how good are below-average NFL punters? (1 Viewer)

[moleculo]

anyone have any idea about how rare punting skills are? I understand the difference a good punter can make for your team, but not everyone has a good punter. by definition, half of the punters in the league are below average - how much better are those guys vs a placekicker?

Let's take Brett Kern, for example. 43.3 yards average on the season. Anyone have a guess what Rob Bironas could do? Could Bironas come close to that? Even if he doesn't beat the 43.3 yards per punt, that extra roster spot could put the Titans at a competitive advantage. An extra DL that could rotate in. An extra tackle. An extra WR, whatever.

A further extrapolation is that not having a punter might cause a coach to be more aggressive; and more likely to go for it on 4th down. Statistically, they probably should do this more often anyways.

It's not like placekickers have so much on their plates that they can't take up learning a new skill either. They have two techniques to know - place-kick and kick-off, and it's all stuff that they have been doing their whole lives. Would it really be that big of an imposition to expect them to punt too?

Has there been a punter/kicker in the modern NFL?

 

[moleculo]

looks like the past P/K in the NFL was in 1981, and was fairly common before then. link

 

[Sea Duck]

A great punter can make a significant impact. Below-average punters are wastes of roster space.

Cleveland has the worst punter in the league -- does anyone believe that they would have fewer than 4 wins if they'd replaced him with another skill position player?

 

[Protocols of Stringer Bell]

I just had twin boys and my good friend is convinced the one way I could guarantee them to become professional athletes (or at the very least a college scholarship) is to get them punting right away - there's just not enough good ones given the demand.

 

[Drink G2]

Roethlisberger used to do some punting in college...can't be that hard...

 

[Time Kibitzer]

Is taking the 5 or 10 yard net loss per punt over the entire season worth having a 7th DL? 10th OL? 6th WR?

P/K's are still relatively common in the CFL anyway.

 

[QuizGuy66]

A great punter can make a significant impact. Below-average punters are wastes of roster space.

Cleveland has the worst punter in the league -- does anyone believe that they would have fewer than 4 wins if they'd replaced him with another skill position player?

Maynard was their 3rd punter this year. The 1st 2 guys went on IR.-QG

 

[Max Power]

I just had twin boys and my good friend is convinced the one way I could guarantee them to become professional athletes (or at the very least a college scholarship) is to get them punting right away - there's just not enough good ones given the demand.

Same with long snapping. Which is probably an easier skill to master.

 

[moleculo]

Is taking the 5 or 10 yard net loss per punt over the entire season worth having a 7th DL? 10th OL? 6th WR? P/K's are still relatively common in the CFL anyway.

I think so, yes. Especially for a team that has had to deal with lots of injuries. At one point this year, Broncos had their #2 QB playing WR because they came into the game shorthanded and had injuries during the game. Another roster spot could have made a difference. I'm sute other teams have had somilar situations.

 

[coolnerd]

The idea of roster spot savings is a theme that I see on the Texans board generally every year aoround roster cut down time. I will start by saying the entire NFL disaggrees with the notion that Punters, kickers, and long-snappers are a time a dozen and that there is someone on the roster who could do it. When rosters expanded to 53 a couple decades back, nearly every team at that point went to the concept that I call the three stooges: (dedicated long snapper, punter, kicker).

Why?

These guys guys have more value because they have a guaranteed snaps at positions where teams the execution needs to be near flawless. Extra points are nearly 100% operations, field goals (most punters are now the dedicated holders) are like 90 percent under 45 yards. How many bad snaps occur league wide in a given week? one maybe two? How many off the side of the foot punts occur? one or two there also?

So these guys could largely work on being nearly perfect in terms of basic execution of snaps and holding without taking away valuable practice from position players who would do a job at a lesser quality. In league where games, season and at times careers come down to a play or two saving the roster spot for a 6th WR etc. at the chance of having a negative player because is not worth it.

The reason these jobs look so easy is because of the almost perfect execution, not because there are plenty of guys who can do that job (NFL or real world). Watch college football over the next week or so and see the difference of 90% exection versus near perfect.

 

[Maurile Tremblay]

If you want to save a roster spot by not having a punter, you'd generally be better off having a QB do it rather than a placekicker.

But saving a roster spot isn't worth as much as you might think. The guys at the bottom of the roster aren't all that different from the guys who can be pulled up from the practice squad whenever they're needed, or signed off the street.

 

[Sinn Fein]

If you want to save a roster spot by not having a punter, you'd generally be better off having a QB do it rather than a placekicker.But saving a roster spot isn't worth as much as you might think. The guys at the bottom of the roster aren't all that different from the guys who can be pulled up from the practice squad whenever they're needed, or signed off the street.

Place kickers are to punters what racquetball players are to tennis players. They are in the same family of activities, but not as close as you might think.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Actually, I wonder about whether quarterbacks or backup QBs could punt, or how many.

Seems to me I recall when punters have been hurt and if PKs did not handle the duties QBs have. Randall Cunningham comes to mind and several great games he had punting. He had 20 career punts, a 44.7 yard career average, at least 4 of the 20 were of 58 yards or mroe, twice he had punts over 80 yards, including a 91 yarder.

Using a QB would also add a very dangerous quandary for defenses in terms of defending against a possible fake on 4th down or even quick kicks on 3rd down.

Still a really good punter is a serious, potentially huge defensive weapon and one bad punt can ruin a game.

 

[CalBear]

Below-average punters in today's NFL are better than Ray Guy. The specialization of the position has produced significant increases in average and net average. To go back to having Danny White doing your punting would cost teams 5-10 yards per punt, maybe 50 yards per game.

 

[Acrobat7]

Still a really good punter is a serious, potentially huge defensive weapon and one bad punt can ruin a game.

this!It's "easy" to punt a ball 40+ yards downfield , but when it comes to nailing the other team inside the 10 it gets really tough. Punting is a lot harder than kicking IMO.

 

[Master of Past and Present]

Few years ago the Falcons tried it with Koenen in preseason and I think the first 2 games of the year. Went something like 2-8 and the Falcons signed Morten Anderson.

 

[kinghill]

The idea of roster spot savings is a theme that I see on the Texans board generally every year aoround roster cut down time. I will start by saying the entire NFL disaggrees with the notion that Punters, kickers, and long-snappers are a time a dozen and that there is someone on the roster who could do it. When rosters expanded to 53 a couple decades back, nearly every team at that point went to the concept that I call the three stooges: (dedicated long snapper, punter, kicker).Why?These guys guys have more value because they have a guaranteed snaps at positions where teams the execution needs to be near flawless. Extra points are nearly 100% operations, field goals (most punters are now the dedicated holders) are like 90 percent under 45 yards. How many bad snaps occur league wide in a given week? one maybe two? How many off the side of the foot punts occur? one or two there also? So these guys could largely work on being nearly perfect in terms of basic execution of snaps and holding without taking away valuable practice from position players who would do a job at a lesser quality. In league where games, season and at times careers come down to a play or two saving the roster spot for a 6th WR etc. at the chance of having a negative player because is not worth it.The reason these jobs look so easy is because of the almost perfect execution, not because there are plenty of guys who can do that job (NFL or real world). Watch college football over the next week or so and see the difference of 90% exection versus near perfect.

 

[moleculo]

Still a really good punter is a serious, potentially huge defensive weapon and one bad punt can ruin a game.

this!It's "easy" to punt a ball 40+ yards downfield , but when it comes to nailing the other team inside the 10 it gets really tough. Punting is a lot harder than kicking IMO.

A good punter is a weapon. A bad punter is a liability.

 

[Tom Servo]

Still a really good punter is a serious, potentially huge defensive weapon and one bad punt can ruin a game.

this!It's "easy" to punt a ball 40+ yards downfield , but when it comes to nailing the other team inside the 10 it gets really tough. Punting is a lot harder than kicking IMO.

What are the odds Brad Wing from LSU gets drafted? Dude's got sick punting skills.