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The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/JPAnalyst on 2025-08-04 12:27:32+00:00.
What happens to punting averages when we look at punts that aren’t impeded by the punter being too close to the opponents endzone?
I don’t know much about punting or punting stats, but I do know that yards-per-punt is somewhat meaningless given that a significant number of punts are situations where the punter has to take something off the punt in order to pin a team inside the 10 or 20-yard line and avoid a touchback. Additionally, the opponent’s endzone provides an artificial cutoff to the punter’s yards when the punter is close enough for the endzone to be a factor.
So, I thought it would be interesting to get a punters’ TRUE punting average when they get to let loose and just punt the shit out of the ball. Using Pro Football Reference’s Stathead tool, I looked at the overall NFL punting average from the 50-yard line, a team’s own 45, then 40, and so on until I saw the punting average peak and then plateau. That happens at the team’s 35-yard line — 65 yards from the opponent’s endzone. So that’s where I decided to measure a punter’s true punting average, I’m calling the team’s 35-yard line to their 1-yard line the boom range. Theoretically, anything in this range is not going to be negatively impacted by the opponents’ end zone.
Here are the 2024 leaders in yards-per-punt inside the boom range
preview.redd.it/t736s7f3xzgf1.png?width=561&forma…
It’s not an exact science, and my 35-yard line to start the boom-range may not be the correct line for each player (maybe it’s the 40 for some, or 30 for some others) but going with that, 53% of NFL punts come within the boom range, meaning about 47% of punts are going to have their averages negatively impacted by the opponents end zone. A players overall punting average will be heavily impacted by the % of their punts that come inside and outside of the boom range.
For example. Rigoberto Sanchez of the Colts ended up 5th in the NFL in yards per punt last year (49.7), but does he really have the leg of someone in the top five? What’s happening with Sanchez’s average is that he is being aided by having the highest percentage (68%) of his punts from the boom range. He gets to rip it at a higher rate than any other punter and has fewer situations where he’s strategically applying a lighter touch. When you look at his average from boom range, it’s 51.9 which puts him at 14th overall. His top five yds/punt is a result of game situation, not skill.
The opposite was true for Bears rookie Tory Taylor. He was middle-of-the-road (ranked 15th) for yards/punt with a 47.7 average. But unlucky for his average, he wasn’t advantaged by a high percentage of punts within the boom range (51%). When he was able to let his freak leg fly, he punted for an average of 53.6, good for 5th in the NFL for boom-range average.
These examples illustrate why I decided to try and come up with a TRUE yards-per-punt average. There is an incredible amount of noise in the standard yard-per-punt metric. So, maybe we look at it differently. Perhaps it’s not exactly how I’m doing it, but along the same lines.
Here is a more detailed table showing how players ranked in standard punting average, and from boom-range, we well as % of punts coming from boom-range.
preview.redd.it/6fjqcyvexzgf1.png?width=720&forma…
This is not intended to say the top players in boom-range average are the best punters, we all know there are tons of other things that matter, it’s just an attempt to find the real leaders in yards per punt. It’s also a good philosophical example of the misleading nature of stats in a vacuum. So many stats in the NFL are heavily reliant on game situation or scheme, or other factors. This is just a fun and simple way to illustrate that with punting.
Also, congrats Raiders fans, you didn’t know it before, but AJ Cole III is the true 2024 NFL punting king.