The New York Jets have to be impressed with free agent punter Austin McNamara.<\/p>\n
The former undrafted free agent out of Texas Tech was a revelation in the preseason. McNamara finished as Pro Football Focus\u2019 top-graded punter through three games and ranked fourth in average net yardage.<\/p>\n
As good as McNamara was, the Jets made a roster decision during Thursday\u2019s practice that calls into question whether he is the team\u2019s intended starter for the 2025 season. <\/p>\n
Well, not really.<\/p>\n
Jets try out new punter<\/p>\n
According to Aaron Wilson on Thursday afternoon, the Jets worked out punter Colton Spangler. Some fans wondered whether McNamara suffered an injury during the day\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
That isn\u2019t the case.<\/p>\n
As a right-footed punter, McNamara doesn\u2019t prepare New York\u2019s return team as much as he needs to. The Pittsburgh Steelers, New York\u2019s Week 1 opponent, have a left-footed punter, Corliss Waitman. That means the trajectory of the ball comes out differently to returners as opposed to a right-footed punter.<\/p>\n
Spangler\u2019s arrival and tryout could be nothing more than the team preparing Xavier Gipson, their starting punt returner, for a different look on Sunday\u2019s returns.<\/p>\n
Past Jets regimes rarely displayed that kind of forward-thinking preparation. Aaron Glenn and special teams coordinator Chris Banjo are displaying their attention to detail and desire to be prepared for every situation.<\/p>\n
It also shows their commitment to McNamara as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was an unknown,\u201d Banjo said of McNamara on Thursday. \u201cBut for him, the thing we\u2019re proud of is his relentless effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their attention to detail is something that has stood out for the organization\u2019s new coaching staff. Time will tell if Spangler\u2019s tryout will help Gipson and the return game on Sunday, but the third-year returner will at least be prepared for a different spin on the ball.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a small yet important step forward for the organization.<\/p>\n
Reporting from the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center in Florham Park, NJ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Jets have to be impressed with free agent punter Austin McNamara. The former undrafted free…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[1585,29076,22090,7,3228,226,1917,255,2321,2097,6,3229,3231,3232,3234,31834],"class_list":{"0":"post-343617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-jets","8":"tag-aaron-glenn","9":"tag-austin-mcnamara","10":"tag-chris-banjo","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-free-content","13":"tag-jets","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-jets","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkjets","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-ny-jets-free-agency","20":"tag-ny-jets-news","21":"tag-ny-jets-roster-depth-chart","22":"tag-standard","23":"tag-syndication"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115151666322037890","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}