Atlanta Falcons Add Former Saints/Australian Punter

The Atlanta Falcons have added more competition on special teams via the International Player Pathway Program.

Atlanta Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham is in his first season with the team, and he's exploring every way to get better. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Falcons have signed punter Matthew Hayball to the team. The 29-year-old Australian has been designated as the international exemption player and will not count against the team's 90-man roster limit and could be a 17th player on the 16-man practice squad during the season.

Hayball’s only NFL experience came in 2024 when he played for the New Orleans Saints. While there, he punted the ball 75 times for 3,303 yards for an average of 44 yards per punt, which ranked 32nd out of 34 punters that season. He did, however, put 41 of those 75 punts inside the 20, which ranked first in the league in both punts inside the 20 and percentage of punts inside the 20. He did all of that with just three touchbacks. 

Hayball will compete with veteran Jake Bailey for the Falcons punter spot. Bailey has been in the league for seven years with both the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins and has an All-Pro First Team and Pro Bowl season under his belt in 2020. 

The Falcons had a similar punting style to Hayball last year with Bradley Pinion. Pinion ranked towards the bottom of the league in average distance on his punts, but led the league in punts inside the 20 in 2025. 

However, all of the regime changes included the Falcons bringing in a new special teams coordinator, Tory Woodbury, who was the assistant special teams coordinator with the Carolina Panthers last season. 

The Panthers punting game last season also emphasized accuracy over power, with their punter, Sam Martin, ranking sixth in inside the 20 percentage, but being below average in yards per punt. This is a good sign for Hayball’s chances, but we will have to wait and see if he can beat out the experienced Bailey for the starting job. 

If the Falcons' new special teams coordinator has any plans to run fake punts this year, Hayball might be his answer. Back in 2024, Hayball took a fourth-and-one snap in a week 8 game against the Carolina and ran it around the left edge for an eleven-yard gain and a first down. The Aussie has some surprisingly good wheels on him. 

Punter Matt Hayball, FIRST DOWN.

📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/eXdmpmHjtp

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) November 3, 2024

Hayball is part of a continued trend of Australian-style punters in the league. The most well-known Australian punter is the Seattle Seahawks Michael Dixon, who earned Second-Team All-Pro last season, and his four-year, $16.2 million contract is tied for the largest punter contract in the league

Hayball played three years at Florida Atlantic University before transferring to Vanderbilt, where he played his final two years of college football. He led Conference USA in punts and yards in his freshman season with 68 punts for 2,958 yards. 

This is not the first time the Falcons have chosen to go an international route for special teams. The Falcons used an international player exemption on kicker Lenny Krieg, who saw action in the preseason last year. 

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