Day 164

Fresh Start_164: Pat McAfee Retires
The NFL is now losing players at a rate that hasn’t been seen before. With his announcement this morning Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee said he was done playing football. He tweeted out a letter to his fans and to the league that he wanted to transition to do other things and that his focus “wasn’t all there.” This coming off of a great season for McAfee—the best of his career.

McAfee seemed like he was going to hit his stride in the league and become a dangerous punter in the league for the next 5-10 years. Flipping field position has become more important than ever in the NFL due to the fact that the league has never seen this much scoring before. The NFL in 2016 saw the most points put up in league history, as well as the most games decided by one possession. With all of this, punting becomes an extremely important part of the game. McAfee this season lead the league in average yards per punt, was third in the NFL in net yards, and had 13 punts downed inside the 20. McAfee also was the number one kicker according to Pro Football focus with a PFF of +18.6.

On top of all of this, McAfee brought a personality to the game that was never before seen with punters. McAfee showed the game that even punters can have huge personalities and take pride in their craft. However, McAfee wasn’t alone in bringing big personas to the game of kicking. Oakland Raiders punter Marquette King and Kansas City Chiefs punter Dustin Colquitt also showed some nice moves after punt aways during games in the regular season and in this years’ Pro Bowl.

During the season, watching countless NFL games, I found a new love for kickers and punters who could really change the game. Los Angeles Rams punter Johnny Heckker and New England Patriots punter Ryan Allen are the two that I saw the most that were amazing at flipping field position. And McAfee, King, and Colquitt aren’t far behind either with that. If a team has a good punter, I would personality treat it like having a good backup QB. I would sign that punter to a good contract and lock him up for a long time to come.

However, the Brightside of punting aside, the NFL has problems with players calling it quits to early. If you remember back in 2015 San Francisco 49’ers linebacker Chris Borland retired at 23 with concerns about his health moving forward. Borland was a promising young middle-linebacker for San Fran that was going to take the lead after Patrick Willis retired. Many around the 9’ers saw him as being the future. Borland in just one season racked up 108 total tackles and had 2 interceptions—seemingly flying all over the field and just making plays. It still is a disappointment that a good player decided to hang it up. The very next year yet another middle-linebacker called it quits. This time it was Buffalo Bills own A.J. Tarpley. Tarpley while only playing in 8 games in the 2015 season, made an impact while he was on the field. In 8 games he had 8 total tackles, 2 interceptions, a forced fumble, and a sack. Not overwhelming numbers, but enough to see that if he kept with the game, that good things would have been ahead for Tarpley.

The NFL for years now has been concerned about the overall health of the players, trying to keep players from having life threating injuries after football, and prolonging their careers during it. Well now is the time to really start showing the league is making an effort. The game as a whole cannot be losing this much talent at young ages if they want to keep the fans engaged, and the players to continue to play hard. The NFL needs to have the players in mind and start making the game a better place for the current players, so they can prolong careers, continiuing playing the game that they know and love.
Sources:(bleacherreport.com, profootballfocus.com, footballdb.com, espn.com, si.com, and @ PatMcAfeeShow on Twitter)

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