The Buffalo Bills lost punter Cory Carter to a torn ACL against the Cleveland Browns. Reportedly, they will host another punter to provide competition for incumbent Colton Schmidt.
According to Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times, the Bills will host veteran punter Jon Ryan on a visit.
Ryan was released by the Seahawks on Monday, only months after saying that he would make general manager John Schneider look “really dumb” for trading up in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL Draft to select Michael Dickson, a punter from the University of Texas. Ryan will still have that chance, but he will have to continue his career elsewhere in order to do so.
For his career, Ryan has averaged 44.7 yards per punt, with 311 of his 914 career punts being downed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. He has a career net yards per put average of 38.4. All of those numbers are very similar to Schmidt’s career ratios, albeit with Buffalo’s punter’s statistics coming on a smaller scale. Schmidt has averaged 44.1 yards per punt over his career, with 101 of his 322 punts downed inside the 20-yard line of his opponents. His career net yards per kick average is 39.7.
On this preseason, Schmidt and Ryan have once again put up very similar numbers. Schmidt has averaged 45.7 yards per punt on 6 kicks, while Ryan has averaged 45.6 yards per punt on 5 kicks. The big difference is in the net yards per punt total for both men, as Schmidt’s kicks has netted 41.3 yards and Ryan’s have averaged 29.8 yards per kick. Both men trail the rookie Dickson in both the overall average (51.7) and the net average (50.2) yards per kick by a significant amount.
With Stephen Hauschka, another former Seattle special teams player, already in the fold in Buffalo, the connection is a clear one. The Bills appear to be intent on adding some competition for Schmidt this summer.
UPDATE: Per Ian Rapoport, Ryan will sign with the Bills when his flight lands.
Former #Seahawks punter Jon Ryan is flying to Buffalo and will sign with the #Bills when he lands, source said. He requested his release from Seattle, saw it quickly granted, now will land on his feet.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 21, 2018