The History of The Strangest NFL Dynasty of all Time

guy stands at his own 44 yd Line This is Raiders punter's R guy and if you had the pleasure of watching them during their Prime you probably thought to yourself at one point or another dang they have the best punter in the league but little did you probably know that you could have said that just about any year because the Raiders holy [ __ ] do they have something different going on with their punters oh okay just got off a 63 yd pun a 63 yard punt by the terrific AJ Cole one of the best in the business from Marquette King this good from Marquette King is a little too good so today we're going and taking a look at the strange phenomenon that is the Raiders Dynasty at the punting position and just how overwhelmingly dominant it has been for this position group so let's go back to where this starts the 1950s you see punting was just starting to become really important by 1963 the first punter ever was drafted to the Kansas City Chiefs by the name of Gerald Wilson and while he was pretty good he didn't make it a particularly popular event to go out and draft punters in fact it wasn't another 6 years until more punters were drafted and among the 1969 class the Raiders were still not interested in picking up one during this time they had their quarterbacks holding it down for the most part even though they did have a kicker named Mike Mercer that occasionally took those reps and into the early' 7s they wanted to try their hand at a true punter with Jerry dep poyer but there's a problem with punters during this time they really weren't that much better than position players who could punt I mean the third pest punter in ' 66 which was the first random year that I typed in was a tight end still beating out multiple true punters by 1971 though things were beginning to shift because not only had there now been a whopping nine punters drafted at this point but in 1973 history was going to be made in a way that had never been done before so to understand why history was about to be made let me introduce you to an important player in this Saga Al Davis you see Al was the head coach of the Raiders from 63 to 65 where at the time they had a variety of people punting the football between quarterbacks kickers and tight end then when he became the principal owner and general manager in 1972 he inherited deer who at the time was dead last in the league in punting and he decided he never wanted to have to deal with that ever again and that choice would potentially change the landscape of football forever enter the 73 draft the first 10 picks were pretty average defensive end John matac to the Oilers who ironically played most of his ball with the Raiders five pro bowlers were drafted in a row with quarterback Bert Jones tackle Jerry sisemore Hall of Fame guard John the hog Hannah then a defensive tackle and a tight end and you know the rest of the the picks are kind of to be expected a lot of future pro bowlers busts and everything in between all the way down to pick number 23 where the Raiders would select for the first and only time in NFL history Ray guy pter that's for sure one way to ensure your future punter doesn't suck is to take an already risky position and put that entire weight of a first round Draft pick on him but oh man did it pan out well year one rookie punter Ray guy has a 45.3 yd average2 yards behind ironically the first punter ever drafted Gerald Wilson he goes to the Pro Bowl and as an allpro his first year not just off of his high level of punting but also off of some amazing athleticism year two he lead the league in punting average and was now selected as an allp proo again and a pro bowler for the second time and not to bore you but his first six season in the league he was an all pro and pro bowler while leading the league in yards per punt multiple times during that time as well and this was also while catching High snaps low snaps sometimes running with the ball and making touchdown saving tackles he wasn't your everyday punter he was an athlete that happened to punt and you see him this day and age it just wasn't common but what he did was more than just be good at punting the reality is that he set the bar for what punting should be high hang times he did that directionally sound he really made that popular but most importantly consistent y holy crap it wasn't about being good this man was good every punt every ball he had a process he had a form that wasn't something he could just replicate but he could actually teach it which he did in fact the wave of private coaching that swept the nation was largely spread by him and the ray guy kicking camps so not only did he set the standard but he spread the standard ironically enough by the 80s though Ray's momentum was slowing down as other punters began to catch up with him punters like Luke pres the first black punter and Greg Coleman and legendary Reggie Roby had all begun to show out and make their names as punters who were kicking the ball as well if not better by he was but by 1986 posting a below average yards per punt for the league and a pretty average net punt Ray would retire maybe without knowing the effect that he had on the league of forcing teams to re-evaluate their punting position and jump the punting position into what we knew it in the 880s and '90s that High drop long flowy swing upwards the jump all the fingerprints that R guy himself had imprinted on football during the 70s and 80s which is why it's known as the ray guy era that's why he was a number one draft Jo no one says who drafts a punter in the first round look at that play now 1987 they would flounder just a bit with Stan tally who was okay but not great in 88 though they'd pick up Jeff goset who would do more than just hold it down for the Raiders I mean he is not by any strench The Shining Star of this absolutely stacked list but after you just had the Tom Brady of punters getting a guy who I would describe as I don't know maybe like a Seattle Seahawks version of Russell Wilson for punters is not a bad person to step in I mean he was consistently good and shoot even in 1991 he was a first team all proo and pro bowler and although he didn't reach the same Heights as many of the other guys on this list the type of consistency that he brought in the 80s and '90s is not something you let go which is why he stayed until 1996 where he would eventually retire this period was followed by punter Leo aru who held it down from 1997 to 99 and he was just brought in off of the free agency lot where he would have moderate success his best year was a 97 where he post a solid 45 yard average which would be just 0.1 yards behind Matt Turk Uncle of other YouTuber Michael Turk better known as Hang Time Leo would deteriorate after the season though posting a 43 yd average of 98 and a 40 yard average of 99 so heading into 2000 Al Davis was ready to ditch the free agent Market once again and head back to the draft to find his answer this time turning his eyes to Texas A&M punter Shane lecker he had lots of similar traits to Ray guy he wasn't just a punter but an athlete he was the team's emergency quarterback and that was more than just a title as they actually almost brought him in a couple times in '98 Shan threw for two touchdowns on fakes one of which you're you're really not going to believe this so grab on to something was to now Lions head coach Dan Campbell Dan Campbell with the catch from The Shane he was even referred to by the head coach as the most valuable player on the team so this time in the fifth round instead of the first Al Davis submitted the slip to make lecker the Raiders punter and this legitimately may be one of the biggest draft deals ever his first season he comes out and his second best in yards per punt number one in net Punt and fifth best in punts down inside the 20 immediately shooting to the top of the charts for punting and he by no means was about to slow down as he was selected to his first All Pro the year after he would be second in the league again in yards per punt earning a Pro Bowl selection before a 2002 laps where he would just be pretty average but I guess someone said something to him that lit up a spark inside of him like we hadn't seen in a very very long time as he would go on some of the most dominating stretches of punting since Ray guy's introduction into the league 03 he would leak the leading yards per Punt and get a first team All Pro bid 04 he'd lead the leagues in punting and an all pro and pro bowl bid 05 he'd lead it again but he'd get snubbed from the award ceremonies as well as 06 where he was just excellent with an all-time career high 47.5 yards a punt but come up just short of any of those recognitions again two years out of the all Pro listings seem to snap something inside of Shane because for the next 5 Years From 07 to1 he would be absolutely dominant he' leag the lead an ' 07 with a 49.1 yard average he'd earn an all proo and earn a pro bow he was a top contender in ' 08 with a 48.8 yard average and a pro bowler in all pro once again 09 he would set the modern record for yards a punt with 51.1 yards being the closest anybody had gotten in decades to Sammy boss's legendary 51.3 which was set in 1940 and obviously earned all pro and pro bowl honors again in the following two years he would go all pro and pro bowl back to back with a 47 and 50 yard average respectively meaning since he had been in the league for 12 years he had been an all pro or pro bowler nine of those years only missing on three accolades out of 12 years which by every metric is the most dominating stretch of hunting ever but things were about to get significantly more competitive for this position especially in 2012 when Raiders would sign a young punter by the name of Marquette King out of Fort Valley State where he would miraculously win the job Against All Odds in 2013 and man were we just never going to look back but we will right now because those 13 years from Shane might never happen again which is why the NFL made an all decade team where Shane was their punter in the 2000s and when they made their all Century team it was Shane lecker once again as their guy backed up by no other than Ray guy himself so legitimately Ray guy is the only Hall of Fame punter and if there was ever to be a second punter enshrined in the hall it would go to no other than Raiders Legend Shane lecker now ller Boomer side bounce never oh did it touch the in line I think they're inches away in play so jumping back to 2013 as I alluded to earlier the Raiders had decided to move on and go with Marquette King but let's take a look at the new cast of punters king would be competing against CU it wasn't just the fellow two or three other Elite punters like lecker or one or two like great guy but he was in the Golden Age of punting out of New Orleans you had Thomas morstead who was going to put punting on a whole new level of consistency he came in the league at' 09 as well as Pat McAfee the embodiment of confident Swagger skill and making puning fun to watch who entered in 09 as well you still had Shane lecker just off of a string of All Pro appearances who is now down in Texas and Johnny Hecker who would push the game forward 10 years with his technical ability alone and other Legends like the coquit brothers Andy Lee Brian anger Sam Cook Brett ker so many punters who were so amazing but at the top of the list 2013 leading in yards per punt was a young rookie Marquette King and he wasn't just leading in yards per punt but doing it with style he also wasn't just hitting big punts on the field but off the field his highlights at training camps were going viral bringing in a whole new wave of punters to the scene like myself when you saw that sway when he turned his hat backwards then demolished a football a young Isaac sat in front of his parents computer and said oh yeah I want to do that now 13- 17 in all trans parency we were in Johnny Hecker era like I said this is one of the few times you could confidently say Raiders did not have the number one punter but they still did have a top three punter when it was impressive to even be top 10 2014 was just an all right year statistically while his leg was being demolished under the weight of 109 punts That season in 2015 was a junior year slump that hey even Lear faced that but by 2016 King was ready to shoot back out on top which he did with a 48.6 yd average sitting only behind Andy Lee who is a quiet Legend and Pat McAfee during Pat's best year now by 2017 he was still a statistically dominant Force but when bringing in a new coach that year his personality and the coaches collided and he wasn't brought back The Following Season as they opted to go to the draft Market again despite the fact they were getting rid of at the time the ninth highest career gross average punter in NFL history and like I said even even though King wasn't given as many awards or accolades as some of his predecessors he did as much for the world's punting as they had by bringing more eyes to it getting a whole generation of kids excited about this play and the domino effect of his career is probably why this channel exists but like I said the Raiders would opt to go to the draft where they would get punter Johnny towns in and let's just be real it didn't work out he didn't perform too well and at the next level despite his rampid success in college there was no longer Al Davis calling the shots and and we felt it so needing a solution the 2019 Raiders would bring in this punter out of NC State by the name of AJ Cole to compete for the job and boy howdy would he succeed you know how I said King was in one of the hardest years to be the best in well a lot of that was due to just how quickly things had advanced in that short span of time with the different trick punts to get higher net averages than we had ever seen and Marquette was just a spiral punter meaning the ball would often go much further in the air but would be harder to cover which is why the disparity between gross average and net average existed but AJ would come in and dominate in the most dominating era 2019 he would just be getting his feet wet a different tone than the previous three who came out and were absolutely dominant from the get-go then 2020 with all the co things happening he was just all right again and I guess that got some pressure from the higher ups for things to change because that year would be his Breaking Point The Following Season out of nowhere he would become number won in the league 50 yards per Punt and over 42.5 yards of net per punt getting Pro pole and All Pro honors the year after ballistic again this time 48 yard average but over 44% of his punts would stay inside the 20 earning him once again Pro Bowl honors and All Pro honors in a year were the only person competing with him tied the alltime net punt average and this past season he would go once again again ballistic 50.4 yd average and 45% of those punts staying inside the 20 this would make him a first team all proo and a pro bowler again and why it's so special is in a land where gimmick punting has taken over with banana punts misdirection punts Louis punts and AJ does it almost entirely with spirals by being that much better than everyone else at the hardest punting style to perform and right now nobody on God's green earth is hitting the ball as well as consistently as AJ in every punter knows it so what this means is across the last 50 years from 1973 when Ray guy was drafted until 2023 when AJ Cole just won his third consecutive all proo they have not only had the consensus best punter to play in Ray guy but also the only punter to ever challenge that claim in Shay lecker and now with a run that AJ is on possibly the only one to compete with those two with AJ currently sitting as the highest punting average in the history of the National Football League for his career across Five Seasons they've also had punters in the Pro Bowl 17 times in the 50-year span that they've drafted Ray guy as well as earning All Pro recognition 20 times that means for the past 50 years they have had an all pro punter 40% of the time which is insane for any organization to dominate a position like that and I'm not sure any other team has had such a strangle hold on a position group like the Raiders have had on punters having possibly three of the top five punters in the history of football as long as AJ stays on the trend he's been on and I'd be interested to hear in what other teams have had a position group like this and I'm eager to see what you guys have to say about it in the comments but as always if you enjoyed this history lesson consider subscribing and peace that I think it's so cool to play this position for this particular franchise I think that the history they have from Ray guy to Shane leer um it's just incredible I think it means a lot to have that uh have that honor to play play for this franchise

Channel: Isaac Punts

Views: 36,821

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Id: tJQDhZl9c1g

Length: 17min 44sec (1064 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 21 2024