Grade for the Buffalo Bills signing punter Matt Haack
Last year, Corey Bojorquez was one of the best punters in the NFL and had an excellent season for the Buffalo Bills. However, with how little they punted last year the question was whether or not it made sense to pay Bojorquez as one of the best at his position.
The Bills had to first make the decision if they wanted to tender Bojorquez since he was a restricted free agent. This would have meant at a minimum they would have had to offer him a one-year deal worth $2.13 million.
General manager Brandon Beane ultimately decided to not tender Bojorquez and instead signed punter Matt Haack to a three-year deal. Haack has spent the past four seasons with the Miami Dolphins after he signed as an undrafted free agent out of Arizona State.
Over those four seasons, Haack has been one of the most used punters in the league and averaged just under 77 punts per season. This is close to double what Bojorquez did last year with only 41.
In his career, Haack has an average of 44.7 yards per punt which isn’t necessarily the longest but what he is very accurate with his punts. He has an average of 37.4% of his punts being downed inside the 20 yard line. What is more impressive is that while he has 114 punts that landed inside the 20 he has had only 15 touchbacks. In the past two seasons, he has had a touchback rate under 3.0% while Corey Bojorquez last season was over 10%.
This is the biggest difference between the two punters and I believe it was one of the reasons why the Buffalo Bills ultimately decided to make the switch. The other reason is salary. According to Spotrac, Haack signed a three-year deal worth $5.475 and doesn’t have a cap hit over $2 million in any season, including only $1.575 this year.
Next. Buffalo Bills trade tight end Lee Smith. dark
While it may be hard to walk away from Corey Bojorquez after the season he had when considering the offense they have and the fact that if the Buffalo Bills do punt, it is likely coming near midfield having an accurate punter like Matt Haack makes sense.
Final Grade: B+