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The very act of punting is an admission of defeat. When your offense is forced to punt, the opponent's defense has won that round. Having a punter who is a "weapon" makes that admission of defeat somewhat more palatable. What makes a punter a weapon? The ability to "gain yardage" for his team. The job of a punter, at its core is quite simple. It has three parts:
1. Catch the snap
2. Punt the ball before it can be blocked
3. Kick the ball so that the other team has to start as close to their own goal line as possible
The first two jobs are fairly simple (there were only 19 punts blocked in 2014 on 2363 punt attempts). The third part of the job is the difficult task. I addressed this cursorily in the comments of my last post about Colquitt (holy crap!, I've done four posts about kickers now?!?). Britton Colquitt was doing well after 13 games of the season in terms of precision punting, but he was not doing well in terms of distance. Let's look at how he finished the year.
Not Earning His Pay
Here's what his final precision punting numbers looked like and how they compare to the rest of the league. PPP is precision punt percentage = (% of punts downed inside the 10) - (% of punts that ended as touchbacks). Note that this table is sortable; click the column headings to sort.
| Team | Gross Punt Ave | Punts | %in20 | %in15 | %in10 | %in5 | %TB | PPP |
| Colts | 46.7 | 69 | 43% | 41% | 22% | 8.7% | 4.3% | 17.4% |
| Seahawks | 43.4 | 61 | 46% | 38% | 26% | 4.9% | 9.8% | 16.4% |
| Dolphins | 45.6 | 58 | 36% | 33% | 21% | 8.6% | 5.2% | 15.5% |
| Ravens | 47.4 | 60 | 43% | 37% | 22% | 3.3% | 6.7% | 15.0% |
| Chiefs | 44.6 | 71 | 44% | 37% | 21% | 7.0% | 7.0% | 14.1% |
| Panthers | 43.7 | 72 | 36% | 33% | 21% | 4.2% | 6.9% | 13.9% |
| Lions | 46.1 | 68 | 43% | 28% | 19% | 2.9% | 7.4% | 11.8% |
| Rams | 45.9 | 80 | 41% | 31% | 18% | 2.5% | 6.3% | 11.3% |
| Bengals | 46.8 | 73 | 37% | 29% | 19% | 8.2% | 8.2% | 11.0% |
| Chargers | 44.9 | 74 | 31% | 31% | 20% | 5.4% | 9.5% | 10.8% |
| Falcons | 45.7 | 67 | 40% | 34% | 16% | 1.5% | 6.0% | 10.4% |
| Buccaneers | 39.9 | 78 | 22% | 23% | 13% | 3.8% | 2.6% | 10.3% |
| Giants | 44.9 | 80 | 31% | 23% | 18% | 5.0% | 7.5% | 10.0% |
| Raiders | 45.2 | 109 | 28% | 24% | 12% | 3.7% | 2.8% | 9.2% |
| Titans | 46.3 | 88 | 32% | 22% | 17% | 3.4% | 8.0% | 9.1% |
| Cowboys | 44.6 | 57 | 37% | 30% | 12% | 1.8% | 3.5% | 8.8% |
| Broncos | 44.2 | 69 | 36% | 25% | 14% | 4.3% | 5.8% | 8.7% |
| Saints | 46.4 | 58 | 33% | 29% | 17% | 6.9% | 8.6% | 8.6% |
| Bills | 42.9 | 86 | 36% | 28% | 13% | 4.7% | 7.0% | 5.8% |
| Eagles | 43.8 | 76 | 45% | 33% | 14% | 5.3% | 9.2% | 5.3% |
| Redskins | 46.9 | 77 | 29% | 25% | 14% | 5.2% | 9.1% | 5.2% |
| Jets | 45.3 | 78 | 29% | 24% | 17% | 1.3% | 11.5% | 5.1% |
| Texans | 45.8 | 83 | 33% | 31% | 17% | 4.8% | 12.0% | 4.8% |
| Cardinals | 41.5 | 90 | 39% | 31% | 11% | 4.4% | 6.7% | 4.4% |
| Browns | 44.3 | 93 | 27% | 19% | 14% | 2.2% | 9.7% | 4.3% |
| Bears | 43.2 | 71 | 28% | 21% | 8% | 5.6% | 4.2% | 4.2% |
| Packers | 42.3 | 49 | 29% | 24% | 12% | 2.0% | 8.2% | 4.1% |
| 49ers | 46.2 | 72 | 39% | 31% | 13% | 2.8% | 9.7% | 2.8% |
| Jaguars | 46.5 | 94 | 27% | 22% | 13% | 1.1% | 10.6% | 2.1% |
| Steelers | 43.0 | 61 | 33% | 20% | 8% | 0.0% | 6.6% | 1.6% |
| Patriots | 45.7 | 66 | 38% | 29% | 11% | 3.0% | 9.1% | 1.5% |
| Vikings | 43.7 | 75 | 28% | 19% | 9% | 2.7% | 8.0% | 1.3% |
| Average | 44.8 | 73.8 | 35% | 28% | 16% | 4.1% | 7% | 8% |
And this table shows where our Colquitt finished the season in all of the stats used to measure punting performance during his five NFL seasons in Denver:
| Britton Colquitt career stats | ||||||||||
| YEAR | GROSS AVE | Rank | NET | Rank | TB% | Rank | IN20% | Rank | FC% | Rank |
| 2010 | 44.6 | 10 | 36.6 | 22 | 8.1% | 18 | 22.1 | 32 | 19.8 | 20 |
| 2011 | 47.4 | 9 | 40.2 | 6 | 6.9% | 13 | 32.7 | 18 | 26.7 | 11 |
| 2012 | 46.3 | 16 | 42.1 | 5 | 6.0% | 12 | 40.3 | 10 | 25.4 | 16 |
| 2013 | 44.5 | 21 | 38.8 | 24 | 4.6% | 7 | 35.4 | 17 | 38.5 | 2 |
| 2014 | 43.9 | 22 | 37.6 | 28 | 5.8% | 7 | 36.0 | 14 | 27.5 | 18 |
| Career | 45.5 | 16 | 40.5 | 17 | 6.3 | 11 | 33.2 | 18 | 27.6 | 13 |
From those relative league rankings, the only one close to justifying Colquitt's high salary is possibly his rank as the 7th best punter in the league at avoiding touchbacks. FWIW this season he was 21st, 17th and 15th at % inside the 15, 10 and 5 respectively. So either he is average to below average or his coverage team was well below average (which would make his precision numbers look worse). A good punt coverage team can make a poor punter look average and an average punter look great. Our new special teams coach has a history of great coverage units.
Leaving yards on the field
Another way to think about that third part of the punting job is to think about it as maximizing yardage. You can characterize punts by field positions and I chose to break them into two groups: short field punts (from beyond the team's 35) and long-field punts (from the 1 to the 35). Most NFL punters have strong enough legs to be worried about touchbacks on short-field punts. On long-field punts, the punter is trying to kick the ball as high and as far as possible to maximize yardage (push the opponent as far back as possible) and to minimize the chance of a long return (avoiding the situation where the punter "outpunts" the coverage). So what is a realistic "A+" outcome from a long-field punt - let's say that it is a 65 yard NET punt - meaning that if you are punting from your own 30, the other team starts their drive at their own 15. On short-field punts, accuracy comes into play more than leg strength. So that the ideal outcome from a short-field punt is forcing the opponent to start their drive at their own 1. This means that a punt from the opponents 37, would only result in a net punt of 36 yards (a "short" punt) if the punter (and coverage team) pinned the opponent at their 1. If you are just looking at raw numbers, a 36 yard punt looks like a "bad" punt, so my method tries reward both accuracy and leg strength (and coverage team ability) by measuring how much yardage a punter could have gained for his team and then expressing a yardage% for all of a punters punts. I did this for every punt in 2014 and then averaged the score for every punter. In the table below you'll see that Colquitt was (again) definitely not worth his salary. Higher numbers are better here
| Team | Punt% | Stand. Dev. |
| Browns | 72.9% | 21% |
| Falcons | 72.7% | 22% |
| Dolphins | 71.6% | 18% |
| Cardinals | 71.5% | 16% |
| Packers | 71.0% | 22% |
| Chargers | 71.0% | 14% |
| Titans | 69.1% | 19% |
| Raiders | 68.6% | 22% |
| Jets | 67.6% | 22% |
| Bills | 67.5% | 16% |
| Ravens | 67.4% | 14% |
| Panthers | 67.4% | 20% |
| Colts | 67.1% | 23% |
| Buccaneers | 67.0% | 18% |
| 49ers | 67.0% | 17% |
| Patriots | 66.5% | 26% |
| Saints | 66.2% | 20% |
| Steelers | 66.1% | 18% |
| Texans | 65.9% | 21% |
| Jaguars | 65.8% | 28% |
| Vikings | 65.2% | 30% |
| Bengals | 64.8% | 19% |
| Bears | 64.8% | 19% |
| Broncos | 64.2% | 17% |
| Giants | 64.1% | 17% |
| Chiefs | 63.7% | 21% |
| Rams | 63.5% | 14% |
| Cowboys | 63.3% | 28% |
| Eagles | 62.2% | 18% |
| Seahawks | 61.5% | 19% |
| Redskins | 61.4% | 17% |
| Lions | 61.3% | 15% |
| Average | 66.6% | 20% |
So the average NFL punter got 67% of the possible yardage that they could have "gained" for their team last season. Colquitt was below average here, but the spread was tighter than I expected with the worst punter in the league coming in at 61.3% and the best punter in the league at 72.9%. I put the standard deviation on the table to show who was consistent and who was not. Lower standard deviation means that the punter was more consistent at "gaining yards." Britton Colquitt was more consistent than the average punter, even if that meant he was consistently "leaving yards on the field."
So if we combine yardage gained for the team (punt%), accuracy (ppp) and salary we have a table that shows what teams were getting value from the punter and what teams were not.
| Team | Punt% | PPP | 2014 Salary |
| Browns | 72.9% | 4.3% | $450,000 |
| Falcons | 72.7% | 10.4% | $3,031,176 |
| Dolphins | 71.6% | 15.5% | $3,300,000 |
| Cardinals | 71.5% | 4.4% | $545,000 |
| Packers | 71.0% | 4.1% | $1,200,000 |
| Chargers | 71.0% | 10.8% | $855,000 |
| Titans | 69.1% | 9.1% | $1,298,125 |
| Raiders | 68.6% | 9.2% | $455,333 |
| Jets | 67.6% | 5.1% | $495,000 |
| Bills | 67.5% | 5.8% | $420,000 |
| Ravens | 67.4% | 15.0% | $2,500,000 |
| Panthers | 67.4% | 13.9% | $544,670 |
| Colts | 67.1% | 17.4% | $2,900,000 |
| Buccaneers | 67.0% | 10.3% | $480,000 |
| 49ers | 67.0% | 2.8% | $3,400,000 |
| Patriots | 66.5% | 1.5% | $495,500 |
| Saints | 66.2% | 8.6% | $3,647,500 |
| Steelers | 66.1% | 1.6% | $510,000 |
| Texans | 65.9% | 4.8% | $1,833,333 |
| Jaguars | 65.8% | 2.1% | $719,292 |
| Vikings | 65.2% | 1.3% | $586,048 |
| Bengals | 64.8% | 11.0% | $2,800,000 |
| Bears | 64.8% | 4.2% | $581,327 |
| Broncos | 64.2% | 8.7% | $3,892,333 |
| Giants | 64.1% | 10.0% | $1,883,333 |
| Chiefs | 63.7% | 14.1% | $3,750,000 |
| Rams | 63.5% | 11.3% | $480,000 |
| Cowboys | 63.3% | 8.8% | $465,000 |
| Eagles | 62.2% | 5.3% | $1,833,333 |
| Seahawks | 61.5% | 16.4% | $1,516,667 |
| Redskins | 61.4% | 5.2% | $465,000 |
| Lions | 61.3% | 11.8% | $580,075 |
Indeed, Colquitt was the highest-paid punter in 2014. Out of that investment, the Broncos got one of the ten lowest precision punting percentages and yardage in the bottom half of the league.
Colquitt is under contract to the Broncos for two more years and he still is guaranteed $2.8 million in the final two years of his contract (salary data is from overthecap.com). I don't know what that would mean for our salary cap if we were to cut him and replace him with someone else. Of the punters who made big salaries last year, Matt Bosher, Brandon Fields, Sam Koch and Pat McAfee performed up to that level. The Colquitt brothers did not perform anywhere near the level of their salaries, although Dustin performed much better than Britton. The Seahawks punter, Jon Ryan, left a lot of yards on the field for his salary but he was one of the best in the league at precision punting.
So it would appear that along with plenty of new starters on offense and defense next year, we will have at least one new specialist on the team next year - a new punter.