If you have been here before, you know I wrote a ton about punters last year. All the talk of the now-fallen punt god overshadowed that last year’s rookie punter class was going to be one the best punter draft classes in 20 years with 3 or 4 draftable punters (Jordan Stout, Jake Camarda, Ryan Stonehouse, and Araiza). And this class is not disappointing.
There are no false gods in this rookie punter class
My top punter, Jordan Stout, was taken with pick 130 and has gotten off to a slow start by his own standards but has been one of the top-rated punters over the past several weeks, adding 2.8 yards per punt and a tenth of a second in hangtime over his college averages.
Eight weeks in, the star of this class is Ryan Stonehouse though. I admittedly way underrated Stonehouse as he benefited from punting at elevation 70% of the time in college which added almost 3 yards to his average vs. punts not at elevation. But so far in the NFL, Stonehouse is on pace to mash the NFL record, averaging 2.5 yards better than the record set in 1940. He had the distance in college but the big improvement is with his hangtime, averaging a quarter-second more per punt.
Credit to Ian at Puntalytics, the best source out there for punting analytics, for his 2022 season preview where he nailed both Stonehouse and the rookie class in general:
Camarda, the second punter taken in the 4th round just 3 picks after Stout, is right up there too, matching his 46.7 yard average in college but somehow adding an obnoxious 0.4 seconds of hangtime playing down in Tampa.
Add in Ryan Wright and Trenton Gill, two undrafted punters that weren’t on most peoples lists, and you have five rookie punters all finding success.
But it’s not just the rookie punters…
But as I looked at the rookie punters’ data, I saw something that surprised me. It is the entire league that is better this year.
The league is averaging an absurd 1.75 yards per punt higher average and reversed a 10 year decline in hangtime with the 3rd highest average hangtime. Below shows punt distance (x axis) and hangtime (y axis) to show how much of an outlier 2022 is so far.
Note: all of the data below uses only weeks 1-8 of each season in order to factor temperature out at much as possible, since punting suffers in colder weather. Pulling in full season data for past years makes the improvement in 2022 similar but even a bit more impressive.
If you separate the rookies from the rest of the league, it’s clear the rookies are making this a special year with the five averaging a draft-capital-justifying 3 yards better than the past decade averages. But if you pull out the rookies, the rest of the league is still having an all-time year, averaging 1.6 yards per punt more.
Below shows 2022 split between the rookies and non-rookies with both punting a ton further than any year the past decade.
This year is the biggest jump in distance in a decade
Punters have been slowly adding distance, but this year punters have had the largest gain in distance in a decade. This season has added 1.02 yards per punt, almost double the next best year (0.67 yards in 2019).
And reversed a long trend of declining hangtime with a massive jump
Hangtime, which is overlooked by most when valuing punts, has been declining for a decade but jumped a massive 0.16 second per punt, more than double the next best season.
Only two seasons over the past 10 years have even seen an increase in hangtime and both were modest improvements. And it isn’t just the top punters pulling the average up – 74% of punters have improved their hangtime from last year. Only one other year was close (65% in 2019) with the rest of the past decade having fewer than 40% of punters improving their hangtime.
Hangtime and distance are usually competing metrics that trade-off so it is even more impressive that both have increased so much in 2022.
What explains this punting Renaissance?
Juiced ball. Kidding. Maybe.
One thing I wondered is if changes in how punting is used today – less frequent punting from short fields and 4th-and-shorts – are impacting this. More short field punts should absolutely drive up hangtime as punters look to place punts deep.
While punts per game are expectedly down, the average field position from which punts are attempted has not changed at all, staying steady around a team’s own 33 or 34 yard line over the past decade.
| Year | Punts per Game | Avg Punt from Yardline | Avg Distance | Avg Hangtime |
| 2013 | 5.10 | Own 33.5 | 45.53 | 4.40 |
| 2014 | 4.74 | Own 33.8 | 45.52 | 4.46 |
| 2015 | 4.64 | Own 33.2 | 45.76 | 4.46 |
| 2016 | 4.57 | Own 34.6 | 45.98 | 4.43 |
| 2017 | 4.69 | Own 33.5 | 46.26 | 4.39 |
| 2018 | 4.34 | Own 34.8 | 45.19 | 4.32 |
| 2019 | 4.18 | Own 33.8 | 45.86 | 4.38 |
| 2020 | 3.58 | Own 34.9 | 46.25 | 4.37 |
| 2021 | 3.87 | Own 34.2 | 46.47 | 4.26 |
| 2022 | 3.99 | Own 33.9 | 47.48 | 4.42 |
Punting is back.
Bonus: A quick look at the 2023 draft
It’s early, but for those whose teams may need a punter, a quick look at the 2023 class. I haven’t looked anywhere near close enough and it will be difficult to match the 2022 punter class. But there are a couple of interesting punters coming out and two that are definitely draftable:
Michael Turk – Oklahoma
Turk will most likely be near the top of draft lists and probably the best-known name along with Rutger’s Adam Korsak. He is having a bit of a down year with both his hangtime (4.14 seconds) and distance (45.8 yards) down from his college averages. He gives no room for returns. Here he is last year with a 91-yarder.
Brad Robbins – Michigan
My favorite at this point. He has the best combination of hangtime (4.32) and distance (45.5) in this class, doesn’t allow much return yardage, and rarely puts balls into the endzone.