We thought it was a real competition. It wasn’t.
The Green Bay Packers will go with Tim Masthay as their punter for another season. They released Pete Mortell on Monday.
And that’s as sure a sign as any that Mortell was token competition for the veteran, much like Giorgio Tavecchio was token competition for Mason Crosby several years back.
Mortell outkicked Masthay in the first two preseason games, but failed to do so in week 3. As Shawn and Monty addressed on the podcast — if you’re going to unseat an incumbent, you have to blow him out of the water.
So are you ready for another season of terrible punting?
Thanks to the likes of Jeff Janis and Chris Banjo, Masthay set a team record for net punting average in 2015. While that looks swell on the surface, his season was otherwise awful. Of Masthay’s 81 punts, only 18 were placed inside the 20. His 43.9 yard average ranked 25th in the league.
But, you know, we’ve seen enough of this fake competition…