Position group breakdown: Special Teams
July 17, 2024
by Alex Zeese
Washington has made a few big moves on special teams this year, including the release kicker Joey Slye. The team is also continuing to look for a long-term snapper. Then, there was the whole Brandon McManus situation. McManus would have been a solid kicker but when the off-the-field issues came out the team didn’t have much of a choice other than to let him go. I realize that alot of folks don’t care much about teams, so I tried to have some fun with this column.
Punter: Tress Way
The GOAT is still here, leading the team while doing GOAT things, eating GOAT foods, and playing GOAT ping pong. He gave our rookie quarterback the shirt off his back. Because Tress Way is a leader and that’s what makes him the GOAT. The only real question is, when will the GOAT decide that he no longer wants to GOAT it up on the football field – at 34, let’s be realistic, he only has maybe 10-15 years left in the tank. Last year, Way averaged 46 yards per punt and ended up with just 2 touchbacks, still very GOAT of him. There was that one ugly blocked punt at one point, but I believe the GOAT allowed this to happen in the last game of the year to help make a larger point to the front office.
Kicker: Ramiz Ahmed
This is not a guy with a particularly strong leg, but lucky for us he balances that out with some serious accuracy issues. I cannot stress how much I am worried about Ahmed being the kicker going into the season, and it should be a fireable offense for someone if he ends up being the kicker here in week one. He was released from his UFL team mid-season after going 10 for 14. In 2023 in the USFL, Ahmed was just 14 for 22 on his field goal attempts and only 45% of his kickoffs were touchbacks. Ahmed only kicked field goals his senior year of college and was only 15 for 20 in college field goal attempts. From what I can find, he was only 6 for 11 in high school. So we are talking about a guy who’s 28 years old and has a lifetime record of just 45/67 on field goals in games. That’s 67%. Where I come from, that’s a D+ grade.
Long Snapper: Tyler Ott
After moving on from the problematic Camaron Cheeseman, the Commanders signed Tyler Ott to be the long snapper. Ott is a 10 year vet, which means he’s well-seasoned at the gig at this point. Even though I’m a fan of special teams, I can’t bring myself to care about long snapping. But here’s what we do know about Ott: we know he went to Harvard, so he’s wicked smart. We know he’s wearing number 69, so he probably has a good sense of humor. Lastly, we know he made a Pro Bowl a few years ago, so we know he doesn’t stink.
The Special Teams Core Players:
There has been more turnover in Washington’s roster this season than any other season in my lifetime, and it’s probably too soon to tell who will be making up the core of Washington’s Special Teams unit this season. What do I mean by the core player? While just about every player on the roster plays at least some special teams, there are always a few guys who play a bulk of the special teams plays.
Last season, the following guys played 50% or more of the special teams snaps:
Khaleke Hudson 72.73%
David Mayo 63.42%
Christian Holmes 60.04%
Terrell Burgess 57.72%
Andre Jones 52.85%
From that group, only Jones and Holmes remain. You have to figure that if he’s now healthy Jeremy Reaves will return and be another “core” player for the special teams unit.
Returners:
Crowder is the only punt returner who remains on the roster from last season. In 2023, he had 35 returns for 278 yards, for a respectable 7.9 yard average. Given that the team has a new staff he will have to prove himself. He didn’t return kickoffs last season, and with the new rules in place about kickoffs teams now will need 2 good returners on the field.
Emmanuel Forbes Jr.
Forbes was also mentioned as someone who could be in the mix returning kicks. While this can easily be seen as a bad sign for his career, I will take a more optimistic view that if he can show that he excels as a returner, then perhapsthat gives him some more confidence while playing defense.