Punters Finally Get The Respect They Deserve After One Gets Drafted 1st Overall In The CFL Global Draft
I can't even turn on ESPN anymore these days because I am so goddamn sick and so goddamn tired of hearing about all the quarterbacks in this year's NFL Draft Class. I've seen more of Trey Lance in the past 2 weeks than I want to see for the rest of my life. I've heard roughly 7 zillion takes on takes that other people have had on Justin Fields. I love Mac Jones to death but enough to listen to multiple conversations about him at 8:17 AM every morning? Heck no. But all people want to talk about are the quarterbacks who will be going off the board within the first 10 picks of the draft in a couple weeks.
Now I'm not a numbers guy, so I could very easily be wrong here. But I feel like throughout a quarterback's career, more drives probably end in a punt than end with either a touchdown or field goal. At the very least we should be calling it 50/50 considering plenty of drives also end with a turnover. But with that being the case, you could make the argument that a punter is just as important to the future of your franchise as the quarterback is. So why do we constantly focus on the quarterbacks and not the guys whose job it is to bail them out of a shitty performance through the first 3 downs with an absolute piss missile punt to screw their opponent out of premium field position?
I honestly think this is the huge societal divide between us here in the States, and our Canadian brothers up North. It's the metric system vs the imperial system. We put an inflated level of importance on the QB position, the Canadians know that the punters are the real heroes out there who come in handy after your QB sails one 13 yards over the nearest receiver's head on 3rd and 4. So if I'm a kid looking to make a living as a punter, I'm setting my sights on Canada. Just think about the signing bonus you'd get as a 1st overall draft pick. We're talking at least 6 full months of free poutine, and a couple of loonies off of each Molson at your nearest bar. Rockstar shit.