Tag: matthew hayball

Countdown to Kickoff: Matthew Hayball is Saints Player of Day 43

Our Saints player of the day is Australian native Matthew Hayball. The former Vanderbilt punter is ready to make a name for himself:

Our countdown to kickoff for the New Orleans Saints continues with Day 43! Today’s Saints player of the day is punter Matthew Hayball. Let’s get to know the rookie.

  • Name (Age): Matthew Hayball (27)
  • Position: Punter
  • Height, weight: 6-foot-0, 189 pounds
  • Relative Athletic Score: N/A
  • 2024 salary cap hit: $798,333
  • College: Vanderbilt
  • Drafted: Undrafted in 2023 (New Orleans Saints)
  • NFL experience: 1st year

The Saints continued their trend of Australian punters when they signed Hayball to the team. He joins Australian punter Lou Hedley who the team signed last year. It’s worth noting that Hayball’s contract included $35,000 in guarantees whereas Hedley was guaranteed just $10,000 last offseason.

He played three years at Flordia Atlantic before transferring to Vanderbilt. In his final year at Vanderbilt, he punted the ball 57 times for 2,713 yards. With a 47.6 average distance, he ranked in the top-ten in college football for yards per attempt.

Hayball is looking to compete with Hedley for the starting job. He has a real shot at taking that position, as Hedley struggled last season. As we mentioned, Hayball can boot the football, and this is something that Hedley struggles to do, as his 43-yard average ranked 37th in the NFL. Hedley has worked to improve but Hayball is going to push him, and he might just push past him.

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Saints brought in another Australian punter to compete with Lou Hedley

The Saints are committed to the Aussie punting style. They signed Australian punter Matthew Hayball to compete with Lou Hedley:

The New Orleans Saints are zigging when the rest of the NFL is zagging, at least on special teams. They’re committed to making the Australian style of punting work in the NFL. After signing and starting former Miami punter Lou Hedley (a Mandurah, Australia native) last year, they’ve brought in Vanderbilt punter Matthew Hayball (from Geelong, Australia) to compete with him.

There are some pretty significant differences between the two despite their shared nationality; Hedley is from a smaller town on Australia’s west coast, while Hayball comes from the more populous southern coast 36 hours’ drive away. Hedley is three years Hayball’s senior, too. And as far as their performance on the football field goals, Hayball punts with his left leg, while Hedley uses his right.

What about their performance? Last season, Hedley was criticized for averaging the fewest yards per punt (43.0) and shortest hang time (4.04 seconds) in the NFL. Hayball averaged 47 yards per punt but just 3.88 seconds at Vanderbilt. While he’s been working on increasing his hang time — anything over 4.3 seconds is good, by NFL standards — what matters most is how he’s performed in games. And Hayball will get opportunities to test that training.

But accuracy matters, too. Hedley placed 41.3% of his punts inside the opposing 20-yard line, and only 5.3% of his punts resulted in a touchback. That’s top-10 in each category. Bu just 32% of his punts were fair catches, which was right in line with the league average.

Here’s how Hayball compared at Vanderbilt in 2023: 44.1% of his punts landed inside the 20, 6.7% were touchbacks, and 23.7% were fairly caught. He gave the opposing team more return opportunities, which is probably explained by that poor hangtime.

If Hayball can work on that and continue to work from greater range than Hedley while remaining accurate in his placement, he just might win this job. It says a lot that the Saints guaranteed $35,000 of his contract compared to just $10,000 in the deal Hedley signed last offseason. But the Saints are making a risky gamble with this Aussie style of punting. They’re betting that their coverage unit can get downfield in a shorter time than other teams around the league and limit return opportunities, even if it comes at a sacrifice of yards per punt. That thin margin for error didn’t hurt them too often last year. Let’s see if it pays off again in 2024.

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