The Top First-year Punting Performances

 By John Turney 

Tennessee rookie Ryan Stonehouse last season smashed the NFL's single-season record for punting when he averaged 53.1 yards per kick, breaking the previous mark of 51.4 set by Sammy Baugh in 1940..

Or 82 years earlier.

It was an impressive achievement, and certainly the best season ever for a first-year punter ... right?

Not so fast.

Records must be taken in context, as there are more important factors than gross punting average, including .. but not limited to ... net yards per punt. Fortunately, recent data prior to 1976 (when the NFL officially began tracking net punting as an individual statistic) is available on NFL.com or in annual NFL record books. 

That information puts punting records and statistics into a context allowing comparisons to other seasons by first-year punters (rookies, those on practice squads or anyone who bounced around until they caught on) since 1950.

Like passing and place kicking, punting has become more sophisticated over time. An ordinary season by a passer, punter or kicker today might have been a record-breaker two or three generations ago. So comparing individuals of past eras must be considered only against players of their time.

Comparing net averages has become easier since 1999 when the NFL began calculating a metric called Net Yards over Average (NYOA). Simplified, it compares punters by using their net averages vs. league averages and taking into account variables associated with field position that affect statistics.

So, who are the punters who stood out in their first years of NFL play? Here are my Top 20:

20. Dale Livingston, Bengals, 1968—Livingston had a net punting average of 39.3 in his rookie season and a gross punting average of 43.4. Since net punting did not become official until 1976 his 1968 average would be considered unofficial but with available records it would have been tied for the second-best in pro football, not just the AFL. Only the Chiefs' Jerrel Wilson had a higher net.

His value was made known when he missed the final two games and his two replacements averaged 28.6 yards a punt combined (and that's gross, not net)

17. Tom Wittum, 49ers, 1973—Like Donnelly, Wittum's first year was overshadowed by an all-time great rookie - Ray Guy. Wittum was All-NFC and a Pro Bowler and had a fine season but just didn't have as good a year as Guy, though NFL.com stats show a fine 36.6 net average.

18. Rick Donnelly, Falcons, 1985—Overshadowed by Dale Hatcher in his rookie year, Donnelly was just a half-yard behind Hatcher in net yard average at 37.5 and had a slightly better gross average. In most other years he'd have been the one getting some post-season honors.

17. Tom Skladany, Lions, 1978. He was drafted by the Browns in the second round of the 1977 NFL draft but didn't sign and held out which would have made him eligible for the 1978 draft. before that happened the Browns traded him to the Rams for a third-round pick and a conditional third-rounder. 

He wouldn't sign with the Rams either so they unloaded him to the Lions for a third and a seventh and the Lions offered him a contract he could live with. He'd sometimes sport a T-shirt with the team name "Browns" crossed out and also with "Rams" crossed out but with Lions left intact.

Not only was he an All-Rookie selection he was a consensus All-NFC pick. His net punting average was not eye-popping but it was second in the NFL and three yards above the NFL average that season.

16. Reggie Roby, Dolphins, 1983—A consensus All-Rookie pick, Roby's 36.5-yard net tied for third in NFL, and his 26 punts inside the 20 were third.

He was the king of hang time -- going for height, not necessarily depth -- though it was just the opposite when he was at the University of Iowa. There, he was known for distance, not height.

In the NFL, however, he averaged 4.7 seconds per punt in his first season -- with one writer saying that "Roby's punts don't have hang time; they have orbit time."

15. Rigoberto Sanchez, Colts, 2017—Another All-Rookie choice, he was fourth in net punting with a 42.6 net average, fourth best among first-year punters. His NYOA was 1.88, good for sixth in the NFL. 

He had 28 punts inside the 20, compared to just three touchbacks (a 9.3: 1 ratio). The 23-year-old rookie who played at Hawaii also handled the Colts' kickoff duties.

14. Darren Bennett, Chargers, 1995—According to the Associated Press (AP), Bennett was the first NFL player to have a webpage on the "Internet's World Wide Web". The AP also reported that anyone with Internet access could read about Bennett's weekly journal but also "converse electronically with the 30-year-old rookie."

A former Australian rules football player, the 6-5, 240-pound Aussie earned tickets to the U.S. by winning a kicking exhibition. He tried out for the Chargers because he thought it would "be cool" to meet a couple of NFL players and did well enough to spend a year on the team's practice squad and one season in the World League (later called NFL Europe).

He made the Chargers' roster in 1995..

In his first NFL season, Bennett won almost every available honor: Consensus All-Pro, All-AFC, Pro Bowl. The problem was that he wasn't the NFL's best punter that year .. or even the top first-year punter. However, some writers and players who voted for postseason honors didn't look at net averages. If they had, they would have found others ahead of Bennett.

Nevertheless, it was a great start. 

13. Matt Turk, Washington, 1995—After playing semi-pro football and failing to catch on with the Packers ('93) and Rams( '94), the 6-5, 251-pound Turk won a job in Washington. Moreover, he so impressed Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News (the most astute NFL writer when it came to special teams) that he picked him over Bennett for the paper's All-Pro team.

The first-year punter's net average was over a yard better than Bennett's (2.5 yards above the league average vs. Bennett's 1.4), and he had one more punt inside the 20. Simply put, Turk had a slightly better season.

12. Michael Dickson, Seahawks, 2018—He was one of the first punters to go through the Prokick Australia punter training program and play in the NFL.

Dickson's 42.5 net average was sixth in the NFL, and his NYOA of 1.46 was seventh. But it was his 48.2 gross average (second in the league) and Week Eight choice as NFC Special Teams Player of the Week that made him a consensus All-Pro and All-Rookie pick.

The 42.5 net average is currently fifth-best among first-year punters and third-best ever for pure rookies. But, like the Turk-Bennett situation in 1995, Dickson was not the top first-year punter in 2018. He wasn't even the top Australian.

The next guy on our list was.

11. Cameron Johnston, Eagles, 2018— Another Aussie and, like Dickson, a Prokick Australia graduate.

Waived by the Eagles in 2017, Johnston spent a year honing his craft. One year later at the Eagles’ rookie camp (he was re-signed in the offseason), he said that he "had a year to work on (his) game and to try to get better as a punter."

The work paid off.

The former Australian rules footballer had a 48.1-yard gross and a 42.7 net punting average (third-best among first-year punters). Furthermore, he was third in the league in gross punting, net punting and NYOA (2.01).

Though close, Johnston's numbers were better than Dickson's. But it was Dickson who had more votes for All-Pro.

10. Dave Lewis, Bengals, 1970—Lewis didn't want to be a punter. He called it his "curse". He thought it detracted from coaches seeing his abilities as a quarterback. In 1967 he was drafted out of Stanford in the fifth round of the 1967 AFL-NFL Draft by the Giants he chose to play for Montreal in the CFL where he thought he'd get a shot to play behind the center. However, he ended up playing very little there and was mostly a receiver, back and returner.

The poli sci grad wanted to return to the NFL so he didn't play in Canada in 1969 and instead tried to get the Giants to give up their rights for him. They wouldn't so he reported to camp and ended up getting cut.

After sitting out the season he signed with the Bengals in 1970 with the hopes of playing quarterback but was a third-stringer at that position, but was, of course, the first-string punter. His curse secured his roster spot. 

He led the NFL with a 46.2-yard average and had a 39.0-yard net, which was among the league's best, and was the consensus All-Pro punter, making the AP and PFWA teams. 

9. Shane Lechler, Raiders, 2000—In eighteen seasons Lechler led the NFL in net punting four times, including in his rookie season (He led in gross average five times). His NYOA was 2.70, good for second in the NFL as was his 45.9 gross average.

Lechler was the second Raider rookie punter to be consensus All-Pro and All-Rookie. 

8. Tommy Davis, 49ers, 1959—Taken in the eleventh round of the 1957 draft while in the military. He was eligible for the NFL draft because his recruiting class was in 1953, entering LSU that year. After his military commitment was over he played another season of college football and then dropped out to join the 49ers.

In that era the NFL Record Book did include team net punting and most teams had just one person doing the punting so individual averages were easy to check with the NFL.com data.

Davis was tied for second behind Sam Baker's 42.8. The actual net averages for the ties for second were the Lions' Yale Lary (40.844), Jerry Norton of the Cardinals (40.831) and Davis (40.814). Talk about close. 

Davis was also the Niners' placekicker.

7. Bob Grupp, Chiefs, 1979—The Jets drafted Grupp in 1977 but he didn't catch on. In 1979 the Chiefs pulled him out of a real estate office and he won the punting job. 

All he did was lead the NFL in net punting (37.2 - 3.9 yards above the NFL average), earn consensus All-Pro (first-team PFWA and NEA, second-team AP), consensus All-AFC, and the AFC Pro Bowl punting slot. In short, he'd unseated Ray Guy as the NFL's top punter if just for that season. Guy had been the consensus All-Pro punter every year since he entered the league in 1973. 

For good measure, he also led the NFL in gross punting and was a consensus All-Rookie.

6. Dale Hatcher, Rams, 1985—The Clemson third-rounder led the NFL in net punting and in punts dropped inside the 20 with 32. When Paul "Dr. Z" Zimmerman chose him for the Sports Illustrated All-Pro team he wrote, "Hatcher's single most impressive talent is being able to boom one and then have it bounce straight up, whereupon it's downed in the shadow of the end zone."

In addition to the SI selection Hatcher was a consensus All-Pro and All-Rookie pick.

5. Ryan Stonehouse, Titans, 2022—Obviously he has to be included. The relatively smallish (5-10, 185 pounds) former Colorado State Ram has a bright future with an already legendary leg. Once he controls it a little more he has the chops to be the best in the NFL. 

His 44.0 net average is second-best among first-year punters and is tops among pure rookies and is officially tied for 17th best all-time (official means since 1976). His NYOA was sixth in the NFL (2.54).

Voted first-team All-NFL by The Sporting News and second-team by the AP.  He was the  AFC Special Teams Player of the Week in the season's tenth week and was the October AFC Special Teams Player of the Month and was on everyone's All-Rookie team.

4. Jack Fox, Lions, 2020—He was an undrafted free agent in 2019 and spent a year on the Lions' practice squad. The Detroit News described it this way, "Lions rookie punter Jack Fox used his time last season as a "redshirt" year and improved his technique and the use of his hands."

It worked, His 44.8 net yards per punt is the NFL record among first-year punters. It was also second in the NFL as was his 4.13 NYOA. He allowed just 116 return yards and had a 26-7 inside-the-20 to-touchback ratio. 

He was a second-team All-Pro and a Pro Bowler in his first season on an active NFL roster and opened the season as the NFC Special Teams Player of the Month for September.

He also kicked off for the Lions.

3. Ray Guy, Raiders, 1973—A first-round draft choice Guy was a consensus All-Pro (the AP didn't pick a punter that year) and unanimous All-Rookie. He came into the NFL as the best punter in the league - his hang time was legendary and he was aggressive in trying to pin teams not just inside the twenty but inside the ten. Or five.

Guy's 38.8 net average was lower than some other first-year players on this list but it was the second-best in the NFL but this is a case where numbers have to be taken in context. 

League averages in net punting dropped from about 36-38 in the late 1950s through the mid-1960s and then began to drop in the late-1960s. By 1973 the league average was just over 35 yards so his net was about 3-1/2 yards better than the NFL average. 

Guy handled the kickoff duties for the Raiders and was in on quite a few tackles as well. It was an excellent rookie year, one of the best ever.

2. Bobby Walden, Vikings, 1964—After three years in Canada Walden brought his wares to the NFL and in his first season had a league-leading gross average of 46.4 and a 41.6 net average, which was about 4.3 yards above the NFL average that year. He also had 26 punts end up inside the twenty yard-line and just five touchbacks and excellent for that era and would be pretty good now.

His 41.6 net average, had it been official, would have led the league every year from 1964 through 2008 with the exception of 1966 and 1972. 

The former Georgia Bulldog was voted All-Rookie by UPI, the only wire service that chose one in that era.

1. David Lee, Colts, 1966—Lee didn't make a pro team right out of Louisiana Tech. His first year was with the Colts in '66. His net average was 41.7 yards a punt (45.6 gross) which was just about five yards a punt more than the league average. For comparison, Fox's average was about four yards above the NFL average and Stonehouse's was two and a half yards above the average.

Though statistics are not as precise then as they are now (there was no NYOA metric then), even with the NFL.com additions, but five yards above the average is special, in fact, the best-ever among first-year punters.

Like Walden, his 41.7 net average would have led the NFL as late as 2008 with the exception of 1972.

The wire services (AP, UPI, NEA) didn't choose specialists on their All-Pro teams at the time but Lee was All-Conference that year by The Sporting News.