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The Arizona Cardinals have signed former Sun Devil punter Matt Haack, who has 6 years of NFL experience:
There is a bit of fascination with this signing:
Matt Haack is a fascinating signing for bc when Monti Ossenfort was with Patriots, Bill Belichick had a penchant/strong belief in playing lefty punters. Haack landed 28 punts inside the 20 last season, 9th most in NFL. 44.8 ave., 41.2 net. 22 fair catches, 8th best in NFL. https://t.co/Ctc7C7RSk1
— Walter B J Mitchell (@WBJMItch) May 15, 2023
The strength of Matt Haack’s skill set is his above average hang time. See for yourself:
#dolphins punter matt haack averaged 48.8 yards per punt on sunday--including 3 that landed inside the 20-yard line. his career net punting average of 40.2 is the best in @miamidolphins history. @patmcafeeshow #forthebrand
— josh houtz (@houtz) September 21, 2020
p.s this was his 50th-consecutive NFL game. pic.twitter.com/J68mITDIAT
Hang time was a bit of an issue with Andy Lee last year in that he out-distanced the coverage on a number of occasions, which is why the average on his punts was an impressive 47.1, but his net was 40.9. His inside the 20s and fair catch numbers 18 and 16 respectively.
Matt Haack averaged 44.8, netted 41.2, dropped 28 punts inside the 20 and induced 22 fair catches
When a punter’s average and net numbers are within 3-4 yards, that’s what STC coaches aim and hope for. These numbers reflect a punter’s hang-time and consistency.
All-Pro punters in 2022:
Tommy Townsend (KC) —- 50.4 ave., 45.6 net, 22 inside 20, 16 fair catches.
Ryan Stonehouse (TEN) —- 53.1 ave., 44.0 net, 30 inside 20, 11 fair catches.
Number of Punts 2022:
- Stonehouse: 90
- Haack: 71
- Lee: 68
- Townsend: 53
Return Yards:
- Townsend: 176
- Haack: 192
- Lee: 337
- Stonehouse; 636
Average Yards Between Average Distance and Net:
- Haack: 3.6
- Townsend: 4.8
- Lee: 6.2
- Stonehouse: 9.1
The way the Cardinals are loading up on special teams, it’s quite possible that Matt Haack, with his consistent hang time, could have the lowest pun return average in the league.
Welcome back to Arizona, Matt Haack!
Homage to Andy Lee:
We have yet to hear whether Andy Lee is retiring. If he is, Lee has turned in one of the longest (19 years) and most impressive punting careers (3 x 1st Team All-Pro, 1 time 2nd Team All-Pro, 3 x NFL punting yards leader, once with Cardinals in 2018) in the history of the NFL. The Cardinals have been very fortunate to have Andy Lee punter for them for the past six seasons. Plus, he was superb at pulling off fake punts. Like this classic:
Punter Andy Lee shows off the accuracy on the fake punt pic.twitter.com/b3vHIaqwpS
— Cardinals Nation (@CardsNationCP) December 26, 2022
Best wishes, always, to you, Andy Lee.
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