NFC South Rankings: Specialists

The Falcons feature two specialists who operate at a very high level. Kicker Younghoo Koo is a former Pro-Bowler (2020) with a career 89.1% field goal percentage. He can hit from both short and long distances, as evidenced by his 75% career conversion rate from +50 and career long of 54 yards.

Koo takes advantage of playing a minimum of nine games per year in a domed environment but is still one of the better kickers no matter the external environment. Koo ranked sixth in Pro Football Focus’ kicker grading last year after ranking third the year prior.

Former Buc Bradley Pinion rounds out the specialist battery for the Falcons. While most Bucs fans most recent memories of Pinion are him struggling through a hip injury to finish out the 2021 season with Tampa Bay, he recovered from the injury to post a very solid 2022 campaign with the Falcons. Pinion ranked 25th in average yards per punt (45.9) and 19th in epa/punt.

The Falcons have two above average specialists anchoring their special team’s unit vaulting them into the top spot in the NFC South specialists’ rankings.

Carolina Panthers

As good as Jake Camarda can be, Johnny Hekker is already there in the NFC South. Epa/punt? He was fourth in the NFL last year at 0.19. Yards per punt? He was tied for seventh at 48.4. Net average? He was one of only four punters who cleared 40.0 (40.1).

Hekker was also one of the best punters in the league at preventing opposing punt returners from bringing his punts back, allowing it to only happen 33.3% of the time. To cap it all off, he had 56% of his punts wind up inside the 20 or as a touchback ensuring opposing offenses rarely had advantageous field position to begin their drives.

Eddy Pineiro has battled back from an underappreciated rookie season in 2019 with the Bears to becoming one of the most consistent kickers in the NFL. After not playing in 2020, Pineiro has converted 41 of his last 43 field goal attempts over a two-year period playing for teams that host their home games outside. That is impressive.

And with a career long of 54 yards he has the requisite leg strength to hit from beyond 50 (as evidenced by his perfect five of five record from that distance). If he can repeat his 2022 season this year, the Panthers may lay claim to the No. 1 spot in the NFC South specialists rankings.

Tampa Bay Bucs

The Bucs place second in the NFC South specialist’s rankings with a young promising punter and a bit of a question mark at kicker with some upside. Punter Jake Camarda had a bit of an up and down rookie year in 2022, but ultimately finished the year strong while showing off the athleticism and talent that caused the Bucs to draft him in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft. That included this gem of a non-play which may go down in history as one of the most athletic plays by a punter ever.

Camarda finished 12th in the NFL in epa/punt (+0.05) while averaging over 48.8 yards per punt and 41.4 net yards per punt. He was also able put 22 of his 79 punts inside the 20 while sending an additional 10 into the end zone for a touchback.

This meant over 40% of the time Camarda was putting the opposing offense on their own 20 or worse. Camarda was also top-four in the NFL last year in hangtime, averaging 4.46 seconds. This was likely the skill the Bucs most coveted when they selected him as the second punter taken in that year’s draft.

Kicker Chase McLaughlin is currently penciled in as the starter for the Bucs at kicker. The fact that he is penciled in and not penned in should be an indicator that the team is not in the strongest position at kicker. The Bucs recently signed Rodrigo Blankenship to battle McLaughlin for the kicker job.

Either player represents a stronger leg than last year’s starter Ryan Succop, who was practically money from inside the 50, but was rarely trusted to even attempt a field goal from beyond that distance. McLaughlin had a solid season 2022 for the Colts, hitting 30-of-36 tries including nine of twelve from 50+ with a long of 54. A consistent kicker is essential to winning the NFC South division.

New Orleans Saints

The Saints feature a normally reliable kicker in Wil Lutz who had a down 2022. Lutz only converted 74.2% of his field goal opportunities including just four of eight from 40-49 yards. This area of the field has become an expectation for kickers and Lutz did not meet those expectations last year.

He did make up for it though by hitting 67% of his opportunities from beyond 50 yards. And for the four years prior to 2022, Lutz had amassed an 87.7% field goal conversion rate. Lutz has plenty of leg, hitting a career long of 60 yards just last year.

Blake Gillikin is entering his third season as the Saints punter and sports a career average per punt of 47.0 yards with a net of 41.8 yards. While his net may not wow anyone, Gillikin shows a skill that many other punters covet. He only allowed 33.8% of his punts last year to be returned.

When most punts end up not coming back in the other direction chances it’s a sign you are doing something right. That is a big reason why Gillikin was ranked eighth in the league in epa/punt last year.

If Lutz can regain his pre-2022 form, this specialist duo could challenge for the top spot in the NFC South.