For yet another year in the AFC North, the specialists within the rugged division are absolutely loaded overall.
Of course, there’s the headliners in Baltimore’s Justin Tucker and Pittsburgh’s Chris Boswell — two of the highest-paid kickers in football. Then, there’s the burgeoning star in Cincinnati in Evan McPherson, who will eventually ascend into the conversation with Tucker and Boswell for best kicker in the game, if we’re being honest.
Cleveland’s Cade York is coming on strong, too.
Though punter is a bit of a question mark for a few teams in the division, this position group is loaded from a kicker’s perspective, which should lead to a lot of points this season.
Today, let’s dive into the final installment of my Ranking the Rooms: AFC North series here for Steelers Depot, focusing on the specialists. That may sound boring to some, but they’re anything but boring when a big kick or punt is needed, and the snap must be picture perfect.
1. BALTIMORE RAVENS
At this point, accolades and adjectives just don’t exist for Justin Tucker. He’s an All-Pro kicker, future Hall of Famer, and has the longest field goal in NFL history. He’s also on the verge of being the most accurate kicker of all time.
He’s the best kicker in the NFL, and one of the greatest ever quite honestly. He’s as automatic as they come, has a huge leg, and very rarely misses big kicks for the Ravens.
Last season, Tucker converted on 37 of 43 field goals, earning a second-team All-Pro accolade, giving him eight total first- or second0team honors in his illustrious career.
Having that type of weapon on the sidelines who can step onto the field any time the offense crosses the 50-yard line is absurd. Tucker is undoubtedly going to reach the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day. He’s as automatic as it gets as a kicker. Tucker has a career 90.5% make percentage, which his best in NFL history, and shows no signs of slowing down entering his age 33 season.
After Sam Koch retired last offseason, ending a 16-year run with the Ravens, Baltimore turned the punter job over to rookie Jordan Stout out of Penn State. He delivered in a big way, averaging 45.9 yards per punt as a rookie on 57 punts, allowing just 155 return yards.
Of his 57 punts, Stout dropped 26 of them inside the 20-yard line, good for a 45.6% rate, and added a long of 69 yards on the season. He looks like the next good one in Baltimore.
Third-year pro Nick Moore returns for another season long snapping for the Ravens, coming off of a strong year in 2022, earning second-team All-Pro accolades. The Ravens historically have one of the best special teams units every single season. That shouldn’t change in 2023 with Tucker, Stout and Moore.
2. CINCINNATI BENGALS
Though he wasn’t quite as good as he was as a rookie in 2021, Evan McPherson had another strong season in 2022 for the Cincinnati Bengals.
After kicking the Bengals to the Super Bowl in 2021, McPherson returned in 2022 and converted 24 of 29 field goals (82.8%) and 40 of 44 extra points (90.9%), down from his strong rookie season. That said, McPherson did set a new career long with a 59-yarder last season. Even with some occasional struggles last year, McPherson remains a high-end kicker with a massive leg who can hit from anywhere. He’s part of the Bengals’ bright future.
Punter remains a slight question mark for Cincinnati. The organization moved on from Kevin Huber late in the 2022 season after the veteran struggled and had his worst season since 2010, his second year in the league. Huber averaged just 43.2 yards per punt in 2022, which was a 3-yard drop from the previous season.
Cincinnati turned to Drue Chrisman, who was much better overall. He averaged 47.8 yards per punt last season in seven games on 28 punts and allowed just 106 return yards, dropping 13 of his punts (46.4%) inside the 20-yard line. Chrisman will find himself in a battle with rookie punter Brad Robbins out of Michigan this summer.
Robbins was drafted in the sixth round by the Bengals and considered one of the top punters in the draft class. Robbins is considered more of a finesse punter who can pin teams back deep with directional punting, rather than sheer power, which is something the Bengals have been looking for with a stout defense to lean on.
Long snapper Cal Adomitis returns for a second season with the Bengals after taking over for the injured Clark Harris last season. Harris tore his bicep in Week 1 against the Steelers and missed the entire 2022 season. He remains a free agent after 14 seasons with the Bengals.
3. PITTSBURGH STEELERS
Entering last season, Chris Boswell could have been in the discussion of the best kicker in football with Tucker. But then, much like in 2018, Boswell struggled with injuries and really fell off overall, converting just 20 of 28 field goals (71.4%) last season, though he didn’t miss a single extra point (18 for 18).
Boswell played in just 12 games last year, spending time on injured reserve with a groin injury that really affected his game. Boswell is entering his age-32 season and will need a significant bounce back season like he had in 2019 after a dreadful 2018 season. Getting that consistent, healthy Boswell back will be huge for the Steelers.
Punter remains a big hole for the Steelers, even though Pressley Harvin III was better in his second NFL season. Harvin improved to 44.5 yards per punt as a rookie on 69 punts, and allowed just 137 return yards, down from 261 as a rookie. That said, he saw his inside 20 percentage drop to 29%, down from 35.7%, dropping just 20 inside the 20-yard line in 2022.
Consistency remains a major issue for Harvin, which is why the Steelers brought in veteran Braden Mann after claiming him on waivers this offseason. A sixth-round pick of the New York Jets in 2020, Mann served as the Jets’ punter the last three seasons. As a rookie, he led the NFL in punts (82) and total yards (3,538) while averaging 43.9 yards per punt. Last season, he punted 83 times and averaged 46.9 yards per punt.
Not only will there be a battle at punter this offseason for the Steelers, there will be one at long snapper, too.
Christian Kuntz returns for another season with the Steelers, but he’ll have competition from Rex Sunahara, who was recently signed. The Steelers have been looking at long snappers since last December and clearly aren’t all that thrilled with Kuntz’s performance in 2022.
4. CLEVELAND BROWNS
Cade York had a lot of hype coming out of LSU last season as a fourth-round pick with a massive leg. He had some struggles in his first season though, converting just 24 of 32 kicks (75%) and 35 of 37 extra points (94.6%). Three of his misses came from 30-39 yards, while two were from 40-49. His other three misses were from 50+, so that can be excused a bit, but the Browns are undoubtedly looking for more from the second-year kicker.
He has the leg though, and the history at LSU, to be a bona fide standout kicker in the NFL. Finding that consistency in 2023 will be key.
There might be a bit of a competition at punter this summer as veteran Corey Bojorquez will square off with third-year punter Joseph Charlton.
Bojorquez has a huge leg — one of the strongest in the NFL at punter — but the consistency is an absolute mess. Half the time it feels like Bojorquez has no idea where the ball is going off his foot, which is a massive problem at the position. That said, Bojorquez had the second-best season of his career in 2022, averaging 48.5 yards per punt on 61 punts, recording a long of 76 and downing 23 inside the opponent’s 20.
Charlton spent two seasons in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers before bouncing around practice squads with the Chiefs and Jaguars and spending last season unemployed. Cleveland had him on the roster in training camp before moving on, but then circled back in early May, giving Bojorquez some competition.
On 69 punts in his NFL career, Charlton is averaging 45.5 yards per punt.
Long-snapper Charley Hughlett returns for his 10th season to provide some reliability to the special teams unit in Cleveland.
2022 AFC North Specialists rankings:
No. 1 – Baltimore Ravens
No. 2 – Pittsburgh Steelers
No. 3 – Cincinnati Bengals
No. 4 – Cleveland Browns
