What about punt returner?
June 16, 2021
By Steve Thomas
It’s not exactly a secret around here to say that Washington has lacked an impact punt returner for several years, and they don’t have an obvious candidate lined up this season, either. Here are the results of the Redskins’ Washington’s punt return efforts between 2011 and 2021:
2020: 5.7 yards per return, ranked 27, 0 TDs
2019: 4.7 yards per return, ranked 32, 0 TDs
2018: 6.5 yards per return, ranked 25, 0 TDs
2017: 6.1 yards per return, ranked 27, 0 TDs
2016: 11.9 yards per return, ranked 4, 1 TD (Jamison Crowder’s season)
2015: 4.8 yards per return, ranked 3, 0 TDs
2014: 7.2 yards per return, ranked 21, 0 TDs
2013: 6.4 yards per return, ranked 28, 0 TDs
2012: 9.3 yards per return, ranked 17, 1 TD
2011: 8.9 yards per return, ranked 21, 0 TDs
In other words, aside from one lucky season from Jamison Crowder in 2016, who then reverted to the norm the following year, and one mediocre season in 2012, Washington has ranged from merely bad to downright abysmal for a decade. I went through every single Washington punt return between 2011 and 2020, and found only 9 returns of 30 or more yards during that 10 year period, almost all of which came from Jamison Crowder, Brandon Banks, and Andre Roberts. The last instance was all the way back in 2018. Crowder had multiple returns of that length in 2016, including an 85 yard touchdown. The point is, Washington’s punt return game has been a net negative for a long time.
It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that head coach Ron Rivera and special teams coach Nate Kazcor are auditioning many different players for the job this upcoming season. Kazcor recently spoke to the media and identified DeAndre Carter, Isaiah Wright, Steven Sims Jr., Dax Milne, and Danny Johnson as the players he is trying out for the job right now. Kazcor also stated that the list may expand in training camp, and mentioned Adam Humphries as a possibility. Kazcor said that the two things he looks for in a returner are efficiency – meaning, the player’s ability to catch the ball – and explosion. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the returner candidates on the roster.
We’ll start with Sims (5’10” / 176) since he was the starter last season. In 2020, Sims had 24 returns for a total of 160 yards for 6.7 yards per return, a long of 22 yards, and 20 fair catches (including one in the playoff loss to Tampa Bay). He also had 3 muffed catches and one fumble. Twelve of his returns went for 5 yards or less, and he had 3 returns for more than 15 yards (with his long being 22 yards). He ran the 40 yard dash in 4.5 seconds at the University of Kansas pro day in 2019, which is a good but not great time by receiver standards. However, in my view, explosion in a punt returner is about more than just speed as measured in the 40 – it’s about a returner’s ability to turn north-south and accelerate. Sims didn’t have a ton of success at that last season, so I don’t view him as having a lock on this role, or even necessarily being in the lead. The truth is that he wasn’t particularly good at returning punts last year.
Isaiah Wright (6’2” / 220) also had an opportunity as a returner last season, with 4 returns for 15 yards, a long of 13 yards, 3 fair catches, and 2 muffed catches. His 40 time is a bit of a mystery: he was rumored to have run 4.49 seconds in the 40 as a sophomore in college, but he wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine and didn’t have a pro day, so we don’t really have a verified time. Wright was known as a playmaker in college and had 43 punt returns for 444 yards, an average of 10.3 yards per return, and 3 touchdowns at Temple. That would suggest that Wright has potential for the job, although his performance in limited opportunity last season was bad, so he certainly doesn’t have any more leg up on the job for 2021 than does Sims.
Carter (5’8” / 190) is a 2015 undrafted free agent out of Sacramento St. who was originally signed by the Baltimore Ravens. Carter bounced around on offseason and practice squad rosters before finally catching on with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2018. Carter was cut in November of that season, but picked up off of waivers by the Texans, where he stayed until he was waived in November, 2020. Carter was claimed by Bears, but then missed two weeks due to the China Virus. His only NFL role has been as a kick and punt returner. In total, he’s played 43 NFL games, with 63 returns for 589 yards, an average of 9.3 yards per returns, a long of 42 yards, and no touchdowns. Last season, between his time with both the Texans and the Bears, Carter had 15 returns for 126 yards, an average of 8.4 yards per return, a long of 19 yards, 14 fair catches, no muffed catches, and 1 fumble. He’s had just 3 muffed catches in 109 career punt return attempts, which is a far better rate than that of both Sims and Wright. He was timed at 4.48 seconds in the 40 yard dash at the 2015 NFL Combine. It’s clear that the coaching staff brought Carter to Washington for the express purpose of competing for the kick and punt returner jobs. Carter has certainly had more success as a punt returner than Sims and Wright, but he hasn’t exactly been Brian Mitchell, either.
Johnson (5’9” / 181) is a 2018 undrafted free agent from Southern University who has spent all of his three year career with Washington. He’s never really been a punt returner, with just 1 for 3 yards, with 4 fair catches and no muffed catches or fumbles. He has been a kick returner, though, with 38 returns for 856 yards, for an average of 22.5 yards per return. However, Johnson was a punt returner in college, with 19 returns for 288 yards, and average of 15.2 yards per return, and 1 touchdown in four years at Southern. He ran the 40 yard dash in 4.44 seconds at the 2018 NFL Combine, so he does at least have some speed. It’s a bit tough to evaluate his punt return ability given that he has so little experience at the job in the NFL; for that reason, I think he’s probably behind both Sims and Carter.
Milne (6’0” / 190), who was one of Washington’s seventh round picks this year, had 12 returns for 60 yards for an average of 5.0 yards per return in three years at BYU. He also had 2 kick returns for 30 yards. At his pro day, Milne ran the 40 yard dash in unofficial times of 4.54 and 4.57 seconds. There’s not much objective evidence to think that Milne can win Washington’s punt return job, but that having been said, he’s going to get his shot in training camp and in preseason games, so we’ll see how he does.
As to Humphries (5’11” / 195), Kazcor mentioned him as another possibility because he does have experience in this role. Between 2016 and 2019, Humphries had 63 punt returns for 503 yards, 8.0 yards per return, no touchdowns, 34 fair catches, 5 muffed catches, and 1 fumble. His career long is just 25 yards. Under normal circumstances, he would definitely at least be a contender for the job, but his current status as Washington’s projected starting slot receiver may take him out of the running.
The bottom line is that the team unfortunately doesn’t have an obvious, clear-cut frontrunner for this job. None of these players have had a significant amount of above-average success as a punt returner either in college or in the NFL. Greg Stroman is the only other player on the roster who has any significant amount of experience at the job either in college or in the pro, with 127 returns for 1,108 yards, an average of 8.7 yards per return, and 4 touchdowns at Virginia Tech. However, Stroman was mostly terrible in the NFL in his limited opportunity in 2018 and 2020, with 10 returns for 25 yards, 13 fair catches, and one muffed catch.
If I had to rank order the current candidates right now, without the benefit of training camp or the preseason, I’d put DeAndre Carter in the lead since he’s had the most NFL success and was brought here by this staff specifically for the job. Beyond Carter, it’s a crapshoot, as Sims and Wright were both bad last year, Johnson has basically never done it before, and Milne only had limited experience at BYU. This will be one of the more interesting battles to watch in training camp, but the sad truth is that the most likely result will probably be more of the same for Washington.
Who do you think will be Washington’s punt returner this year? Let me know in the comment section below.