Thread: Punters

Okay, so it looks like we're going with Darren Bennett this year. We signed him to some good money, so I don't see any way around it. But then why hasn't Eddie Johnson been released? Granted, he's looked good in camp, but there's no way we're not putting Darren Bennett in. So my question is this: are we going into the season with two punters on the roster? Is that common or practical?

It's always good to have competition in camp. There's almost always two kickers/punters so they can work together and push each other.

Brett Conway was another brilliant third-round pick by the Packers. He was a kicker and was supposed to be the kicker for years to come. He, of course, fell apart, and the other kicker that happened to be in camp, Ryan Longwell, has been around ever since.

I highly doubt that we would carry two punters on the roster during the season. However, I'm sure we'll bring both into camp, an let them compete against each other. I don't know the number for sure, but I think you get about 80 roster spots, plus your NFL Europe players, to take into training camp, so there will be plenty of room to let the punters fight it out.

Yes, I think both will go to training camp. I heard that they found a mechanical flaw in Johnson's game and have corrected it, and he is looking much better. However, another article I read today said Bennett's kicks were consistently going 10-15 yards further than Johnson's, and Bennett can put three different types of spin on the ball. I'd kind of like to see Johnson stay close to the Vikings as a developmental project (don't think we can stick him on our practice squad, though) and maybe he will be ready in a couple of years when Bennett is ready to hang it up. Right now though, Bennett looks like a shoe-in at punter this season.

Well, for the here and now, I would be in favor of Bennett as our punter. But I'm also aware that he can't keep it up forever, so we need a plan for the future. If Johnson has indeed corrected his game, it would be a shame to lose him and then have him perform well for another team, not to mention that we'd have to start over with another punter. I think we need to keep him somehow, but it seems like it would be a waste of a roster spot or even a practice squad spot (despite having extended the number to 8). Is there another way to keep him on?

Well, the problem is, Bennett is old. And Eddie Johnson, while being shaky, simply has too much potential to release.

I say we keep him on a practice Squad member.

It sounds like the coaches love the way Johnson is looking in mini camp so far. Like someone else said, he changed his mechanics a little and it has helped. Bennett will still almost assuridly be our punter next year, but if Johnson keeps improving, I bet we put him on the practice squad. Bennett isn't a young guy, so Johnson could eventually be our punter in the future.

Eddie Johnson also supposedly had a very good training camp, I say keep him on to have some training camp competition.

"Viking_Spirit" wrote:

Eddie Johnson also supposedly had a very good training camp, I say keep him on to have some training camp competition.

Every team has 2 punters and 2 kickers well into the preseason. It is just a matter of, so we keep him on our practice squad again? I say yes, if he does continue to improve and look good.