Remembering Jim Brown (1936-2023)

By Chris Willis, NFL Films

Jim Brown, Pro Football Hall of Fame, running back

Today the NFL world mourns the loss of the great Jim Brown at the age of 87.

After being drafted in the first round of the 1957 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns, the 6-2, 232-pound Brown dominated the league for the next nine seasons. Over those nine seasons Brown led the NFL in rushing 8 times finishing with a then NFL-record 12,312 rushing yards.

He also has on his Pro Football Hall of Fame resume:

Rookie of the Year (1957)

3 NFL MVPs (1957, 1958, 1965)

All NFL or All-Pro for all 9 seasons

9 Pro Bowls

1964 NFL Championship win

1960’s All-Decade Team

NFL 50^th Anniversary Team

NFL 75^th Anniversary Team

NFL 100^th Anniversary Team

Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 1971

Cleveland Browns Ring of Honor

Cleveland Browns Jersey Number 32 Retired

 As a player he achieved everything a player could and more.

The first time I met Jim Brown I was a high school senior in Columbus, Ohio in 1989. At a banquet held in Columbus, the NFL Alumni Association held an event honoring Jim Brown. As an eighteen-year-old growing up in central Ohio, I just knew I had to go to the event and met Jim Brown. At a local golf course banquet hall I waited with several hundred people to hear from Brown. Showing up a few minutes late, Brown gave a great speech about being part of a brotherhood of players with the NFL Alumni. Right after his speech I introduced myself. I was nervous but Brown treated me like a friend, asking about my high school football team. He then signed my book, "Off My Chest" (written with Myron Cope, 1964). It was a night I won’t forget.

A few years later after I graduated from college and started working for NFL Films my path crossed with Jim Brown again. In July of 1996 I was working as an assistant director on a project titled “The Browns are Back.” It was the year after Art Modell moved his franchise to Baltimore but the city of Cleveland was able to keep the name and history of the Browns. A fan event was held at Hiram College (the Browns old training camp site) and over 80 former Browns players and coaches attended.

During this event we interviewed many former Browns for a film that aired in 1996. While there Jim Brown showed up to show his support for the new Browns franchise. He looked like he could still play, although he was 60 years old. It was another moment I won’t forget.

Hearing the news today of the passing of Jim Brown made me think of these two meetings with the greatest running back in NFL history. I know the following weeks I’ll be digging into my library to read about the life and career of Jim Brown.

If you want to join me in reading about Jim Brown you have plenty to choose from. Besides "Off My Chest" written with Myron Cope, there are: 

1. Jim Brown: The Golden Year 1964 (by Stan Isaacs, 1970)

2. Jim (by James Toback, 1971)

3. Out of Bounds (by Jim Brown with Steve Delsohn, 1989)

4. Jim Brown: The Fierce Life of an American Hero (by Mike Freeman, 2006)

5. Jim Brown: Last Man Standing (by Dave Zirin, 2018) 

All of these titles are worth the read. They will give you a more in-depth view of Brown and his life and career, especially his autobiography "Out of Bounds" written with Steve Delsohn. 

RIP Jim Brown. 

Chuck Latourette—A Special Special Teamer

 By John Turney 

Chuck Latourette was a name that ardent NFL fans barely know, and who can blame them? He had a short but interesting career as a punter and punt returner and a short but interesting life.

Nicknamed "Frenchy," he played pro football for five years -- four in the NFL, one in the WFL -- became a doctor and died in 1982 with a single gunshot to the eye.

Patricia, his wife, was charged and acquitted of his murder.

More on that later.

Since he was 12, Latourette wanted to become a doctor. So he took pre-med classes at Rice University where he played offense and defense on the football team and was named All-Conference as a senior and voted second-team AP All-American.

He would've been chosen in the first combined AFL-NFL draft, but he told scouts he was going to graduate school. So no team drafted him. But when he received a couple of offers from pro teams, he decided to take a shot at the NFL while seeking his medical degree at the University of Tennessee Colleges of Medicine in Memphis.

He played football in St. Louis during the fall and attended medical school in the off-season. And he did both well.

What made him interesting -- unique even -- is that he is one of two players in NFL history to punt more than 200 times, return 50 or more punts and 50 or more kicks.

Two. 

In a league with over 100 years of history, inclusion on a list of two for anything is notable. Ask him to punt, he could do it. Return a kick? He could do that, too. Punt return? No problem. Fill in at safety? No sweat. And he did it all lacking elite speed - with 40 times between 4.6 and 4.7 seconds.

In the early years of the NFL there were plenty of players who did it all - running, passing, kicking and returning - and several are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But they didn't do it with the frequency that Chuck Latourette did in just four NFL seasons, missing one with a knee injury.

But it wasn't just the quantity; it was the quality. He wasn't average in everything. He was superb at it.

In 1968, he led the NFL in punt-return (12.3) yardage ... kickoff-return yardage (26.9) ... and all-purpose yardage, setting then-NFL records for kick returns (46) and return yardage (1,237). He also returned a punt for a touchdown, an 86-yarder against the Saints, which was then the third-longest in Cardinals' history. 

It was the margin for their only win in the first month of the season.

Latourette could do it all, starting two games at safety and ranking third in punting average (41.6) and fourth (unofficially) in net punting average.

More on that in a bit.

After a 1–3 start that season, the Cardinals went on an 8–1–1 tear the final 10 games to finish 9–4–1. In a season where their leading rusher had just over 800 yards, the leading passer threw for a bit over 2,000 yards and the leading receiver was just under 800 yards, "Frenchy" was invaluable.

But it was punting where he excelled. His gross punting averages were nothing special (he was third in the NFL in 1968, for example), but he launched kicks high, not allowing return yards -- a style that produced solid net punting numbers before they became official statistics.

That came five years later.

With the league's official website, NFL.com, posting a spate of statistics recently, net punting leaders can be calculated in the years when Latourette played. What they tell us is that he ranked high nearly every year.

In 1967, for instance, his 62 punts were returned for just a total of 79 yards. His gross average was 40.8, but his net of 38.3 ranked third. Plus, he had a satisfying 17-4 inside-the-20-to-touchback ratio.

After missing 1969 with a knee injury, he returned one year later to produce more high, hanging kicks that were returned for a total ... total ... of 90 yards -- resulting in a 38.3 net average that led the NFC and was fifth in the NFL. A Cardinals' punter would not exceed 38.3 net yards until 1991-- a generation later --when Rich Camarillo led the NFL with a 38.9 average.

Latourette concluded that season by recovering a Larry Brown fumble and scoring in the season finale against Washington. 

His 1971 season was not as stellar, and by August 1972, Latourette had had enough. He told the Cardinals he planned to graduate from school that December, would attend fall classes and miss the season. The only way he could play, he said, was to punt on the weekends. 

He told the Cards that he'd take a pay cut from $30,000 to $14,000 for such an arrangement, but they declined the offer. So he was off to Memphis to finish his degree in radiology, saying it was not a "crossroads decision".

Nevertheless, he had one more foray into pro football, playing for the Houston Texans of the WFL in 1974. He was in Houston for his medical residency, so why not make a few extra dollars on the side?

He also took up flying and hang gliding, with the latter producing broken arms and ribs. Along the way, he was divorced, remarried and divorced again.

In 1981, he married Patricia, his third marriage and her third as well. They met through a mutual friend and started a radiology practice together. But, less than a year into the marriage, tragedy struck.

On Dec. 22, 1982, Mrs. Latourette said that she and he husband were awakened when they'd heard a noise that led them to believe a burglar may be in the house. While Chuck was pulling a .25-caliber pistol from a box on a bedside table, it went off, striking him in the left eye..

He would die 10 hours later at the age of 37.

Upon investigation, Patricia Latourette was indicted and charged with murder a month later. However, on Jan. 27, 1984, she was acquitted after the judge instructed the jury to find the defendant not guilty as a matter of law due to lack of evidence.

"All findings were consistent with accidental death and homicide," he said.

Apparently, the police had conducted metal tests on her hands to see if she fired a guy that day, and she hadn't. In addition, they neglected to test Chuck Latourette's hand for metal traces, and his wife's fingerprints weren't found on the gun.

In 1988, Latourette was named the punter on the all-time St. Louis Cardinals team (spanning from 1960 through 1987) and was the Cards' co-Rookie of the Year in 1967.

He ended his NFL career with a 40.5 yards-per-punt average and a net average of 36.9 which, though unofficial, would have been the Big Red record until Camarillo came along. It still ranks fifth, with three of those ahead of him playing 37 or more years after he did in an era when teams focused on what Latourette did --  net punting and avoiding touchbacks.

That's significant. But so is this: Neither Camarillo nor Andy Lee (the Cards' punter today) returned a punt or played safety.

Latourette still ranks fifth in kick return average in the Cardinals' record books with a 25.3-yard career average and is 10th in punt-return average (both among players with 50 attempts in each).

In short, Chuck Latourette was an all-around special teamer, a throwback to players like Bill Dudley or Charley Trippi. He will never be a Hall of Famer or even a member of the PFRA's Hall of Very Good. His career was short and life ended far too soon. But he is certainly a player worth remembering.

Meet the NFL's Original Deep Threat—Ken Kavanaugh

By John Turney 

No Chicago Bears' player has caught more touchdown passes than Ken Kavanaugh, and I know what you're saying: Big deal. Every team has a career leader.

True ... except Kavanaugh began his career 81 years ago -- or before World War II began. 

Since then, no Bears' receiver has come close, a measure of how far ahead of the field he was.  But that's not all. He did it in just eight seasons, missing three years to World War II where he was a hero pilot.

Kavanaugh is also co-owner of the Bears' single-season touchdown reception record with 13 and tied for the franchise lead for most 100-yard receiving games in a single season.

And all this was done prior to 1951.

Remarkable? Yes. Yet in the decades that passed since he retired following the 1950 season, he's never been noticed by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He hasn't been a finalist for election, either as a modern candidate or senior candidate, and that makes no sense.

Hall-of-Fame voters sometimes talk about players "checking all the boxes," with "boxes" another term for measuring sticks met by other Hall of Famers. They could be statistics, All-Pro seasons, all-decade membership, championship rings or an intangible that argues for greatness.

Going box by box, Kavanaugh checks them all.

He was a three-time NFL champion and three-time first-team All-Pro. Twice he led the league in receiving touchdowns. He he was chosen to the 1940s' all-decade team and named one of the 100 Greatest Bears of All-Time.

So what's missing? Not much. 

A deep threat, he played in an era when teams seldom threw the ball. Kavanaugh's career total of 162 catches is only 13 more than Michael Thomas' single-season league record (149), set in 2019. Yet, his 22.4 yards per reception are second all-time among players who caught 150 passes or more. Moreover, he had two seasons where he averaged over 25 yards a catch.

It should come as no surprise, then, that he holds the Bears' record for yards per catch both for a career and a season.

As mentioned, he led the league twice in touchdown catches (1947 and 1949), and that's significant. Thirty-one percent of his career receptions went for touchdowns, easily the highest percentage of any NFL player in history. No one is close, and the envelope, please:

• Hall-of-Famer Don Hutson's touchdown percentage was 21 percent.
• Hall-of-Famer Paul Warfield's was 20 percent.
• Hall-of-Famer Randy Moss' was 16 percent.
• Jerry Rice, considered the greatest receiver in pro football history, was 13 percent.

Big plays were the name of Kavanaugh's game.

Though reception opportunities were limited, he did more than anyone else with them. So, if quality counts over quantity, he checks the statistics' box.

I also mentioned that he's a member of the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame's all-1940s' team and was All-NFL in 1946 and 1947 (UPI) and second-team in 1948.

That checks another box.

The "rings" box is also checked, as he played on three championship teams and snagged a touchdown pass in each of those victories.

"Kavanaugh was the sudden touchdown strike from far out," said Pro Football Researcher's Association founder Bob Carroll. "(He was) the big play end, the home-run hitter."

One paper even called him the "fabled" Ken Kavanaugh. So you could say he has the "what-they-said-about-him" box filled, as well.

At 6-feet-3, 207 pounds, Kavanaugh had a size advantage over defenders. But he had a speed advantage, too, with his college coach saying he could get to balls others could not. In a sense, then, he was the Randy Moss of his era -- going deep, going high and gaining yards after each catch.

Kavanaugh signed with the Bears in 1940, playing for $300 per game, and stayed two seasons before enlisting in the Army in 1942 as an aviation cadet. He served through the end of the war and was decorated like a Hall of Famer there.

He earned his captain's bars, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters while stationed in Europe  -serving under Gen. Jimmy Doolittle. The oak leaf clusters represent "courage, coolness, and skill" while flying B-17 bombing missions into Germany.

Prior to that, he served under Doolittle flying B-24 missions over Sicily out of North Africa.

"Dispatches from the front tell that he is making it as uncomfortable for Axis forces as he did for Louisiana State's football foes a while back," said one AP story.

The line refers to his time as a consensus All-American at LSU, where he was the Southeastern Conference co-MVP as a senior and an All-SEC choice as a junior and a senior. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1963.

He stayed in football after he retired -- first, as a coach for 17 years in the NFL and three in college; then, as a scout for the New York Giants from 1971-99.

He passed away at 90 in 2007.

Granted, his career receptions are paltry by today's standards, but measure them by impact. He might have been targeted sparingly, but when he was called it was, as we say today, "to take the top off a defense." In other words, go deep and make the big play.

It was as important then as it is now. 

Ken Kavanaugh is one of many senior candidates in line for Canton, and he isn't ... and hasn't been ... on the Hall's radar. But the senior committee's assignment is to identify deserving players who may have been overlooked and discuss their cases. Kavanaugh is one of those players, though voters may argue that his career receptions are short of Canton's standards.

If they dig a deeper, however, they'll discover the fable was real, and that it's way past time that Ken Kavanaugh had his case heard. 

PFWA’s 2023 Halas Award Winner—Damar Hamlin

By John Turney 

Damar Hamlin

He was resuscitated after suffering cardiac arrest in January. Now his recovery is so complete that he's been cleared to return to his team.

The Professional Football Writers of America on Monday named Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin its 55th recipient of the George Halas award, sometimes called the George Halas Courage Award.

The annual award is given to an NFL player, coach or staffer "who overcomes the most adversity to succeed," and Hamlin is at the top of that list.

He suffered cardiac arrest after tackling Tee Higgins in a Jan. 2 game vs. Cincinnati and was resuscitated on the field. After he was transported to a nearby hospital, he underwent intensive care and made such progress that he was released within a week.

He has since made a full recovery. 

"This event was life-changing," Hamlin said at a news conference two months ago,"but it's not the end of my story."

After meeting with three medical specialists last month, Hamlin, 25, was "fully cleared" to return to team meetings and can return to play without fear of medical complications, said Buffalo GM Brandon Beane.

Hamlin drew widespread support during his recovery, with President Joe Biden saying that his "courage, resilience and spirit inspired the American people," during Hamlin's visit to the White House earlier this year.

New York Giants' running back Saquon Barkley, San Francisco running back Christian McCaffrey, Washington Commanders' running back Brian Robinson Jr. and Seattle Seahawks' quarterback Geno Smith were finalists for this year's award.

The award was created in 1969 and first gained national attention the following year when Gale Sayers received it and gave it to teammate Brian Piccolo, who was battling cancer. Sayers was voted the award for recovering from a serious knee injury to lead the NFL in rushing but he insisted that his teammate and friend have the trophy instead.

"Brian Piccolo has never given up," Sayers said when given the award. "He has the heart of a giant and that rare form of courage that allows him to kid himself and his opponent - cancer. He has the mental attitude that makes me proud to have a friend who spells out the word 'courage' 24 hours a day, every day of his life."

“You flatter me by giving me this award, but I tell you here and now that I accept it for Brian Piccolo. Brian Piccolo is the man who should receive the George S. Halas Courage Award. It’s mine tonight, but tomorrow it’s Brian Piccolo’s. I love Brian Piccolo, and I'd like all of you to love him, too. 

"Tonight, when you hit your knees, please ask God to love him.” 

The full list of recipients:

1969 — Joe Namath, New York Jets

1970 — Gale Sayers, Chicago Bears

1971 — Tom Dempsey, New Orleans Saints

1972 — Jimmy Johnson, San Francisco 49ers

1973 — Mike Tilleman, Atlanta Falcons

1974 — Dick Butkus, Chicago Bears

1975 — Rocky Bleier, Pittsburgh Steelers

1976 — Billy Kilmer, Washington Redskins

1977 — Tom DeLeone, Cleveland Browns

1978 — Pat Fischer, Washington Redskins

1979 — Bert Jones, Baltimore Colts

1980 — Roger Staubach, Dallas Cowboys

1981 — Rolf Benirschke, San Diego Chargers

1982 — Joe Klecko, New York Jets

1983 — Eddie Lee Ivery, Green Bay Packers

1984 — Ted Hendricks, Los Angeles Raiders

1985 — John Stallworth, Pittsburgh Steelers

1986 — Gary Jeter, Los Angeles Rams

1987 — William Andrews, Atlanta Falcons

1988 — Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers

1989 — Karl Nelson, New York Giants

1990 — Tim Krumrie, Cincinnati Bengals

1991 — Dan Hampton, Chicago Bears

1992 — Mike Utley, Detroit Lions

1993 — Mark Bavaro, Cleveland Browns

1994 — Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers

1995 — Dan Marino, Miami Dolphins

1996 — Larry Brown, Dallas Cowboys

1997 — Jim Harbaugh, Indianapolis Colts

1998 — Mark Schlereth, Denver Broncos

1999 — Dan Reeves, Atlanta Falcons

2000 — Bryant Young, San Francisco 49ers

2001 — Kerry Collins, New York Giants

2002 — Garrison Hearst, San Francisco 49ers

2003 — Robert Edwards, Miami Dolphins

2004 — Sam Mills, Carolina Panthers

2005 — Mark Fields, Carolina Panthers

2006 — Tony Dungy, Indianapolis Colts

2007 — Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints

2008 — Kevin Everett, Buffalo Bills

2009 — Matt Bryant, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

2010 — Mike Zimmer, Cincinnati Bengals

2011 — Mike Heimerdinger, Tennessee Titans

2012 — Robert Kraft, New England Patriots

2013 — Chuck Pagano, Indianapolis Colts

2014 — O.J. Brigance, Baltimore Ravens

2015 — Steve Gleason, New Orleans Saints

2016 — Eric Berry, Kansas City Chiefs

2017 — David Quessenberry, Houston Texans

2018 — Marquise Goodwin, San Francisco 49ers

2019 — Ryan Shazier, Pittsburgh Steelers

2020 — Travis Frederick, Dallas Cowboys

2021 — Alex Smith, Washington Football Team

2022 — Ron Rivera, Washington Football Team

2023 — Damar Hamlin, Buffalo Bills

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.

Joe Fortunato - The Epitome of the Smart, Tough Outside Linebacker

By John Turney   

Joe Fortunato is a name young football fans aren't familiar with ... but should be. He's another in a long list of Hall-of-Fame worthy players who never have been discussed as finalists.

But should be.

Part of that has to do with his position. Fortunato played outside linebacker, not middle linebacker, in an era where guys in the middle got all the glamour ... and the ink. But he played it at an elite level for years, and it's time light was shed on his brilliant NFL career.

He starred in the 1950s and '60s when NFL teams began to transition to 4-3 defensive schemes but before the major wire services (AP, UPI and the NEA) specified one middle linebacker and two outside linebackers on their annual All-Pro teams.

They simply had three linebacker positions.

As a result, it was common to have three middle linebackers named first-team All-Pro, with outside linebackers left out of All-Pro consideration because of the voting format.

However, once the AP began to distinguish between the positions, Fortunato was named first-team All-Pro three consecutive seasons (1963-65) and second-team once (1962). If there had been a slot earlier than 1962, he likely would have been chosen All-Pro more.

In fact, his defensive coach, George Allen, said as much. He suggested that because the Bears had a perennial All-Pro in Bill George, voters might not vote for two linebackers on the same team. Yet, even with those factors, Fortunato was consensus All-Pro three times - the same number as Hall-of-Famer outside linebackers Ted Hendricks, Dave Wilcox, Dave Robinson and Chris Hanburger.

He was also a five-time Pro Bowler. And for good reason: Considered by some as the league's quietest and most efficient linebacker, Fortunato seldom committed costly mistakes.

"Mistakes make the difference," he said. "Mistakes and desire."

He is primarily known as a left linebacker, though earlier in his career he play both sides. That's when teams began to use tight ends more, forcing Fortunato into pass coverage as well as tackling ballcarriers and blitzing quarterbacks.

"(A linebacker) has to defend against the run and the pass," he said."He must coordinate with the front four and with the deep backs. He has to cover a 9.5 halfback when you're a 10.6 runner yourself."

It was a lot to ask. But the 6-1, 225-pounder did it so well while playing in the shadows of George, Doug Atkins and other members of the Monsters of the Midway that one opponent told the AP that "Fortunato never makes a mistake, he never hits you easy. He hurts you more when he picks you off coming through the line than any linebacker.

Fortunato was part of one of the best-ever NFL defenses, the 1963 Bears, who allowed just 144 points ... knocked the Green Bay Packers off the Western Conference throne ... and beat the New York Giants in the NFL title game. The Bears that year led the NFL in total defense, scoring defense, interceptions, rushing defense, passing defense and a number of other categories.

That was the first full year George Allen coached the unit and Fortunato took over the signal-calling from George It was also the year that then-coach George Halas named him the Bears' captain.

"(He was) one of the smartest players I ever knew," said Allen. "(He) read film real well and spotted things others missed. He picked up keys and was always in the right place at the right time.

"He ranged all over the field and hit tremendously hard . . . He had good hands, and when he picked off an interception, he ran with the ball like a running back."

Said Hall-of-Fame coach Weeb Ewbank: "When you entered Joe's territory he declared war. He was HARD-nosed, three times a pro, a clever guy who'd casually slip in a blitz that required a very good block to keep him off the passer's back."

One such "red dog" came in the 1963 NFL championship game when he rushed Giants' quarterback Y.A. Tittle, forcing him into a critical mistake. Ed O'Bradovich, the defensive end to Fortunato's side, read the play, slowed his rush and intercepted the ball - one of five the Chicago defense stole that day.

"The Giants were supposed to be the greatest offensive team ever to come along in the NFL," Fortunato said. "Y.A. Tittle was the quarterback, and he'd thrown 36 touchdown passes. Our defense beat 'em."

Always around the ball, he recovered 22 fumbles in his career, which tied the NFL record when he retired. He played in 155 games, even though he didn't enter the league until he was 25 because of a post-collegiate military commitment.

But a knee injury in the 1967 preseason ended his career at the age of 36, and Fortunato coached the Bears' defense for a couple of years before returning to Mississippi, where he was a collegiate All-American (Mississippi State) and later became a successful businessman.

Fortunato was named one of the 300 greatest players in pro football history and one of the Top 100 Bears of all-time and is a member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Mississippi State University's Ring of Honor. In 2017 the Pro Football Researchers' Association voted him into their Hall of the Very Good, but it's time Joe Fortunato earned something more.

It's time he was named a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His career warrants it.

The Baltimore Colts' Answer to the 49ers' Shotgun—Use Big Daddy as a Cover Linebacker

 By John Turney 

In 1960 49ers coach Red Hickey introduced his "shotgun" formation in late November against the Baltimore Colts in Memorial Stadium.

Interestingly the TV announcers called it the "double wing" and one paper called it a "Freakish Spread" but Hickey called it the shotgun. 

Hickey's reasoning was that his steam could not match the strength of the Colts, "Standing out there on a straight T, charging toe-to-toe with the Colts can be suicide. So I gambled that the formation - I call it 'the shotgun' - would go, figuring we had the right people to operate it."

John Brodie was the "right person" and then Bob Watters who finished the game was a "right person", too as the 49ers won 30-22. 

The shotgun had been around a long time, but teams didn't use it much through the 1940s and 1950s. However you can see examples of it, but the 49ers made it work in beating the World Champion Colts.

What was interesting is the counter the Colts used to defend it.

They'd shift their usual 4-3 defense to a 3-4 on the fly - now they'd call it stemming - and they would have Big Daddy Lipscomb, their defensive tackle, play inside linebacker - even covering a zone downfield.

When the 49ers came up to the line of scrimmage and the Colts would be in their usual 4-man front and if the 49ers shifted to the shotgun Bid Daddy would move to left inside linebacker and the middle linebacker would move to the right inside position. 

Here you can see the shift and the big defensive tackle drop into a hook/curl zone and even make a play on the ball. After the play, you can see big #76 get up and walk in front of the screen.

Here is another example, this was not an interception it was ruled incomplete but at the end of the play Big Daddy gave a shot to a 49er—

If the 49ers remained in a pro 4-3 set the Colts would stay in the pro 4-3 (often called a 6-1 now)—

Other teams followed suit. Here is a clip of the Rams doing a similar shift. However, they chose to move right defensive end Lamar Lundy to the right inside linebacker position and the middle linebacker, Les Richter moved to the left inside 'backer spot—

Back to Lipscomb. 

In that era, he could be seen as an inside linebacker in a 3-4 defense on occasion against usual spilt-back formations. He'd play right inside linebacker, using his sideline-to-sideline range to chase down

running plays, mostly. It was tantamount to a stand-up defensive tackle.

Here is one shot of that, also from 1960—

But this alignment wasn't just a "BigDaddy" thing, whoever the right tackle was would sometimes step off the line. Here it is Don Joyce who is spelling Lipscomb doing a similar thing—

Prior to joining the Colts, Lipscomb was a Ram and once in a while (not much) they'd run a 3-4 but they put him at nose tackle (then called middle guard), not as a linebacker—

With the Colts he'd play nose-in in the nickel/prevent defense—

The 6-6, 285-pound (300-plus pound?) could move for a big man and the Colts' coaches took advantage of his athleticism to play him off-the-ball.

Playing on the nose in an over or undershift (not shown) or in a 3-man nickel or a 3-4 like he did with the Rams is to be expected. Countless defensive tackles did that.

Few men his size could drop to a spot, pick up the receiver in his zone and defend the pass.

The Bid Daddy could.

True, the 49ers won the initial "shotgun game" but it was kind of a fluke. On the play, Big Daddy was in coverage and the initial play was stopped but Dee Mackey lateraled to R.C. Owens and he took it into the end zone, chased by Lipscomb.

It proved to be the game-winner.

So, score the win for Hickey and the shotgun but also give some credit to the Colts for trying something creative—a (likely) 300-pound cover linebacker.