When you boil it down to its essence, the job of the punter (and the coverage team) is to make the other team start their drive as far back as possible. So to that end I evaluated every punt in the NFL in 2017 (all 2445 of them) to determine how much of the “potential yards” the punter gained for his team on each punt. I divided the field into two punting regions: long field punts (from inside your own 35) and short-field punts from your own 35 and beyond. On long-field punts you assume that your punter can just punt the ball as far as possible without worrying about a touchback (although he does have to worry about out-kicking the coverage so hang-time is critical).
How did Riley Dixon perform in 2017 and why did the Denver Broncos sign Marquette King.
