Camarda gets good hang time under his punts when he can punt in an open field, and hes a great directional kicker with good command of his spin. The skinny: Dustin -- a 2012 Pro Bowl pick -- comes from a long line of Colquitt punters. Also, it's worth keeping in mind that unlike other players, most punters are also asked to play at least one other position that have nothing to do with punting (Kickoff specialist or holder). Since his rookie year in 2012, Hekker has been an absolute weapon and during the early part of his career (2012-16), he was arguably the only weapon (This was back when he played for the Rams while they were still in St. Louis). Contact BNB Football with any questions, comments, suggestions, or business inquiries. Jeremy Crawshaw, Florida: The former two-star prospect finished third in the SEC in yards per punt last season. Position/Conference Rankings. 2021 CFB Punting Stats. His 47.5 yard punting average was assisted a bit by the number of long-field punts he needed to take, as he didnt have to worry about pinning teams inside the 20 very often. Kicker Nick Folk is 37 years old, while punter Jake Bailey is entering the final year of his deal and due just over $4 million, most of which would come off the cap if the team can move on from him. Nevertheless, he should still garner consideration due to his level of accuracy and consistency on extra-point attempts. In the last 10 years, only 17 kickers have been drafted total. Find draft sleepers, draft stars, who will be a bust, and who is being undervalued. Last season, only 28.5 percent of his attempts landed inside the opponents red zone. NFL teams need to know that they can trust their punter to flip the field with impressive regularity every time they pull back their leg. The Australian landed a jaw-dropping, 39 punts inside the 20-yard line. This might well be the best punting class in NFL Draft history. So, who are the top punters in the 2022 NFL Draft? That impressive average came just one year after a 2020 season where he also finished fifth in the league with an average of 48 yards per punt. We need more mic'd up punters. Not to mention Byrns earned first-team, All-Sun Belt honors. Last year the Felger and Mazz Big Board . He has an extremely fast leg and gets the punt off in no time, making it extremely difficult to pressure him. Best Value Schools. The Jags punter ranked second in the league in net yard per punt (43.6) and seventh in net yards per punt (47.3). Clutch, powerful, and accurate, York possesses the full package. During the 2021 season, Way averaged a booming 48.3 yards per punt, which ranked fifth in the NFL. This system was developed to help college coaches find prospects. However, six of his 26 field goal attempts last season were 50-plus yard efforts, and he made four of them. To put that in perspective, no other punter in the league even did that with 50% of their punts. The top of this class has quite a few players with legitimate NFL potential. Paramount+. Find who is worthy of a draft pick, and who is likely nothing more than a training camp body. Despite this, one of the areas where Hedley pales compared to the other top punters in the 2022 NFL Draft is the number of punts downed inside the 20. Averaging over 51 yards per punt is pretty insane, and landing 37 kicks inside the 20 yard line is also impressive. Running backs are the most trusted players on the field, because Stay Alive in Power 5 | 2020 All rights reserved. The 2023 NFL Combine begins in less than a week, and every year we see a handful of prospects shoot, Ethan Evans, Punter, Wingate University (Division 2) Ethan Evans may be a punter, but he also has a real chance, The 2022 NFL Draft class is unique in its lack of top end talent but ridiculously strong depth. Jake Camarda was far and away my top punter prospect entering the year, but had an unspectacular season by his standards. Nevertheless, it presents an early look at the top kickers in the 2022 NFL Draft. A big reason Hekker's net punting average was so high is because he wasn't allowing any returns. Read also The 25 Best College Football Teams of All-Time | 2022 Rankings. In fact, this usage in long-range situations has had a negative impact on Brkics overall completion statistics. Position Rank . One game that was truly indicative of Bailey's season came in Week 13. Scouts know the big legs of Araiza, Stonehouse, and Camarda, but players like Stout, Hayes, and Young have some truly elite accuracy on their kicks. # 3. His 39 punts of over 50 yards are a single-season NCAA record, as are his 18 punts of over 60 yards. One of the top kickers in the 2022 NFL Draft, Sciba set the NCAA record for career field-goal percentage. Additionally, he earned an honorable mention for the All-Big 12 team from the conferences coaches. 1 punter in next year's draft class after having really solid showings in 2019 and 2020. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. The award is named after punter Ray Guy, an All-American for Southern Mississippi and an All-Pro in the National Football League for the Oakland Raiders.. Cole. A big reason why he had such a high net average is because he excelled at forcing his opponent to call for a fair catch. 7/17/21: Whelan has been a consistent punter for the Aggies over the past four seasons. Which of the best NFL punters 2022 do you love? Johnston was also able to force 22 fair catches with his punts, which was tied for the fifth-highest total in the league. . Michael Dickson (born 4 January 1996) is an Australian professional American football punter for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). (Ponte Vedra Beach, FL), Saraland Only two have gone in the fourth round or earlier, the most recent instance coming in 2022, when the Cleveland Browns selected Cade . During the 2021 season, Anger had a net average of 44.6 yard per punt, which led the NFL. Araiza is the first punter in San Diego State history to win the Ray Guy Award as the nation's top punter. See our list of forfeits and vacated games for more details. The six-foot-three, 210-pounder averaged a season-high, 58.8 yards on six punts in the victory over Nebraska. Georgias Jake Camarda is the epitome of consistency in this 2022 NFL Draft class. (Norwalk, OH), Nease Hopefully, that should alleviate any of those concerns. He played college football at Texas. He has only missed four kicks of any sort in his entire Crimson Tide career. Furthermore, the Wake Forest wonder has never missed an extra-point attempt in his four-year career. He was impressive on his punts and proved he can be one of the best punters in this year's class at the college level. One of the most significant barriers to Scibas ascension has been his usage by Wake Forest. Hayball will come into the SEC ready to ball out, considering he only received Honorable Mention, All-C-USA last year. A ranking of the 2022 Best College Punter Players. Before the 2021 season, Stonehouse became the first punter to be named first-team All-Mountain West in three consecutive seasons. Find the best kicker options for your 2022 college fantasy football team with CFBDynasty.com's kicker rankings. Although Bailey had one of the best punting averages in 2021 (47.3 yards), his net punting average took a huge hit falling from 45.6 in 2020 to 39.6 in 2021. . Another Australian punter trying to establish themselves as one of the top prospects at the position in the 2022 NFL Draft class is Rutgers Adam Korsak. While his 64.5% field-goal success wouldnt see him challenge the top kickers in college football, he does hold the program record with a 57-yard field goal against Pittsburgh in 2019. And no, I have no idea why they mic'd up their punter, but I love that they did it. Although Cameron The Kicker Dicker may live long in Texas folklore for his Red River Rivalry game-winning field-goal kick as a freshman, hes coming off the most statistically successful season of his career. March 21, 2022 Lynn Harrington. Australian punters in college football 2021. . Let's get to the rankings. These are my very early rankings of the top punters in the 2022 NFL Draft. On his way to earning first-team All-Big 12 honors, Garibay missed just 2 kicks a field goal and an extra point. Fans of the Scarlet Knight will claim that he was overlooked for the Ray Guy Award in the last two seasons. If you need proof of just how big of a weapon he was for the Cowboys last year, just look at their Week 15 game against the Giants. 47 punts: 46.7 yards per punt, 17 inside-20, 6 touchbacks, 14 fair catches (29.7%). Pressley Harvin III leads all prospects in gross punt average this past season at a whopping 48 yards per punt. 1. The junior kicker smashed a 57-yard field goal through the fog to give LSU a 37-34 win over Florida in 2020. The LSU kicker is one of just three players who nailed a 50-plus yard field goal with under a minute to go during the 2020 season. Southern University, Army, ULL*, Nichols State*, Northwestern State*, Lane College, Arizona Christian, Louisiana College, Arkansas Monticello, Southeastern Louisiana With a quick and smooth NFL style punt, he was able to get a very solid 46 yards per punts, while pinning opponents inside the 20 yard line 35 times, opposed to just 3 touchbacks. Hes also hit a 60+ yarder in each of his four career years for the Bulldogs. Of course, yards per punt isn't a great way to measure a punter's skill. While the 2022 NFL Draft class is rife with top punters, we start by looking at the top kickers. Cooke also placed 28 punts inside his opponents 20-yard line, which was tied for the fifth-best number in the NFL. Matt Araiza Instagram: @mattraraiza. 65 punts: 45.0 yards per punt, 31 inside-20, 5 touchbacks, 23 fair catches (35.4%). Do you have a blog? He played college football at Rice. Coach Michael Desormeaux inherits one of the leagues best players in Byrns, whos poised to do damage again in 2022. Many of the bestpunters of all time are currently playing in the NFL. After a solid rookie year in 2019, Bailey followed that up in 2020 with an All-Pro season. How do you replace a cult hero like Cole Tracy? LSU's Cade York and San Diego State's Matt Araiza lead the top kickers and punters in a strong special teams 2022 NFL Draft class. Gill has room to add extra power to his kicks, and the only main concern will be the two blocked punts earlier in his career. Reid Bauer, Arkansas: The Texas native landed 16 of his punts inside the 20-yard line. Not to mention Wilson booted 17 balls for 50-plus yards. He can long-step into his punts, and will need to work to speed up the process a bit. Moore finished fourth in the ACC, and 25th in the FBS in yards per punt last season. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. His return to the Hawkeyes solidifies theyll be elite again on special teams this fall. Not to mention 16 of his punts went for 50-plus yards. It's also worth pointing out that returners only averaged 7.3 yards return against the Seahawks, which is a testament to both Dickson and Seattle's coverage team. 2022 NFL Punting Statistics. Following that impressive 2020 season, Bailey made it all the way up to third in our ranking last year, but he's now down to seventh after struggling through most of the 2021 season. Texas A&M, junior (74 points, 14 first-place votes) The AP All-SEC first-team punter returns after leading the SEC and ranking in the top-10 nationally in yards per . Constantinou finished first in the conference, and 17th in the FBS in yards per punt. But you also want to know if a kicker can come up clutch when needed. He played college football at Texas. Maybe the Chiefs should think about moving him to quarterback. [2] [3] The first Australian to play American Football at a meaningful level was former Australian rules footballer Pat O'Dea in 1898 who was a College Football Hall of Fame player. I didnt have much to say about the kickers, but I always love talking about my punters. You are currently viewing the best punters in the 2022 NFL Draft. The most important thing you'll read ahead of the 2022 NFL Draft is this list of the top kickers and punters in the class. Rank : O/A : Chng : Player/School : Ht/Wt : Elig. That 7.3 return number was the lowest in the league for any team that had to cover 30 or more punt returns. This section is showing information as of the end the 2022-23 season. He went to high school at William R. Boone High School in Orlando, Florida. Meanwhile, his 20 field goals and 15 consecutive field goals tied program records. In 2018, Whelan downed 31 inside the 20-yard line and pushed 17 punts over 50 yards. Only one of Hedleys punts went for a touchback because hes crafty with his kicks. Hedley landed 19 of his punts inside the 20-yard line. 5. The Australian landed 22 punts inside the 20-yard line. Thomas Townsend (born November 12, 1996) is an American football punter for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL).