Braden Mann had a stellar career as a kickoff specialist and punter at Texas A&M from 2016-2019, including a unanimous All-American selection, SEC Special Teams Player of the Year award and the Ray Guy award as a junior in 2018. He followed the 2018 season with another All-American season in 2019, and in the spring of 2020, he was drafted in the 6th round by the New York Jets.
The first two seasons of Mann’s NFL career have been up-and-down, but the Jets’ coaching staff, particularly special teams coordinator Brant Boyer still have a strong belief in the young punter.
I have high hopes for Braden. I think he’s got as much talent as anybody in the league, I really do. It’s just a matter of him putting it together and hopefully we’ll do a hell of a lot better protecting him this year.
Boyer also acknowledged the injury struggles that Mann dealt with in 2021, and pointed out that a full recovery and preparation will help Braden in 2022.
I think you’re going to see some pretty big improvement from Braden. You know you’re definitely right, when you’re out eight games and you come back with a knee brace on and everything like that, and you’re not used to punting and stuff for weeks at a time. And you’re playing two or three games of those games that he did come back he had his knee brace on and finally he got it taken off. I think you see in the last three or four games, he’s punting a lot better.
Check out the full press conference as well.
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