There’s a new punter in town, and he’s a long ways away from home. The Buffalo Bills announced on Wednesday that former Jets punter Lachlan Edwards was signed by the team.
Edwards, 29, spent the last four seasons with New York, so his name comes as one you’ve likely seen before. But the most interesting part about him is his Australian roots as a native of Mornington, Victoria.
Let’s get to that and more by getting to know the new Bills punter now. Here’s four things to know about Edwards:
The numbers for the draft pick
It’s a bit of a rarity in the NFL, but kickers do get selected at the draft. Edwards had exactly that happen to him. In 2016, the Jets selected Edwards with a seventh-round pick out of Sam Houston State.
Since then, Edwards has had some positive displays in the NFL. But Edwards was picked by a former front office regime leading Gang Green and their current one, led by general manager Joe Douglas, selected Texas A&M punter Braden Mann at the recent draft so it was clear Edwards was destined to not return to New York.
With the Jets, Edwards averaged 45.5 yards per punt and had 108 punts inside the 20-yard line in 2020. In his four-year career, he’s captured the three-highest net punt averages in Jets history. He was the NFL punting yards leader in 2019 as well with 3,991.
But punting is complex, so there’s plenty of other numbers to consider with Edwards, too. He had a career-high 41.6 net punting average last season, which was the 12th best in the league. If you’re looking for fancy stats, Football Outsides gave the Jets the fourth-highest punting DOVA number a year ago, 10.1. The Bills had the fourth-worst at -9.4.
Edwards came a long way in his brief career so far as well. He finished his rookie season last in the league in net punting average (37.3) and 28th in yards per punt (43.1). So he’s a guy that will work to improve his craft, certainly.
