By Jordan Long
The Philadelphia Eagles have already clinched a playoff spot. They own the best record in the NFL and the NFC so far this year. They are two games ahead of the Minnesota Vikings for the top spot in the NFC. If they stay there, the Eagles would earn a bye to the divisional round. The Eagles feel they have upgraded their punter position for the postseason run, signing Brett Kern.
The Eagles were looking for a punter to help after Arryn Siposs left the game against the Giants. At the time the Eagles were leading 21-0. Siposs attempted to punt the football in his own end zone with 4:23 left in the 2nd quarter. The ball was blocked and Siposs picked it up, attempting to pick up the first down. On the play, Siposs was hit hard out of bounds. He hurt his ankle on the play and is out indefinitely.
According to NBCsports.com, Head Coach of the Philadelphia Eagles Nick Sirianni said, “Arryn’s (injury) is looking like it’s going to be a little longer than we expected. And so we will have to bring somebody in. Don’t really know how long it’s going to be. But we’re planning and we’ll obviously bring somebody in. We’re working through that right now.”
Before the injury, Siposs punted 44 times this season. His average was 45.6 yards with a net of 39.6 yards. 16 of his punts were downed inside the 20. On Sunday the blocked punt Siposs hurt himself was the first one of the day for him. For the rest of the game, kicker Jake Elliot took over the punting duties.
Elliot is not a trained punter. Elliot only punted once and it went for 35 yards. Once the final whistle blew, the Eagles knew they needed to upgrade the punter position.
Kern is their answer. He agreed to a contract for the rest of the season. Kern is a 15-year veteran at the position, playing for the Denver Broncos and the Tennessee Titans. His last stop was Tennessee which lasted from 2009 to training camp this season. He lost the punting battle to Ryan Stonehouse. The Titans cut him on August 29, 2022, after they decided Stonehouse was their punter moving forward.
Since then Kern has been waiting for his opportunity for another NFL shot. The Eagles hope he is the answer. Kern has punted 996 times in his career with yards per punt of 45.9 yards with a net of 41.6 yards. He pinned 395 of those punts inside the 20.
The Eagles are anticipating Kern can flip field position. The only way this move doesn’t work is if Kern can’t boom punts inside the 20. If that is the case, then this is not an upgrade. For now, though, special teams have gotten better with this move.
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