The NFL draft this past weekend left a ton of people surprised on a lot of fronts. From the quarterbacks falling, the running backs falling, and the importance of the wide receivers, everybody was on their toes.
An underrated storyline though? The fall of the player dubbed Punt God, San Diego State punter Matt Araiza. Araiza was expected to be drafted early in the NFL by everyone. Everyone except the NFL, which threw a curveball into things when the Baltimore Ravens selected Nittany Lion Jordan Stout as the first punter in the draft in the fourth round.
Apart from the NFL being high on Jordan Stout, so was former All-Pro punter Pat McAfee. On his weekday show on Monday, McAfee discussed the surprising amount of punters being drafted but mentioned he wasn’t surprised how high Stout was drafted.
He said that when you look for a good NFL punter it is all about the way the ball rotates and the hangtime they can get on their kicks. Compared to Araiza, McAfee mentioned it wasn’t particularly close between the two and the NFL reflected that.
Stout was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in round four with the 130th overall pick. The Ravens have one of the better special teams units and staffs in the league led by coordinator Chris Horton. They have arguably the best kicker in the league with Justin Tucker and as McAfee also pointed out, having a good kicker helps out a new punter a ton as well.
He mentions how much he learned from future Hall of Famer Adam Vinatieri, Tucker should be able to do the same for Jordan Stout as well to give him a career the Ravens hope warrant a round four pick.
Of course, Mcafee is no stranger to p[raising Penn State special teams stars. He was serving up praise for Blake Gillikin just last October as well.
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