Japanese kicker Toshiki Sato says he’s received interest from the Cowboys

Pantone282C

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True unless he were to get injured then you lose your punter and your kicker.
Yeah, there is that. I'm intrigued with Greg Zuerlein and Forbath, but everyone needs to earn their position going forward. The PK position is open for best guy. Hope Chris Jones gets back to form, but he needs competition too.
 

gimmesix

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Yeah, there is that. I'm intrigued with Greg Zuerlein and Forbath, but everyone needs to earn their position going forward. The PK position is open for best guy. Hope Chris Jones gets back to form, but he needs competition too.

I can understand if Dallas believes last year as an aberration. He had his lowest average (41.6) and net average (37.7) of his career. However, he's been coming down some the last few years.

From 2012-2016, He averaged at least 45 yards per punt, even though he was putting a lot inside the 20, and for most of those years, his net average was above 40. (He only had 18 inside the 20 last year and 17 the year before after a high of 34 in 2017, which explains his 44.1-yard average (41.4 net) that year.

The last two years, we've had a punter with an average under 45 and a net average under 40, and those are not acceptable numbers, especially with fewer downed inside the 20.
 
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Pantone282C

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I can understand if Dallas believes last year as an aberration. He had his lowest average (41.6) and net average (37.7) of his career. However, he's been coming down some the last few years.

From 2012-2016, He averaged at least 45 yards per punt, even though he was putting a lot inside the 20, and for most of those years, his net average was above 40. (He only had 18 inside the 20 last year and 17 the year before after a high of 34 in 2017, which explains his 44.1 yard averaged (41.4 net) that year.

The last two years, we've had a punter with an average under 45 and a net average under 40, and those are not acceptable numbers, especially with fewer downed inside the 20.
Good read. Bad stats. I was a punter. It is a perishable skill. :(
 

Plankton

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I can understand if Dallas believes last year as an aberration. He had his lowest average (41.6) and net average (37.7) of his career. However, he's been coming down some the last few years.

From 2012-2016, He averaged at least 45 yards per punt, even though he was putting a lot inside the 20, and for most of those years, his net average was above 40. (He only had 18 inside the 20 last year and 17 the year before after a high of 34 in 2017, which explains his 44.1 yard averaged (41.4 net) that year.

The last two years, we've had a punter with an average under 45 and a net average under 40, and those are not acceptable numbers, especially with fewer downed inside the 20.

Jones' performance was not great last year. His distance was not up to snuff, and some of that may have been due to the back issue that he had last year. The net average and punts downed inside the 20 were directly impacted by the awful coverage units that the Cowboys had on special teams.

I have no issue with him having a shot at retaining his job, but they need to bring in real competition so he earns it.
 

gimmesix

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Jones' performance was not great last year. His distance was not up to snuff, and some of that may have been due to the back issue that he had last year. The net average and punts downed inside the 20 were directly impacted by the awful coverage units that the Cowboys had on special teams.

I have no issue with him having a shot at retaining his job, but they need to bring in real competition so he earns it.

I don't have an issue with it either if he can return to form. However, the last two years show a declining punter, even if the decline is because of injury, so I can't understand why Dallas hasn't brought in real competition for the job. That's all I want. If Jones wins and retains his spot, then he'll either have deserved it or the other player sucked.

As far as the number of punts inside the 20 goes, I think poor field position for us probably affected those numbers some. He wasn't punting as much from near midfield. Coverage doesn't affect punts downed inside the 20 because those are ones that are not returned.
 

Plankton

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I don't have an issue with it either if he can return to form. However, the last two years show a declining punter, even if the decline is because of injury, so I can't understand why Dallas hasn't brought in real competition for the job. That's all I want. If Jones wins and retains his spot, then he'll either have deserved it or the other player sucked.

As far as the number of punts inside the 20 goes, I think poor field position for us probably affected those numbers some. He wasn't punting as much from near midfield. Coverage doesn't affect punts downed inside the 20 because those are ones that are not returned.

Coverage affects the punts inside the 20 if they don't down the kicks that the returner lets go.
 

gimmesix

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Coverage affects the punts inside the 20 if they don't down the kicks that the returner lets go.

I don't know if we failed to down more kicks than usual that the returner let go. One of the things Jones has been really good at over his career is dropping punts out of bounds inside the 20. He hasn't really relied as much on them being downed as other punters.

As I said, I do think our poor starting position likely affected his numbers on punts downed inside the 20 last year, but other than fewer attempts, he also just did not punt as well last year. (Consider that a 44.1 average in 2017 with 34 punts inside the 20 is actually much better than a 44.5 average in 2018 with 17 inside the 20, which is much better than last year's 41.6 with 18 inside the 20.)
 

Kaiser

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Chris Jones has two main jobs, punter and holder. After picking up the backup tight end, we don't need him as a holder. So if we can actually get a better punter, then he's out.

Fun fact, Bob Sturm wrote an article on new ST Coach John Fassel that he had more fakes than any other ST coach in the NFL from 2012 - 2019. Part of that was because his punters (Shane Lechler and Johnny Hekker) were former QBs who could throw the ball.

Bell was a 4 star QB recruit when he went to OU so he is likely better at it than Lechler or Hekker. Get ready for some fakes next year!
 

bb721

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I’ve received interest from the Cowboys too, in the sense that they’ve asked me to stay away from all of their facilities
 
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