Green Bay Packers punter Jeremy Kapinos was put on notice on more than one occasion during the 2009 season. Kapinos was so bad, Packers coach Mike McCarthy felt the need to publicly call him out twice.
Kapinos responded with… well, he managed to keep his job even though he probably had no business doing so.
Football Outsiders released their rankings for punters earlier this week and guess who finished last (or first! if the list is for NFL’s worst punter): Jeremy Kapinos.
Kapinos was fairly average if you look at his gross average. He finished 16th in the league in average at 43.8, but where he was really terrible is net average. Kapinos finished a putrid 33rd with a 34.1 net average. Additionally, he had only 15 punts inside the 20 (31st) and seven punts that were fair catches (33rd), while recording 10 touchbacks (2nd).
So, all in all, a pretty horrible season, but these aren’t even the stats Football Outsiders uses to determine who the best and worst punters in the league are.
For punters, we measure gross punt value by analyzing the what the net value of every punt would be if the other team had a league-average return on that punt. A “league-average” return is based on the length of the punt and the yard line where it is caught. We don’t have measures of hang time, and of course the net value of an unreturnable punt doesn’t need to be adjusted for a “league-average” return. But this allows us to separate the value of punters from coverage teams without over-valuing punters who get high gross punting averages by kicking touchbacks that don’t improve field position as much as shorter kicks downed inside the 20. We also adjust for weather and altitude.
Kapinos placed last (or first!) by a sizable margin.
| Punter | Team | Punt Pts+ | Net Pts+ |
| 7-J.Kapinos | GB | -11.8 | -16.2 |
| 2-R.Hodges | TEN/CLE | -9.7 | -1.6 |
| 6-C.Hanson | NE | -8.4 | -6.0 |
| 3-A.Podlesh | JAC | -6.6 | 6.0 |
| 18-J.Feagles | NYG | -6.1 | -4.8 |
By contrast, the best punters in the league looked like this.
| Punter | Team | Punt Pts+ | Net Pts+ |
| 4-A.Lee | SF | 17.3 | 12.8 |
| 9-S.Lechler | OAK | 17.1 | 18.2 |
| 5-B.Graham | ARI | 14.9 | 10.7 |
| 9-J.Ryan | SEA | 11.3 | -1.2 |
Jon Ryan!
I know what you’re thinking – I know that name from somewhere!
Yeah, Jon Ryan was the guy that Packers general manager Ted Thompson released prior to the 2008 season in favor of Derrick Frost.
Who?
Exactly.
Frost sucked so badly that he gave way to Kapinos towards the end of 2008. And now, Kapinos just sucks.
That’s probably why the Packers signed punter Tim Masthay, a University of Kentucky product, to a reserve/futures contract last week. Can Masthay unseat Kapinos? You would hope so, since Kapinos is obviously the bottom of the NFL barrel.
Or, if not Masthay, how about this revolutionary idea? The Packers could grab a punter in the seventh round of this year’s draft.
However it works out, Kapinos needs to be replaced.
