Another year, another loaded crop of specialists in the AFC North featuring some big names in the kicking game.
Stars Justin Tucker and Chris Boswell still reside in the AFC North, while Evan McPherson continues to emerge in Cincinnati.
Punters Jordan Stout and Corey Borojquez still hold down key roles as well. Pittsburgh strengthened the punting game this offseason with the addition of Cameron Johnston, too.
Today, let’s dive into the final position installment of my Ranking the Rooms: AFC North series, focusing on the specialists. That may sound boring to some, but specialists are anything but boring when a big kick or punt is needed, or when the snap must be picture perfect.
1. Baltimore Ravens
Once again, the Baltimore Ravens reign supreme when it comes to the specialists in the division.
Kicker Justin Tucker converted on 32 of 37 kicks last season, good for 86.5% conversion rate. He struggled from distance last season though, missing four of his five tries from 50+ yards, which was a bit of a red flag for a guy who has a powerful leg and converted with ease from 50+ yards throughout his career.
Though Tucker wasn’t an All-Pro for the first time in seven seasons, he was still very good for Baltimore, scoring a career-high 147 points.
Stout was, well, stout punting the football for Baltimore. He added nearly 2 full yards to his punts in his second season in the NFL, averaging 47.8 yards per punt on the season. On 66 attempts last season, Stout placed 28 of his punts inside the 20-yard line and had just 5 touchbacks on the season.
Nick Moore remains a steady long-snapper for the Ravens, when healthy. Moore took over for Morgan Cox a few years ago. He earned a Second-Team All-Pro in 2022, but missed the entire 2023 season after tearing his Achilles leading up to the 2023 season.
Baltimore brought in rookie UDFA Randen Plattner out of Kansas State for some competition and insurance at the long snapper position.
2. Pittsburgh Steelers
Chris Boswell remains Chris Boswell, as steady and clutch as they come in the NFL.
Last season, Boswell was outstanding, converting 29-of-31 field goals for a 93.5% conversion rate, which was the second-highest of his career. In an offense that struggled to score consistently last season, Boswell was often the lone generator of points.
The star kicker missed just two field goals on the season, both at home. In Week 8 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Boswell missed a 61-yard field goal due to a bogus offsides penalty that negated a 56-yard conversion in the rain. Then, in Week 13 against the Arizona Cardinals, Boswell missed his other field goal on the season.
He also missed just one extra point on the season, which came in Week 15 at Indianapolis. Overall, just three missed kicks on the season is remarkable. He remains outstanding.
After struggling over the last few seasons in the punting game, the Steelers went big and addressed it this offseason with the signing of Cameron Johnston, who has consistently been one of the best punters in football.
In six seasons in the NFL, Johnston has averaged at least 46.4 punting yards every year in his career and at least a 40.6 net yards per punt figure every year of his career. For his NFL career, he’s averaged 42.2 net punting yards, which is a significant upgrade on the numbers former Steelers punter Pressley Harvin III was putting up in Pittsburgh (39.4).
With the way Pittsburgh likes to play low-scoring games and lean on the defense, having a consistent punter in Johnston that can flip the field will be huge.
Long snapper Christian Kuntz returns with a new three-year extension from the Steelers. He had an up-and-down 2023 season, with his most notable mistake being a head-bobbing penalty for a false start in Week 14 against the New England Patriots that wiped out an offsides. Overall though, he’s a fine piece to have as part of the specialists trio.
The Steelers also have Matthew Wright on the roster entering training camp as a secondary option in the kicking game behind Boswell. Wright is a player who the Steelers are quite familiar with overall.
3. Cleveland Browns
Thanks to a stellar effort from Dustin Hopkins and a really strong season overall from Corey Borojquez, in which he found that elusive consistency, the Browns move up in the rankings this summer, jumping over the Cincinnati Bengals, who have some questions at punter entering 2024.
Hopkins was a revelation for the Browns in 2023. Cleveland traded for the veteran on Aug. 28, just a few days before final camp cuts and after young kicker Cade York really struggled. Hopkins came in and settled things for the Browns, converting 33 of 36 field goals on the season for a conversion rate of 91.7%, which was a career best.
He did miss two extra points, but he scored 123 points on the season and would have had a career-high if he did not get injured in Week 16, missing the final two weeks of the season and the playoff loss to the Houston Texans.
Borojquez has always had a massive leg at punter, but consistency was an issue throughout the early stages of his career. He found it in Cleveland, of all places, though.
Borojquez punted a career-high 87 times in 2023 and averaged an absurd 49.4 yards per punt on the season. He had a long of 73 yards on the season and had 31 punts downed inside the 20-yard line on his 87 punts, while averaging 42.2 net yards per punt on the season, which was the second-best number of his career.
Long snapper Charley Hughlett is quietly a steady, dependable presence and returns for his 11th season in Cleveland.
The Browns also brought back Cade York this offseason to have some insurance and hope that the former 4th-round pick finds his game again, which made him one of the best kickers in college football during his time at LSU.
4. Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals drop two spots here due to some uncertainty at punter.
Kicker Evan McPherson on remains on the fast track to stardom at the position after converting 26-of-31 field goals in 2023 in his third season. All five of his misses came from 50+ yards. Anything 50 and in, McPherson is money. But that 51+ is a struggle right now for him, having missed seven kicks in total in three seasons from that distance. He’s missed just 15 kicks in his career to date.
At punter, Brad Robbins was solid for the Bengals in 2023, averaging 44.33 yards per punt on the year. He downed 20 of his 76 punts inside the 20-yard line and had a long of 62 yards with just five touchbacks on the season. But the Bengals went out and got one of the top punters in the 2024 NFL Draft as a UDFA in Texas Tech’s Austin McNamara.
McNamara was the Big 12’s Special Teams Player of the Year and was first-team All-Big 12 three years in a row. He has a big leg with quite a bit of accolades coming out of college, and is younger. A change could occur there for the Bengals after so many years of stability with Kevin Huber.
Long snapper Cal Adomitis is back for a third season with the Bengals and is quietly developing into one of the better long snappers in football. He had a stellar career at Pitt and has now had two strong seasons as a starter for the Bengals.
2023 AFC North Specialists rankings:
No. 1 – Baltimore Ravens
No. 2 – Cincinnati Bengals
No. 3 – Pittsburgh Steelers
No. 4 – Cleveland Browns
