10 Best Punters in the NFL

The National Football League’s most recognizable players are the star playmakers on offense of the ferocious hitters on the defenses. There is that third phase of football, the special teams, and a man on each team that gets very little love in the spotlight, the punters. We will look back at the 2022 season to come up with the best punters in the NFL by using the data stored on Pro-Football-Reference.com. 

To complete this task, we want to share information on the players from different aspects and statistical categories to help in the determination.

Longest Boots

An important element of punt-coverage units is the distance the kicker can drive the ball down the field. Here are some of the 2023 NFL leading punters in this category.

The man wearing number 13 on the 2022 Cleveland Browns roster proved he could do his job. Corey Bojorquez rocked a punt 76 yards during the season to get the fans cheering in the Dawg Pound and put a smile on his special teams coach’s face.

Not to be outdone, Super Bowl Champion punter Tommy Townsend of the Kansas City Chiefs also launched a fourth-down boot 76 yards down the field. The third-year player averaged 50.4 yards of distance on every punt in 2022. Tommy was well rested, though, as the KC offense being as productive as it is, allowed their punter to enter the field a mere 53 times during the year, but he made the most of each chance he had to pin the opposition deep.

Dallas Cowboys punting specialist Bryan Anger had the longest punt on record for the 2022 season when he boomed the ball 83 yards to flip the field for the Boys. Mr. Anger’s leg can be quite the weapon in the Dallas arsenal.

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Overall Punting Yards Leaders

The following players had the most yardage in the league from their punts in the 2022 NFL season. Three specialists went over the 4,000-yard milestone on the season, helping their cause in the NFL punter rankings.

The Houston Texans offense gave their punter, Cameron Johnston, plenty of opportunities to show off his skills. It was the second year in a row that Houston’s number 11 had to put foot to the ball 88 times, producing 4,229 yards in the process in 2022.

Waitman, who wore number 17 for the Denver Broncos, made the most of his league-leading 96 punts, and some of that thin Mile High air, to send the ball traveling 4,470 yards in his second season. Helping the Denver punter to become one of the top punters in NFL.

The Tennessee punter hammered the ball downfield for an NFL 2022 top yardage of 4,779. To put that in perspective, he punted the ball almost 3 miles during NFL games in 2022. The Titan punter led the NFL with a 53.1-yard average on his kicks too.

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Average Yardage per Punt Leaders

We just revealed that Ryan Stonehouse was the NFL’s top man in punting average, but others consistently booted the ball deep. Here are some others with notable averages that led the NFL last season.

Camarda, in his rookie season of 2022, averaged 48.8 yards per punt for his 79 opportunities with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jake was used to playing with a high-powered offense, as he played for the National Champion Georgia Bulldogs the year prior to his NFL debut.

Cole was the Las Vegas Raiders punter in 2022, and the Silver and Black faithful appreciated the 48.9-yard average AJ carried on his punts during the season. AJ’s longest kick of the season went 67 yards, sending Raider Nation into a frenzy.

The Detroit Lions had a secret weapon that would be unleashed when needed in punter Jack Fox. The third-year punter from Rice University had his longest punt of the 2022 season travel 66 yards as he averaged 48.6 yards per boot.

The Jacksonville Jaguars punting specialist gave value to his team as he averaged 49.3 yards on his 2022 punts. This total ranked Logan Cooke third amongst all NFL kickers during the season.

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The current NFL landscape of punters is as lively as it has ever been. There are players we did not mention who still merit strong consideration as there is a tiny margin separating punters. There are intangible items, such as how punters are in the locker room, how often they pin opponents inside their own red zone, and directional kicking accuracy, that need to be factored in as well. Each team has its own strategy for punting, and even those change from game to game and punt to punt for various reasons. Some punters may be asked by their coaches or placed in situations where they intentionally hurt their distance averages. It is all about how they fit into the scheme and strategy of helping their team win at that moment and then how they do their job.

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 8th, 2023 at 4:41 pm and is filed under Top Lists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.