Morning Joe! Kicker and a Punter; really?

We did see Moorman do well on kickoffs in a breif appearance this year. It makes you wonder if there is a need for two.

I would say yes. Field position is such an important part of the game. The 49ers stayed in that game because their punter would flip the field at crucial times. I’m not sure if I would be willing to sacrifice an accurate/strong kicker and punter for someone that is mediocre at one or both spots.

What happens when your Kicker/Punter gets injured mid game?

There is one thing you’re missing about this – the toll these duties take on the leg. If you assume that the PK is the more important piece, why would you want him ruining his leg over the course of a season (and shortening his career as well) by doing the punting too. That alone is enough to make me want a punter specialist.

You also are assuming every PK can punt with the same consistency that the punters do. The aftereffects of a bad shank can be disastrous. Just look at what happened when Raynor shanked that kickoff this season. Shanked punts can be just as disastrous. It’s a lot harder to be consistently decent than you’re assuming.

No, IMO, there’s no way in the game today that a team could get away with not having a PK and a P (specialists). Same thing goes with LS – you just don’t realize how specialized the skill is to do consistently well so that even your bad days don’t have a horrendous effect on the team.

Now, I’ll add this caveat. If the NFL did away with kickoffs, I might be willing to back you up, at least because it wouldn’t be as hard on the player’s leg.

And lasted all of a year

and have been wondering this myself for years. I would even go so far to throw in long snapper, i dont understand why you cant get a backup TE to do the longsnapping. That is cutting two spots for skill players (just one punter/kicker and the TE or someone longsnapping).

If i had a kid who was in college and was a kicker or punter, i would have him practicing both every day to revolutionize the position.

If Tom Brady can punt one 40 yards, why cant a kicker? Doesn Randall Cunningham own the record for longest punt ever? If QB’s can do it in tricky situations, like on a 3rd and long, maybe this might start happening more often to control the field position game? there are certainly other alternitives and i agree with this 100%

I think place kickers and punters use a different set of leg muscles to kick. Yeah, it’s the same leg, but do sprinters do long distance well? Slalom skiers don’t do cross country. Of course, the idea is intriguing enough to consider the exception. Soccer players? They run and kick. But even then, the goalie does the long down field kicks and the forwards kick for accuracy. I’m thinking you probably could find the exception (i.e. a Bo Jackson type) who is athletic to do both, but most will not fall into that category.

Why can’t the league just increase the number of the active roster? I’ve been saying it for years now, the roster limit is way too low, and forces too many teams to cut guys they’d like to keep, especially when injuries start, and those guys could be useful. It’s a shame to see the chaos that happens because your center and backup both get hurt, and you’re left scrambling. Not to mention all the poaching of good players that happens. In this day and age, the roster limit needs to be upped by about 8 so that injuries and personnel decisions don’t dramatically alter the landscape of the league. Worthless argument I guess, but that doesn’t mean I’m not right.

NFL teams are very smart to have the positions of punter and probably even long snapper specialized. The difference in net punting yardage between the best and worst teams last year was 10 yards per punt. Even if you’re only thinking there will be a 3ish yard drop off in that stat by letting your kicker punt, with an average of 5 punts per game, you’re still talking about enough of a difference to warrant a roster spot. I wouldn’t advocate paying a punter, especially a non-special player (ie: Shane Lechler is incredible) upwards of 5 mil. But how are you doing better with a couple mil and a 45th/53rd roster spot than 15 or more yards per game? It may not seem like much, but is a backup linebacker or offensive lineman going to be that kind of a difference maker over the course of a season?

There is just too much value in that extra yardage you get from a punter who can boot it a little further, a little higher, avoid shanks and blocks a little better, place the ball inside the 20 a little better and direct punts out of bounds a little better for an NFL team to really consider using the roster spot in a different way.

You were to do this it would be the kicker getting dropped for the punter cause its easier to convert a punter into a place kicker then it is to go the other way around. So in Buffalo’s case you’d lose Lindell for having just Moorman. If it were me I’d keep both the kicker and punter, then get a backup Center to be the longsnapper. That way, if and when Wood gets injured, we have his backup in place.