In his defense , Kerley has obviously not been a favorite of this coaching staff and ST as a whole has been atrocious. Guys are in his face before he even catches the football.
Kerley has been a fair catch king long before this season. He is not a very good returner. He lacks that explosive step and cut back ability.
The cries of Kerley sucking at punt returning are over blown. He's 16th in the league for average punt return. Is he great? No, obviously not. But he's not terrible and he doesn't fumble the ball. He's tied for 6th in the league in fair catches with Darren Sproles.
I still say it's worth using a roster spot for an impact return specialist. Someone with the ability to break one. But I guess with kick offs basically almost neutralized it has diminished the role of a KOR. We had Justin Miller for a while and I'd like to get a guy like that. But Kerley on punt returns is reliable and ok. But he's not a threat for a big return. You usually are not going to get superior field position when he returns punts but no fumbles either.
Is it though? I wouldn't waste a roster spot on that position anymore. We need someone a little bit better than Stacy at this point who probably runs a 4.8 40 time but that player needs to do other things. In a league where more than likely 75% or more of kick returns are touchbacks there's no reason to waste a spot on a guy praying he takes it back 108 yards to the house which rarely happens.
Exactly. Not to mention there has only been 6 punt return touchdowns all year, and 9 return touchdowns in total. That's seems a bit abnormally high too I'd guess that number levels out to even less than 1 a week. Some teams can go a decade without a puny return. Our last one might be with Leon vs. Miami? As long as you don't have a guy fumbling back there or taking huge losses they're fine.
To me it's worth it. Because of the extra yardage you would get and field position. If you can start your drive around the 40 instead of the 20 and sometimes even deeper than that's worth a roster spot. That 20 yards and maybe one or two Tds. The roster spot is a backup guy and right now we are carrying 3 Qbs on the active roster.
75% of kickoffs sure aren't touchbacks when Folk kicks off. Given our coverage units this may yet be a problem for us.
What team is starting with the ball on the 40 every time or even frequently? http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/drivestatsoff Average starting drive position per kickoff ranges from the 18 yard line to the 26 yard line. We fall right in between at the 23 mark and actually in the upper echelon of the league which is surprising to me, but still. There's not enough disparity to keep a guy solely for kickoff returns anymore without having some other capability. Few teams do it. The Seahawks do it versus the Eagles who don't do it because Sproles has other uses on offense. I'm all for getting a good kick returner but there are too few roster spots for a guy that's not going to contribute on offense or defense IMO.
40 is an overestimate statistically. But a great return guy like a Hester can give you consistently better field position on a regular basis. And be a threat to break one or get you deep into opponent's territory. To me a lot more valuable than a back up linebacker or receiver who basically just plays on special teams. But it looks like the Jets have not prioritized it so they agree with you on this.
There's not too much of a difference among the 32 teams in their average starting position though. The statistics prove it. If there was a 20 yard range I'd be more apt to agree with you. Fact is we're near the top of the NFL in field position off the kickoff. Before they moved the kickoff up I'd agree with you. Now a returner probably only gets one legitimate chance to return the ball that's not 7 or 8 yards deep. Look at the dynamic returners like Jacoby Jones and Hester as you mentioned. Their importance has vastly decreased in this league and so has their return production.
Rough one. Unless his injury is serious I don't really agree with this move, he's a good player with plenty of upside. Not sure why a guy like Bowen is still allowed to stick around when he adds absolutely nothing and has zero upside. Edit: Also, no Ridley this week.
What's the difference between waived/injured and just putting the player on injured reserve? I know that in the preseason the injured reserve player will still take one of your 90 slots, while the waived/injured player won't, but what's the difference during the season? The only thing I can find online seems to suggest that once they clear waivers you can put them on injured reserve, but if you're going to do that, then why put them on waivers at all - just put them on injured reserve and not expose them to waivers? If they clear waivers, supposedly you can do a settlement with them and just pay them for the length of their injury and then they'd be a free agent after that period. But there has been speculation that they'll put jarret on IR if he clears waivers, so why expose him to waivers at all? By exposing them to waivers, if they're not claimed can you bring them back later in the same year if you do an injury settlement?
darren sproles has a ton of fair catches because teams dont want him returning the ball. so they game plan to kick shorter higher punts to avoid returns kerley fair catches because... well he is kerley. he needs to go
ESPECIALLY for a team like us without great QB play that relys on defense and the run game heavily. its also not about touchdowns, its like you said, the yardage and field position do we really miss kerley if we cut him for a punt returner? kerley is basically a return specialist himself
Punt return is the least of our special teams worries. Every punt returner in the league fair catches the ball, usually because they're going to get smoked by a defender when they catch it if they don't.
