Tag: Punt Return

Amon-Ra St. Brown might not be the Lions punt returner on Thanksgiving

Amon-Ra St. Brown won’t be the Lions punt returner in Week 13 against the Bears after filling in for injured Kalif Raymond in Week 12

When Lions punt return specialist Kalif Raymond departed Sunday’s win in Indianapolis with a foot injury, the next man up to field punts was All-Pro wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. For a team already ravaged by injuries, seeing such a critical piece of the offense playing in that role caused some serious trepidation.

That worry proved valid, considering St. Brown appeared to suffer a minor knee injury on a punt return, one that kept him ruled out of Monday’s practice.

In his weekly radio spot with 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit, Lions head coach Dan Campbell indicated that St. Brown was the best option at the time. However, Campbell admitted the Lions will have a different punt returner for Thursday’s NFC North matchup in Ford Field against the Chicago Bears.

“Now that we’re in another week, we’re gonna have probably a different returner,” Campbell told the hosts. “And if we need Saint (St. Brown) in a critical then we’ll use him. But that was really why he was in there, because he’s sure-handed and we know he’ll get the job done.”

Detroit does have some intriguing options to replace Raymond, who could be out for some time with the foot injury. Cornerback Khalil Dorsey has return experience in both college and the NFL, though primarily running back kicks, not punts. Rookie RB Sione Vaki and vet RB Craig Reynolds each got ample reps in training camp as punt returners, too.

Update:

Campbell has since walked back his earlier comments. During his press conference on Tuesday, Campbell stated,

“Yeah, we are. I’m still trying to think about that because part of me says let’s just use (St. Brown) Saint again because he is the most reliable, so we may just do that. You know what, we’re going to do that. We’re going to do that.”

 

 

Did Pittsburgh find their WR2 in Week 8’s victory over the NY Giants?

Calvin Austin stepped up in a major way for the Steelers in their Week 8 victory—potentially solidifying his position as the team’s WR2.

In the past decade, most, if not all, of the Steelers’ top receivers started out as dynamic punt returners. Steelers receivers such as Antonio Brown, Juju Smith-Schuster, and Diontae Johnson all were incredibly successful as punt returners, eventually blossoming into phenomenal receivers for Pittsburgh. One receiver from Week 8 seemingly had his career breakout game and turning point, as WR Calvin Austin electrified both the New York Giants’ secondary and special teams unit. 

In the third quarter of his team’s contest, with the score tied 9-9, Austin knew he needed to make a splash play. He proceeded to step up when the team needed him most, returning a punt 73 yards for a touchdown. He further solidified his position as WR2 when he caught a 29-yard TD reception from QB Russell Wilson, his second touchdown of the night. 

Much speculation and trade rumors have been made over the Steelers necessity of an elite-caliber receiver opposite WR1 George Pickens, but scoring twice on the night and accumulating 54 receiving yards on just three receptions should prove why Austin is the WR2 Pittsburgh has been looking for. 

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Chiefs vs. 49ers: Mecole Hardman impresses with outstanding punt return

Take a look at this video of #Chiefs WR Mecole Hardman’s outstanding punt return against the San Francisco #49ers in Week 7.

Mecole Hardman was a hero in the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory over the San Francisco 49ers back in February, and with a Super Bowl LVIII rematch playing out at Levi’s Stadium this afternoon, the veteran wideout was keen to make his presence felt in Week 7.

Hardman caught one pass for 17 yards in the first half, but his most impressive effort came on a punt return in the second quarter that gave Kansas City’s offense favorable field position to extend its slim lead.

Take a look at Hardman’s outstanding return in this video, which was posted to Twitter by the NFL’s official account:

 

With JuJu Smith-Schuster listed as questionable to return due to a hamstring injury, expect Hardman to continue putting on a show as he looks to earn a greater role in Andy Reid’s offense heading into Week 8.

Stay tuned to see if Hardman can find paydirt against the 49ers later in the game.

WATCH: Rashid Shaheed returns a punt 54 yards for a badly-needed TD

Rashid Shaheed returned a punt 54 yards for a badly-needed touchdown against the Buccaneers. It’s just what the Saints needed:

Leave it to Rashid Shaheed to bring the Caesars Superdome to its feet. A big stop by the New Orleans Saints defense and a foolish Tampa Bay Buccaneers penalty set him up in favorable field position to return a punt in the second  quarter, and he delivered.

Shaheed caught the ball just inside Saints territory and split the gunners to cut upfield, where a nice block by linebacker D’Marco Jackson sprung him free down the sideline. Shaheed had so much room to run he danced his way into the end zone. Special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi was waiting to celebrate with him.

This was Shaheed’s second career punt return touchdown, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. His score and Blake Grupe’s following kick cut the Bucs’ lead down to 17-10. With Chris Olave out in concussion protocol, Shaheed is going to be needed not just on offense but in the game’s third phase.

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Bills’ Brandon Codrington proving to be a weapon in return game

Bills’ Brandon Codrington proving to be a weapon in return game

The Buffalo Bills made a trade at the end of August, sending a sixth-round pick to the New York Jets in exchange for Brandon Codrington. Although it’s rare to trade in the division, the Bills needed immediate help with kick and punt returns.

So far, the undrafted rookie out of NC Central has delivered.

On only four touches on special teams through three weeks, he has one kick return for 53 yards and punt returns of 22 yards and 19 yards. Pro Football Focus has Codrington as the fifth-best return man in the league, with a return grade of 69.3.

Not only is the 23-year-old cornerback racking up return yards but he’s making smart decisions. Head coach Sean McDermott was asked how Codrington has handled things so far on special teams, and McDermott sounded confident.

“For a rookie to make those plays… I thought the decision-making was really good in those moments because one, in particular, was not an easy decision to make, especially for a rookie. And I believe that comes from his work leading up to the game.”

In his three-year career at NC Central, Codrington racked up a combined 1,365 yards between kick and punt returns. He averaged 18.2 yards per kick return and 14.2 yards per punt return. He scored three punt return touchdowns.

Darren Sproles’ punt return TD is the Saints Play of Day 43

Darren Sproles introduced himself to Saints fans in a big way as their new No. 43. His punt return TD against the Packers is our Saints Play of the Day:

We are now only 43 days away from the New Orleans Saints season opener in Week 1 against the Carolina Panthers, which makes Darren Sproles’ (who wore No. 43) punt return touchdown our Saints Play of the Day. Despite happening in a loss, this was a phenomenal showing for Sproles, who had 7 receptions for 75 yards, 2 kick returns for 76 yards, and 2 punt returns for 92 yards with the touchdown in his Saints debut.

This Week 1 matchup was a battle of the offenses, as the score ended up being 42-34 in this shootout between Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers. At the time of the play the Saints were down 21-10, with 8:55 left in the half. The punt ended up traveling 52 yards, down to the New Orleans 28-yard line, where Sproles received it and took off to blow by every Green Bay Packers defender on his way to the end zone. A 72-yard punt return touchdown in his Saints debut was certainly one way to endear himself to fans.

Despite this game ending with a loss, the Saints had a chance because of this play before halftime by Sproles, and he was able to show off his prowess in returning both punts and kicks for New Orleans over the course of the next three years. While this was his only return touchdown for the Saints, he did have 70 kick returns for 1,827 yards, and a long return of 92 yards during those three seasons. He was a special player and big plays like this have done a lot to maintain a strong reputation among Saints fans ever since.

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Reggie Bush’s 71-yard punt return touchdown is the Saints Play of the Day

Reggie Bush’s 71-yard punt return touchdown against the Vikings back in 2008 is the New Orleans Saints Play of the Day:

It’s often been said that Reggie Bush joined the New Orleans Saints a generation too early. The college football superstar had an inconsistent pro career in black and gold, experiencing terrific highs and frustrating lows as Sean Payton’s coaching staff struggled to figure out how to use him. The role Bush pioneered in New Orleans was later developed by Darren Sproles and perfected by Alvin Kamara, and it’s fair to wonder how things might have gone had he enjoyed the benefits of a more experienced play caller.

But he was always dangerous on special teams. Bush scored four punt return yards in regular season games and a fifth in the playoffs. And when the Minnesota Vikings visited the Saints for a “Monday Night Football” matchup in 2008, Bush turned in his best performance yet with a 71-yard punt return touchdown.

Bush turned on the jets to rally back after the Vikings took an early 20-10 lead, which you can watch here on YouTube. It was the longest punt return of Bush’s NFL career. And while it was just the first of two punts returned for touchdowns he had against the Vikings that night, he nearly had a third, having gotten a favorable angle on the Minnesota coverage team before his cleats caught in the Superdome turf, tripping him up.

The Vikings ended up winning this one after a rough end-of-game sequence (Saints kicker Matt Gramatica missed a 46-yard field goal for the win, and a 42-yard pass interference penalty on safety Kevin Kaesviharn flipped the field to set up a chip-shot kick for Minnesota) but New Orleans got the last laugh. They hosted the next year’s NFC championship game and beat the Vikings in overtime to advance to Super Bowl XLIV. You know what happened next.

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Cowboys rookie Deuce Vaughn returning punts at practice with Turpin nursing shoulder

From @ToddBrock24f7: KaVontae Turpin’s shoulder forced Vaughn into punt-return duties at practice Thursday; the rookie may be in line to do it vs the Giants.

KaVontae Turpin did not practice for a second straight day as he rehabs a shoulder injury suffered last week in Philadelphia. And while Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy didn’t seem overly concerned with his availability moving forward, Turpin’s status heading into Week 10 is suddenly something to watch.

Thursday’s practice workload revealed that a Turpin absence on Sunday might just crack the door open for a highly-anticipated rookie to get some much-needed game reps, albeit in a role he’s largely unfamiliar with.

Turpin sat out Wednesday and was considered questionable again on Thursday, McCarthy told reporters. The coach said he would be either working with the rehab group or, at best, limited, but media members present for practice later reported him as a non-participant for the open portion of the session.

If Turpin cannot go this Sunday, the Cowboys will obviously have to decide who fills in for him as he continues to grow into an increasing role in the Dallas offense.

The bigger worry, though, if Turpin’s shoulder doesn’t cooperate, is re-assigning his return duties. He’s averaging 31.7 yards per kick return, placing him within the league’s top ten. As a punt returner, he’s had just 10 runbacks; his 11 fair catches are top-ten in the league and an indicator of how often opponents are only giving him balls that cannot be returned.

But Turpin is the only player on the Cowboys roster who has done both return jobs this season. Rico Dowdle and Hunter Luepke have handled five kicks between them in 2023, while Jalen Tolbert and Deuce Vaughn have fielded one punt each.

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Reporters at Thursday’s practice session observed Dowdle, Vaughn, and safety Juanyeh Thomas practicing kick returns while Vaughn was taking reps as a punt returner, with Turpin giving him close coaching.

The sixth-round draft pick has been inactive the past three games and was largely ineffective on the handful of snaps he played over the first five weeks.

Vaughn’s 10-yard punt return against San Francisco in Week 5 was his first at either the pro or college level.

But the 5-foot-5 rookie running back showed blistering speed and shiftiness throughout training camp, just as he had done collegiately at Kansas State. Depending on Turpin’s shoulder, Vaughn may finally get the chance to put those skills on display at the pro level in a brand new way.

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Cowboys’ Turpin doesn’t expect Eagles to punt to him: ‘Teams are still scared of me’

From @ToddBrock24f7: The speedy returner had an 87-yard TD called back by penalty last week; Eagles punter Braden Mann has allowed just three returns in 6 games.

On the 39th punt return of his pro career, KaVontae Turpin thought he had finally broken one off.

The Cowboys speedster had first shown off his formidable skills in 2022’s preseason with two returns (one punt, one kickoff) for scores in an August outing against the Chargers. In that one exhibition performance, the USFL phenom solidified his spot on the Cowboys roster, but he also effectively alerted every other team in the league that kicking the ball to him at all is playing with fire.

And so after a season and a half of returning punts, the presumptive most dangerous return man in the game has just a 9.4-yard average… and zero touchdowns.

Thanks only to a penalty flag late in Sunday’s blowout win over the Rams.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SwyVemrckH8?feature=share

Turpin’s electrifying end-zone dash was brought back on Nahshon Wright’s hold. The 87-yard house call instead went in the books as a harmless six-yard return.

And Turpin believes it may have just reminded upcoming Cowboys opponents- like the division-leading Eagles in Week 9- not to even crack the door open for him.

“Teams are still scared of me, so I don’t think I’ll get any more chances, to be real with you,” Turpin told reporters this week at The Star.

He may be right, at least this week.

A quick look at the Eagles’ season stats show a potential weakness in their punt coverage game. They’ve given up 14.7 punt return yards per game, fourth-highest in the NFL.

Arryn Siposs was Philadelphia’s punter for the first two weeks of the season. Five of his punts were returned for 40 total yards. But then Philadelphia made a quick change and brought in Braden Mann starting in Week 3. In the six games that followed, Mann has punted 10 times; only three were returned.

But those three returns all went for double-digit yards.

Granted, the Eagles famously don’t let Mann stray too far or too often from the sideline Gatorade table, what with all of their tush-pushing on fourth-and-short (or simply not getting themselves to fourth down in the first place).

When he does come on to boot it away, Mann tends to keep it away. But when there’s a return, there’s the potential for fireworks. If Turpin can get his hands on a punt with enough space to get even a couple steps, he could be racing all the way to the Rocky steps at some point Sunday.

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As long as the other 10 Cowboys special teamers can keep Lincoln Financial’s field a laundry-free zone.

“It’s frustrating because I don’t get too many chances in the return game,” Turpin admitted. “So when I do get a chance, I don’t want to see any flags, especially when I take it all the way.

“At the same time, I tell my guys to go out there and block as hard as they can. But that just comes with football. We’re going to get another chance sooner or later.”

The Cowboys are hoping for sooner.

We’ll see if Mann and the Eagles play ball.

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Reviewing the Chiefs’ punt returner options in 2023

Who are the #Chiefs best options at punt returner in 2023? @WesleyRoesch reviews the options.

The Chiefs’ punt return squad went out with a bang in Super Bowl LVII, which makes it easy to forget that the team was actually a disaster on punt returns for the majority of their last campaign.

It’s covered in more detail in my 2022 Chiefs special teams review, but essentially Kansas City had a bottom-10 punt return squad last season. Much of that was due to players’ individual struggle, but a sort of musical chairs approach to the punt returner role by the team’s coaching staff didn’t seem to help either.

The answer of who the team’s best player is at the position is still in question as the Chiefs begin training camp. Special teams coordinator Dave Toub has a handful of intriguing prospects — both rookies and veterans — to try out. Below are the players expected to compete for the punt returner role for the Chiefs: