiting to take your head off...then yes, no doubt. It is only a football after all.

So Tebow could?

 

[SHIZNITTTT]

I like my chances

 

[urbanhack]

Less than a 50% chance.

 

[Sam Quentin]

Could happen, yes, no doubt it could happen

 

[shake zula]

NFL punters are going to punt the ball very high - the higher the punt the harder it'll be to judge with no practice reps and therefore the better chance of muffing.. catching low punts like in HS, is much much easier.. I'll say probably not..

fixedsecond part is very true

 

[optionmaven]

First yr i played trojan football, i was the punt returner(you wouldn't know it to look at me now, but i was a fast kid). Muffed my first two attempts, got mauled, and fumbled them both. And i had hands like Biletnikoff. When I did it in high school, never happened again and even took a few the distance. I think I would easily be able to do this even in my 40's. If you have never done it, I would think your chances are pretty low , unless you are a decent athlete to begin with and/or are used to throwing a football around alot.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

You know what would make this thread even better? If people used it as a vehicle for talking about their athletic accomplishments in high school. That would be sweet.

 

[Zow]

In practice/low pressure situation with not many people watching me: I'd say 50-75% chance assuming it was an average NFL punt (like 55 yards in the air, 4-5 second hang-time), was in my general direction, and all I had to do was catch it. I definitely concede catching a punt is difficult, but I've played years of outfield and think I fielded enough punt-kickoffs in seven years of flag football that I could catch 3 out of 4 (those odds change a ton though if there was wind/I had to move more than a few yards).

If we are talking cold out of the stands and right into an actual NFL game with >50k people watching, maybe 10-25%. No time to warm up + pressure + pure shock = no concentration.

 

[urbanhack]

You know what would make this thread even better? If people used it as a vehicle for talking about their athletic accomplishments in high school. That would be sweet.

bump

 

[Zow]

I would catch the punt and then beat the hell out of the punter is he didn't weigh over 150 and could box.

now imagine she is a very good WNBA player

 

[tdoss]

Unless the FFA has a lot more former college punt returners than I was aware of, there is a whole lot of delusion going on in this poll.

Catching the punt is not running the punt back. We just have to catch it.Do you think you could catch a pass from Kurt Warner? That doesn't mean you could play WR in the NFL, it is just catching a pass.

You are underrating how hard just fielding a punt is. That ball gets kicked high in the air and is coming down pretty damn fast. And that isn't even accounting for the potential need to run to get under it.As for the question of catching a pass from Kurt Warner, I am sure that many of us could catch one, but it would be pretty dependent on what kind of route it is and how much pace he put on the ball. I don't think the average FBG would be too successful catching a quick hook, slant or out that was absolutely fired at them, but there are lots of other routes where the success rate could be much higher.

That's ridiculous. I don't think it's all that difficult to catch a bullet from Warner as we hook or slant...he's gonna put it right in our hands.But being able to read a high kick...run and get under it, signal fair catch and then grab it...that could be a bit of a challenge.

At least for me it is...there's something about a football going very high that has always thrown me a tad. But a pass zipping at me with velocity isn't that difficult...fingertips and squeeze.

 

[E-Z Glider]

The problem with this poll is that some people didn't answer the question being asked.

Could you do it? No, probably not.

Would you like the opportunity to try? Yes, Id love to!

 

[NCCommish]

I played some and was an OK possession type receiver at one time so I guess I could grab one. But I wouldn't bet any money I couldn't live without on it.