Lions swap out recent practice squad moves

Javon McKinley is back again amongst the Lions’ practice squad moves

Monday’s transaction notification from the Detroit Lions required some careful reading. It was easy to do a double-take and wonder if they mistakenly sent out the same press release that they did over the weekend.

It wasn’t the same, alas. Monday’s practice squad moves were the exact opposite of the ones that went down on Saturday.

On Saturday, the Lions added long snapper Beau Brinkley and punter Lac Edwards to the practice squad and released wide receiver Javon McKinley and tight end Jared Pinkney. Monday’s move brought back McKinley and Pinkney and spelled the end for the brief tenures of Brinkley and Edwards.

The moves on Saturday were made as insurance against a COVID-19 situation. With regular kicker Austin Seibert out due to COVID, the Lions were careful to have backups at the ready. Now that they weren’t needed, the team moved on from the veteran specialists and brought back the two young receivers.

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Lions elevate K Ryan Santoso and shuffle the practice squad roster

The Lions made quite a few special teams moves on the practice squad after elevating Santoso, who can both punt and kick

Ryan Santoso’s wild ride in the 2021 season continues. The Lions elevated Santoso from the team’s practice squad for Sunday’s Week 3 battle with the Baltimore Ravens.

Detroit used the standard elevation for Santoso, who can also serve as a punter. Every team can elevate up to two players from the practice squad each week, though the Lions only elevated Santoso this week.

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Santoso was a member of the New York Giants through the first part of the offseason. The Giants traded the third-year pro to Carolina the day before the final preseason game. The Panthers subsequently cut Santoso after Week 1, when he was perfect in Carolina’s win over the Jets.

In Week 2, he was on the Tennessee Titans practice squad and inactive. The Lions snagged him to the Detroit practice squad after the Titans let him go after Week 2. Now he’s up on the active roster for the Lions in Week 3.

In other Lions practice squad movement, the team swapped in two new players and dropped two others.

Coming in:

Long snapper Beau Brinkley

Punter Lachlan Edwards (Lac)

No longer with the team:

Wide receiver Javon McKinley

Tight end Jared Pinkney

Brinkley and Edwards each tried out for the Lions on Friday, along with another long snapper. Brinkley, 31, was the long snapper for the Titans for the last nine seasons. Edwards was the punter for the New York Jets from 2016-2019 and led the NFL in both punts and punting yardage in 2019.

Instant Analysis: Jets find long-term punter in Braden Mann

Braden Mann was one of the best punters in college the past two seasons and now gives the Jets a solid option at the position.

The Jets found their next punter with the selection of Texas A&M punter Braden Mann with the 191st overall pick.

This pick actually fills a position of need after the Jets moved on from Lac Edwards this offseason, leaving only Ian Berryman on the roster. Mann proved to be one of the most consistent and best deep-ball punters in college football over the past two seasons after averaging 48.91 yards per punt.

Mann proved to be especially great in 2018 when he won the Ray Guy Award as the best punter in college football. Mann broke various FBS records that season, including the single-season punting average (50.28 yards), the single-game punting average (60.8) and the single-season record for most punts of 60 yards or more (14).

Mann finished the 2019 season with the fourth-highest punting average in the nation at 47.1 yards on 57 punts as a senior. He never averaged less than 38 yards per punt in games he attempted more than one kick.

Mann should beat out Berryman, who the Jets signed to a futures deal in 2020 after he went undrafted in 2019 and didn’t attempt any punts. In addition to punting, Mann is also comfortable handling kickoffs.

Grade: B+

Lions have several options at punter to replace free agent Sam Martin

Sam Martin has been a reliably above-average punter for most of his seven NFL seasons, all with the Detroit Lions. But Martin is a pending free agent and in all likelihood will not be back for an eighth year in Detroit.

The Lions will have several options to replace Martin, who ranks 10th all-time in average yards per punt at 46.0. In fact, the solution might already be in Detroit.

Earlier this offseason the Lions signed two free agent punters to reserve/future contracts. Jack Fox and Matt Wile deserve to compete for the job, and both are familiar with the team already. Fox and Wile both had stints on the team’s practice squad in 2019.

Fox gets a leg up (no pun intended) because, like Martin, he’s capable of also being the kickoff specialist. That’s important because placekicker Matt Prater does not handle kickoff duties all that well.

In free agency, veterans Britton Colquitt, Matt Bosher and Lac Edwards are all on the market with Martin. Edwards led the NFL in both punt attempts and yards in 2019 while booming kicks at a 45.9-yard average for the New York Jets. Colquitt, 35, spent last season with the Minnesota Vikings and has earned his reputation for being the best coffin-corner punter in the NFL over his long career.

It’s unlikely the Lions will draft a punter, though that was also said back in 2013 when then-GM Martin Mayhew tabbed Martin in the sixth round. Some of the top-rated punters in the 2020 NFL Draft include Joseph Charlton of South Carolina, Texas A&M’s Braden Mann and Arryn Siposs from Auburn, whom the Lions saw in person at the Tigers pro day last week.

Jets ranked 8th in special teams in 2019 despite key losses

The Jets special teams unit played well thanks to solid kick return and kick coverage play by Brant Boyer’s squad.

Believe it or not, the Jets ranked in the top-10 in something in 2019.

During a season of mediocrity, the Jets special teams unit once again proved to be one of the team’s best assets. Brant Boyer’s unit finished No. 8 in Rick Gosselin’s special teams ranking report.

Gosselin, a 47-year vet on the NFL beat and a member of the Hall of Fame selection committee, compiled 22 categories surrounding special teams to create a list of the league’s best. The Jets ranked eighth overall thanks to top-three finishes in punt return yards (second, 11.6), yards allowed per kickoff (third, 19.0), yards allowed per punt (third, 43.67), and net yards allowed per punt (third, 38.8) despite a lot of turnover on the unit.

When the Jets elected to let Pro Bowl kicker Jason Myers and return specialist Andre Roberts leave in free agency, many believed the special teams would suffer mightily after finishing first in the NFL in 2018. But Boyer persisted and told his team back in June that there would be “no steps back.”

“It’s a tough situation,” Boyer said last offseason. “Those guys were awesome for us… You gain players every year, you lose players every year. And, is it hard to replace guys like that? It sure is. I’m confident that somebody will emerge and we can get that done.”

General manager Joe Douglas found his punt returner replacement quickly when he claimed former Patriots wideout Braxton Berrios, off waivers soon after joining the Jets. Berrios returned all 21 punts for the Jets this season and finished second in the league in average punt return yards.

As for his kick returners, duties were split between backup running back Ty Montgomery and wide receiver Vyncint Smith. The duo performed well enough – Montgomery averaged 20.2 yards per return and Smith averaged 29.9 yards per return. Second-year running back Trenton Cannon appeared in line for the majority of returns, but he landed on injured reserve after Week 7.

Where the Jets faltered in the rankings was their kicking and punting. They cycled through a few kickers before sticking with Sam Ficken, who only hit 19 of 27 field goals (70.4 percent), 23 of 26 of his extra points (88.5 percent) and ranked 39th in average kickoff yards. Punter Lac Edwards, meanwhile, ranked 15th in average punt yards (45.9) despite leading the league in punts (87) and total punt yards (3,991).

It’s hard to replicate the success of Myers, Roberts and the 2018 team, but Boyer did an admirable job coaching a unit that no one thought could maintain its excellence. There was bound to be a drop off in production when you lose a top-six kicker and the top return specialist and the Jets saved around $15 million by not re-signing their Pro Bowl special teams pair.

The Jets still need to solve the kicker issue for the longterm, but the rest of the unit seems sound heading into the 2020 season.