Ranking The NFC South: Special Teams

In an ongoing summer series evaluating each position group within the NFC South, we have concluded offense and defense and now turn our attention to special teams. If you missed any of the previous groups, here is a quick link tree to each:

Quarterbacks

Running Backs

Wide Receivers

Tight Ends

Offensive Tackles

Offensive Guards

Centers

Defensive Tackles

Edge

Linebackers

Cornerbacks

Nickelbacks

Safeties

One quick note. In the last 48 hours, the Falcons made two additions to their roster, trading for edge Matthew Judon and signing free agent safety Justin Simmons. The addition of Judon raised them in my rankings from 4th to 3rd in the NFC South while the Simmons signing kept them in 2nd, but significantly closed the gap between them and the Bucs. Both moves will be reflected in the final rankings article I plan to close this series with.

The special teams rankings will look specifically at the punter and kicker, while also incorporating how each overall unit has operated in the recent past. As I have done with each previous position group, I am relying on Ourlads for depth chart projections. I considered trying to evaluate returners as well, but decided against it due to the new return rules. That will be an indirect reflection of how each unit has historically performed.

Special Teams

1. Falcons

K Younghoe Koo

P Bradley Pinion

While he has not been the exceptional performer that he was circa 2020-2021, Younhoe Koo is still a damn good kicker. His last two seasons have been the lowest of his career in terms of field goal percentage, yet each was still a very good 86.5%. Outside of an abysmal Week 14 showing against Tampa Bay, he would have had a case for another Pro Bowl bid. Koo has been the model of consistency since his second year in the league and shows no signs of slowing down.

Former Bucs punter Bradley Pinion has re-established himself as an above-average punter in Atlanta, where he is coming off of back-to-back solid seasons. Pinion was Pro Football Focus’ top-rated punter last year (88.3 grade), though I am not convinced he was.

Pinion’s expected points added per punt was 0.04, ranking 17th in the league. And while 40% of his attempts ended up inside his opponents 20-yard line, there were other punters who had a higher percentage. Still, he has shown himself to be reliable when healthy; something he was not at the end of 2021 while playing for the Bucs.

The Falcons have had enjoyed solid special teams play the past three years under special teams coordinator Marquise Willams and new head coach Raheem Morris keeping him on after taking the reins in Atlanta is a testament to his abilities.

2. Bucs

K Chase McLaughlin

P Jake Camarda

Chase McLaughlin is coming off of a career year that helped him secure a new three-year contract with the Bucs. His season was arguably the best season by a Bucs kicker in team history. He converted 93.5% of his field goal attempts on the year, including going 7-of-8 from 50+yards. Both of McLaughlin’s misses came from blocks. The 2023 season was the second consecutive year McLaughlin improved his field goal accuracy, moving from 71.4% in 2021 to 83.3% in 2022 to last year’s high-water mark.

Behind McLaughlin is the uber-talented, but frustratingly inconsistent Jake Camarda. After showing the world he had a booming leg capable of keeping up with almost any other punter in the NFL during his rookie season in 2022, Camarda improved his consistency and efficiency in 2023. Among qualifying punters (minimum 20 punts), he ranked 9th in the league in epa/punt (+0.07), 5th in yards/punt (50.0), but tied for 18th in net yards/punt (41.8).

Camarda also ranked just 23rd in percent of punts inside the 20 (36.36%) while he was fifth in touchback percentage (11.69%). The difference in those two numbers was the sixth-lowest in the league, showing he is still struggling to accurately place his shorter punts. If he can clean that up, he could be the best punter in the league.

The Bucs’ special teams have consistently ranked in the bottom third of the league in terms of coverage and return units, and the two blocks that prevented McLaughlin from having a clean season all contribute to them not coming out on top for the NFC South special teams rankings. The team hopes that a change in leadership could assist with that. Gone is the much-maligned Keith Armstrong. In is Thomas McGaughey, who has coached some well-performing units with the New York Giants, although his most recent units have been more average than good.

3. Saints

K Blake Grupe

P Lou Hedley

Blake Grupe had a solid rookie season, hitting on 30 of his 37 field goal tries (81.1%) and all 28 of his extra point tries. His field goal percentage was 25th among 34 qualifying kickers in the NFL last year. He was 6-of-9 from beyond 49 yards, which was right in the middle of all kickers in 2023.

Hedley was one of the worst kickers in the NFL in epa/play (-0.11). He was last in yards per attempt (43.0) and tied for 28th in net yards per attempt. He excels with shorter fields, putting 45.33% of his attempts inside the 20. In a modern NFL that asks punters to flip fields when offenses stall early, Hedley will need to improve his consistency on 50+ yard punts. His 2023 long of 62 was tied for the shortest among all qualifying punters.

Despite having lackluster specialists, the Saints still rank third in special teams because they have a fantastic returner in Rashid Shaheed and an overall unit that has ranked top 3-10 every year since 2018. New Orleans consistently fares well on coverage units and has one of the highest punt return averages in the league.

4. Panthers

K Eddy Pineiro

P Johnny Hekker

Eddy Pineiro has been a model of consistency since entering the league in 2019. He has missed just 11 of 100 field goal attempts over that time span. Due to a lack of leg strength, he hasn’t had many attempts of 50+ yards with just 12. But Pineiro has been very good in those situations, converting 10 of those attempts. He also hit his career long of 56 yards just last season.

Johnny Hekker would lead this group in quarterback rankings. But these guys are paid for their legs and not their arms. Hekker has made a name for himself hitting on some fake punt throws over his career. But on pure punting, he ranked 23rd in epa/punt. His supporting stats tell a similar story as he is 20th in yards/punt and 28th in percent of punts in the 20.

Tracy Smith is the Panthers’ new special teams coordinator after spending his last three seasons as assistant special teams coordinator for the Seahawks. Seattle was a top-half special teams unit in each of the past two years, while the Panthers as a roster were more middle-of-the-pack in general.

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