New York Jets Rookie Punter Proving to be the Mann

So far this year, he’s been the Mann for the New York Jets special teams.

One of the best - and most consistent - players for the Jets in any of the three phases of the game has been rookie Braden Mann. The Jets punter has been very solid through two games and while there is still room for improvement, there is plenty of reason for optimism that he can progress and grow further.

One thing that is certainly not in doubt: Mann has a leg.

So far this year, the Jets rookie punter is averaging 45.5 yards per punt on 11 punts. But he’s showcased his length strength on several occasions, including a 58-yard punt.

“I thought he did a really nice job last week. There was some miscommunication on the one pooch that messed up his average quite a bit, but we’ll get that fixed in a hurry,” special teams coordinator Brant Boyer said on Thursday. “But overall, I think he did a great job, had a great hold on a high ball there on field goal and I thought he’s done really, really well with everything, with controlling those returners and things like that. So, he’s coming along. There’s a lot of upside to this kid and I think you’re scratching the surface of what this kid’s going to become here in the next year or so.”

Last year, Lac Edwards handled the entirety of the punting duties for the Jets, registering a 45.9 average on 87 punts. Mann’s numbers, as a rookie are good, especially considering he had a couple rough punts in Week 1 in his NFL debut and then had the pooch punt that affected his net average, as Boyer notes.

On the pooch punt, Mann received an uncharacteristically high snap from long snapper Thomas Hennessy. Boyer said that the Jets work with Mann on bad snaps in a variety of scenarios.

“So we’re throwing it in the dirt, throwing them high, throwing them across his body and that’s one of the reasons why I liked him coming out, because he’s got soft hands and you don’t see too many things that phase this kid,” Boyer said. “I think the pressure from the first game, I think he’s getting used to it and things like that and like I said, I think this kid has a really big upside. I think he’ll do really well.”

The Jets really liked Mann’s leg strength coming out of Texas A&M. He will need to continue to work on his punt placement as well as fine-tuning landing punts inside the 20-yard line.

He was a sixth round pick of the Jets in April’s NFL Draft.