Special Teams

[SpursNBucks]

Ted has a history of not drafting for special teams or considering how a backup performs on ST-he just went with the best backups. This was brought up in a JS article a couple of years ago to try and explain in part why GB had ST issues.You can see he has had a change of heart. Started with firing Slocum in Jan.

Randall was a special teams star at ASU. Many Scouts thought Monty was the best return man in the Draft. Other draftees were strong ST players on their teams.

Kick Returns Harris (2nd last of the 21 that qualified) #20/20.7 (Jones CIN was best at 31.3)

So how important is special teams, and should you use roster spots for special team aces? Chip Kelly - After finishing #19 in 2013 in special teams (stat compiled by Dallas Morning News) he undertook a swift upgrade in the offseason = Traded for return man Sproles and Kicker Cody Parkey and signed a pair of ST aces in Bryan Braman and Chris Maragos. Also brought in undrafted Trey Burton and street free agent Chris Prosinski for coverage units. In 2014 they went from #19 to #1. The Super Bowl Champs finished #3.

If your wondering where GB finished? They finished DEAD LAST #32

The league’s 32 teams are ranked in 22 categories and assigned points according to their standing – one for best, 32 for worst. The Eagles wound up at 201.5 points, 26 better than runner-up Buffalo. The Cowboys finished 13th at 389.5 points.

Sproles returned punts for touchdowns against San Francisco (82 yards) and Carolina (65 yards) and was named to the Pro Bowl team. Parkey led the NFC in scoring with 150 points, converting 32 of his 36 field­-goal tries and all 54 of his extra­point attempts.

The Eagles tied an NFL record with seven special­-teams touchdowns and also blocked a league­high six kicks, including two apiece by Brandon Bair and James Casey. Three blocked punts by coach Dave Fipp’s units were returned for Philadelphia touchdowns by Maragos, Burton and Brad Smith. Maragos led the Eagles with 14 tackles in coverage, followed by Casey with 13, Nolan Carroll with 11 and Braman with eight. Carroll also chipped in a fumble recovery.

[WeekapaugGroove]

It certainly should be better. Goodson, Richardson, and elliot were all pretty good special teams guys last year. Randall was a great gunner in college and Montgomery should be a major upgrade as a returner. Now if some of the redshirted guys like Bradford, Thomas Janis or Abby can contribute then it might just turn into a strength.

[SpursNBucks]

Packers need to replace Masthay

* He was 30th in Net Avg. = 37 yards (Best Koch (BAL) 43.3) = that's a difference of 6.3 yards - and it's not like some big weather variance thing causing that (keep in mind Detroit and Minny are domes). Koch punts in outdoor stadium in Baltimore in the AFC North. Masthay was #26 avg. 43.8, so Koch's Net was almost the same as Masthay's pre-net. You might think, well Masthay punts a lot inside the 20 which brings avg down - Nope, he had the fewest punts inside the 20 = 14 for whole year. Now that # is low because GB punted the fewest times. What these #'s show is Masthay is one of the worst (if not the worst) Punter in the NFL.

What's a little telling to is while Masthay is 26th in punt average, his net average is 30th. You may think the drop is due to the fact he doesn't get hang time on his punts, but he actually is about middle of the road on that. Meaning that net is mostly a product of coverage. Still you want to improve on having the #26 punt average.

They did bring in Cody Mandell in Jan (22 years old/ Alabama) He had a 47.1 avg his Senior season.

[SpursNBucks]

As far as Crosby -

* Ranked 21st in FG% = 88% 27/33
* Tied with 7 others for longest kick 55 yards
* 7/7 inside 30 yards
* 11/12 from 30-40 yards
* 5/7 from 40-50 yards
* 4/7 50+yards
* Missed 2 extra points 53/55 = 1 of only 5 Kickers in the NFL to miss an extra point.

Field Position (Kickoffs)
* He kicked off 97 times 41 of those were touchbacks = 42% = You need a Kicker to avg at least 50% -
Best kickers at field position/touchbacks -
Brandon McManus (Broncos)= 70.3%
Justin Tucker (Ravens)= 69.7%
Pat McAfee (Colts)= 72.9%
Graham Gano (Panthers) = 77.2%

When you consider everything (including weather conditions) Crosby would rank around #20-25th best Kicker in the NFL. The Packers probably feel he is good enough and they can live with mediocrity. The thing I would like to see is better kickoffs- I think field position from kickoffs is often overlooked- Indy has the most accurate Kicker in the NFL, but he doesn't have a huge leg - so they use their punter. The teams that can get touchbacks 70% of the time are all playoff level teams.

[HKPackFan]

Masthay definitely had a bad year but a couple years ago he was doing pretty good. I remember thinking myself, damn at least our punter showed up to play. I fogot what game it was but I remember even MM was praising the punter.

Gotta watch that situation or at least bring in some competition.

[eagle13]

I am delighted ST is getting talked about and being given some extra attention by the head coach. I believe the field position game is under-appreciated and insufficiently engaged The yards gained and lost in exchanging the ball are a major factor in many games – especially close ones.
I agree Masthay and Crosby are below average and that should be getting addressed. I feel great about all the return guys we have. Guess its really up to the nameless positions that block and tackle. Are they nameless? Does anyone know if all of the 11 players on the field – each play a distinctly named position like offense and defense?

[SpursNBucks]

I am delighted ST is getting talked about and being given some extra attention by the head coach. I believe the field position game is under-appreciated and insufficiently engaged The yards gained and lost in exchanging the ball are a major factor in many games – especially close ones.
I agree Masthay and Crosby are below average and that should be getting addressed. I feel great about all the return guys we have. Guess its really up to the nameless positions that block and tackle. Are they nameless? Does anyone know if all of the 11 players on the field – each play a distinctly named position like offense and defense?

It's also good that Ted is addressing it. Historically "old school" GMs/Coaches kind of pooh pooh ST, but a top special teams can win you 2-3 games a year potentially and that's a lot. Field position is the biggest part, and the Packers need to improve that on both ends. I think you will see an improved ST this year, but until they improve on K/P they will still struggle in areas.

NOTE: The 49'ers drafted a Punter in the 5th round. They have Andy Lee- a top 10 Punter. He has one of the richest contracts for a Punter - so this was a salary cap move. They either trade him before June1 or release him after. If the Packers can get him for a decent price- on a 2 year contract it would be a no brainer.

Andy Lee - tied for the 4th best avg 46.8 his net was 15th 39.6 (could be a coverage team issue?) Lee is also good at pinning the ball inside the 20. This would be a pretty big improvement over Masthay who is about last in every category.

Wasn't really anything in the Draft as far as Kickers or Punters.

[Profound23]

That punter the 49er's drafted is 6'5" 230? Woah!

[SpursNBucks]

That punter the 49er's drafted is 6'5" 230? Woah!

Actually I've seen him listed at 6'6" 240

He decided to enter the Draft early - he was a true Junior. A Kicker or Punter have left early only three times before- Kardocki and Janikowski- both did well, and some guy named Brad Wing- undrafted currently with Steelers.

The thing that makes this more odd - is he wasn't that outstanding - middle of the pack in ACC 42.6 avg. The Packers signed a Punter in Jan who avg 47.1 at Alabama in 2013. The key could be kickoffs - he 102 touchbacks in 178 kickoffs- that's pretty good, but not eye popping. Taking him in the 5th when you could probably have gotten him in the 7th or as a UFA- head scracther. Shades of Brett Conway.

This draft doesn't look good on paper for the Niners. They lost the heart and soul of the team in Gore and Willis. Then Borland who looked great retires. Then just to promote from within for Head Coach - Tomsula? Then you had Kapernick becoming unraveled last year. This team looks like they could take a nose dive. They did add Reggie Bush and Darnell Dockett in FA, but lost Iupati and Crabtree in addition to the above.

[Flames24Rulz]

Masthay definitely had a bad year but a couple years ago he was doing pretty good. I remember thinking myself, damn at least our punter showed up to play. I fogot what game it was but I remember even MM was praising the punter.

Gotta watch that situation or at least bring in some competition.

He was awesome in the 2010 NFCCG. He also had a couple of years where he was one of the best punters in the league. For whatever reason, he was just bad last year.

Hopefully an actual competition this year will wake him up.

[SpursNBucks]

Masthay definitely had a bad year but a couple years ago he was doing pretty good. I remember thinking myself, damn at least our punter showed up to play. I fogot what game it was but I remember even MM was praising the punter.

Gotta watch that situation or at least bring in some competition.

He was awesome in the 2010 NFCCG. He also had a couple of years where he was one of the best punters in the league. For whatever reason, he was just bad last year.

Hopefully an actual competition this year will wake him up.

2013 (Avg) Ranked #21 44.6 / (net) #21 39 Andy Lee was 3rd and 4th
2012 (Avg) Ranked #27 43.5 / (net) #21 38.9 Andy Lee was was 5th and 1st
2011 (Avg) Ranked #15 45.6 / (net) #21 38.6 Andy Lee was 1st and 1st
2010 (Avg) Ranked #14 43.9 / (net) #18 37.6 Andy Lee was 4th and 15th

The fact is he wasn't as bad as last year, but consistently is in the bottom 3rd - his rookie year was his best year ranking wise. You could call him mediocre, but being consistently in the bottom 3rd = he's a bad Punter. Andy Lee would clearly be an upgrade. They paid him as the best Punter in the league when they gave him the big contract. If he gets cut loose after June 1 you have to go for him if you can get a fair deal - I think you would be able to do that. We'll see how important the Punter is the Packers. Maybe the kid from Alabama will be the answer?

I read an article about the Punter the 49'ers drafted - a big reason they chose him was his ability to kickoff. That is something I think you will see a lot more- Punters who can kickoff. It really worked well for Indy.Plus this kid looks like a LB- like having another defender on the field for coverage team.