Originally Posted by kccrow:
I mean, it does matter, there just isn't enough variation among NFL-caliber punters to make an astronomical difference.
We averaged 4 punts per game in 2023. If we're giving up 4-5 yards on average over having a great punter, that's probably not going to lead to many more points against us.
Now if you go ahead and do what you say here, you might be going from a difference of a punter that gets 44 ypp vs 50 ypp and 42 vs 47 net to something a lot worse. If we start handing teams, say 15 yards of extra field position regularly, that's going to result in more points against us. The motions and placement are so different, right, that you'd probably end up with a very below-average player on both fronts.
I think this kind of analysis doesn't measure, again, what a very good punter can do for you. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Chargem:
Not everybody was "right and wrong" though, some of us were just right.
That’s fair.
There were two responses to my OP. One said that you should only take a punter in UDFA, and the other was that there was no perceivable need at punter.
One argument was in sync with Veach, the other not. [Reply]
This is the way. I'm confident Araiza will be very good for us but just bring in another UDFA guy to compete. There are 5-10 of those guys sitting around after the draft every year that are reasonably NFL-quality.
I'd say all of these guys are not getting drafted:
Ryan Rekhow, BYU
Tory Taylor, Iowa
Matt Hayball, Vanderbilt
Porter Wilson, Duke
Austin McNamara, Texas Tech
Blake Ochsendorf, Louisiana Tech
Jack Browning, San Diego State
Riley Thompson, Penn State
Oscar Chapman, Auburn [Reply]
Originally Posted by kccrow:
This is the way. I'm confident Araiza will be very good for us but just bring in another UDFA guy to compete. There are 5-10 of those guys sitting around after the draft every year that are reasonably NFL-quality.
I'd say all of these guys are not getting drafted:
Ryan Rekhow, BYU
Tory Taylor, Iowa
Matt Hayball, Vanderbilt
Porter Wilson, Duke
Austin McNamara, Texas Tech
Blake Ochsendorf, Louisiana Tech
Jack Browning, San Diego State
Riley Thompson, Penn State
Oscar Chapman, Auburn
I will bet you {insert bet here} at least one of Rekhow and Taylor get drafted. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Direckshun:
Several things are worth consideration.
1. Tommy Townsend was insanely good the last couple years.
2. Effective punting, especially with a defense as good as ours, is critical.
3. Matt Araiza was a top candidate at one point, but the Chiefs aren't even his first stop since his acquittal. He had a tryout with the Jets in 2023, and they didn't elect to sign him. So, he either got really good in the past year, or he's probably a replacement-level punter, and the Chiefs need a new one.
4. Forward to 20:00 of Brett Kollman's Q&A video:
That leads to my question:
There's a couple really good punters in this class -- would you invest a pick in one? Would you take your chances in UDFA? Or are you comfortable rolling into the season with a potentially replacement-level punter.
Huh? We dont need to draft or sign a punter we already have one and hes at the very least the 10th best punter in the league. We didn't get the punt god for nothing [Reply]