Are We Ready for a Punter Controversy?
With Ben Graham’s dip in 2007, the Mangini made it clear during this minicamp that the Jets are “considering their options.”
Graham was deactivated late in 2007 for one game, and Jeremy Kapinos was given a chance. During the course of the season, Graham’ punting numbers were below his own average, but weren’t dramatically off the mark. He punted a yard shorter on average, but Graham posted his second best inside the 20s mark. Even so, Mangini might be concerned about his punting unti as a whole and considering if Kapinos can bring a better option to the team. When you look at Football Outsiders stats, here is how the Jets stacked up in their punting game over the past three years. Remember that 0.0 is considered average and positive numbers are representative of being above average.
2007: -1.2
2006: 7.9
2005: 4.8
As you can see, the Jets were below average in punting in 2007, but that includes how the coverage unit works, still … the whole punting the ball is integral to that, and Mangini is looking to gain every yard he can.
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I’m not, but I bet Cimini is!
Whoever punts better will be the JETS punter.
Is this a money issue? Maybe save some $$$ by cutting Graham and keeping Kapinos…
Punter controversy? C’mon they’re kickers for goodness’ sake! All joking aside though, how is this different from any Mangini driven ‘open competition’ during camp? When he prefaces training camp with the ‘meritocracy method’ it seems to end in good results; see 2006, not so with 2007 when he mssed up and named Chad the starter before it began.