From Boland's Blog: "A new punter joins the fray As those of you who listened in on Eric Mangini's morning presser know, the new Jets punter is Reggie Hodges. The 6-foot, 226-pound Hodges was originally selected by the Rams in the sixth round of the 2005 draft and was signed to the Patriots practice squad Sept. 4 of this year. He was released Sept. 8. More on him later and Mangini's presser and the time we spent in the locker room. But it's time to head to practice. Maybe we'll see Hodges kick a few. Oh, and Mangini said Hodges would take over holder duties. A commenter asked about that before."
Code: Punts Yds Net Yds Lng Avg Net Avg Blk OOB Dn IN 20 TB FC Ret RetY TD TOTAL 41 1,535 1,353 55 37.4 33.0 1 1 10 9 2 15 13 142 1 ughhh
this guy worries me for some wierd reason.... his name sounds like a name that will be infamous for some game-ending retard play.
Anyone else have the feeling that his first punt is going to be a shank--that is, if he can handle the snap?
Since he can kickoff and handle FG's and PAT's in a pinch, this may have more to do with what happened against Miami. We now have a contingency plan in case the kicker goes down again that doesn't involve our backup QB trying to kick.
I don't understand why we are recycling some old crap that no one wants anymore instead of trying one of the college grads that didn't get drafted? Mike Dragosavich - N. Dakota St. - Released by the pats. Geoff Price - Notre Dame Jimmie Kaylor - Colorado St. - Released by the Falcons. Those are 3-5 of the top 5 punters available in the 2008 NFL draft and they're still available.
Not that I thought Graham was any good, put he has a career net avg of 39 yards. We just picked up a guy who has a career net avg of 37 yards. When you cut someone, shouldn't we try to get someone better????? WTF?!!!
The Pats, Falcons, and whoever cut Price all were old crap no one wanted anymore. Hodges's numbers look bad, but he was a 6th round pick in 2005, and teams keep giving him chances, so there must be something there. We'll see. He's played in 8 games in his career, all in his rookie year. Punters can improve between now and then, and he's been with the Colts, Seahawks, and Patriots the last three years, all giving him a shot. Graham had his chance, did well for a little, then eventually regressed to the point we needed a replacement. At least Hodges provides a little versatility in case Feely gets hurt. Maybe he can kickoff better, too? Mangini did mention kickoffs; maybe they saw Gostkowski and said, "We want that." I don't know. No one does. We'll see Monday.
Where's Reggie Roby when you need him? 6-0, 226 pounds...that's a thick dude. Maybe he's been working out. He did beat out the other scrubs...
Its hard to judge a punter on raw numbers without seeing the games. A 60 yard punt is great but if its low -- then the runback may make it into a 40 yard or less; If hes kicking from the 50 consistently -- then 35 is not bad. How many Fc's etc? Downed within 20? Hang time? Blocked?
Sounds ridiculous doesn't it? Hopefully there is some logical train of thought that we're all missing here? It will be more than extremely disappointing if they spent all this money in the offseason only to pay half assed attn to special teams and lose a bunch of games there.
Here is an interesting read on Waylon Prather. If Hodges doesnt cut it, we could see him soon. A 44.0 yard per kick average his junior year, and a long of 72. He definitely can boot the shit outta it. His placement aint too shabby either...heres a profile link. (PDF) http://www.sjsuspartans.com/downloads1/40792.pdf?ATCLID=1447459&SPID=2290&DB_OEM_ID=5600&SPSID=29304
[/IMG] Looks like 33% of his kicks were inside the 20...and 20% inside the 10...he also had a block, which isn't good. Ben Graham had a 43.7 yard average punt, while this guy had a 37.4. Must have some decent hang time.
