Okay, so I’ve been diving deep into the world of NFL punting lately. It’s way more interesting than you’d think! I wanted to figure out who the best punters of all time really were, so I started digging.
First, I hit up Google. You know, the usual “best NFL punters” search. I got the standard list of names – Ray Guy, Shane Lechler, Reggie Roby… the guys everyone always mentions. But I wanted more than just names; I needed stats.
So I started gathering data. I spent hours on sites that had information about NFL players’ career stats. I grabbed everything I could find: net yards, punts inside the 20, touchback percentage, career averages… the whole nine yards. It was a lot of numbers!
Then came the fun part – making sense of it all. I dumped all the data into a giant spreadsheet. Yeah, I’m a bit of a spreadsheet nerd. I started playing with formulas, trying to weight different stats to see who really came out on top. It wasn’t just about total yards; I wanted to factor in accuracy and how well they helped their team with field position.
- Net Average: A big one, obviously.
- Inside the 20 Percentage: How often did they pin the other team deep?
- Touchback Percentage: Minimizing those is key.
- Era-Adjusted Stats: I realized comparing guys from the 70s to today wasn’t fair, so I had to factor that in somehow. It was a mess, but I think it helped.
After a lot of tweaking and re-calculating, I started to see some patterns. Some of the well-known names definitely held up. Ray Guy, for example, was just ridiculously consistent and had an insane hangtime. But there were some surprises, too! Guys like Jerrel Wilson and Yale Lary, who aren’t always in the “GOAT” conversation, showed up really high in my adjusted rankings.
My (Very Unofficial) Conclusion
It’s tough to pick just one “best.” Different eras, different styles… But, based on my deep dive, I’d say Ray Guy is still probably the most impactful punter ever, just because of how he changed the game. But for pure stats, Shane Lechler is hard to argue with. And then there’s my dark horse, Jerrel Wilson, who I think deserves way more recognition.
I had spent at least a week to work on my conclusion.
This whole thing was a rabbit hole, but a fun one. I learned a ton, and I have a whole new appreciation for the art of punting. Now, I’m thinking about doing the same thing for kickers… wish me luck!
