Former Kentucky punter Tim Masthay is in a battle for his starting job with the Green Bay Packers heading into the NFL season.
Masthay has been fighting with rookie punter Cody Mandell from Alabama, but the former Wildcat seems to have one major advantage…his hands.
Scout.com explains how a battle of punters might actually be won by Masthay’s hands:
In three days of live kicking, Crosby is 14-of-14 on field goals with Masthay holding compared to 6-of-9 (not including a block) with Mandell. On Thursday, Crosby made all six attempts with Masthay and Mandell alternating reps. On the fifth attempt, Mandell dropped the snap and was replaced with Masthay.
“Tim and Mason have been doing it a long time,” special teams coordinator Ron Zook said on Wednesday. “They can do it in their sleep. It’s just repetition, repetition, repetition. You miss an inch here or there, it’s a big difference for a kicker, particularly when you add the wind and all those other things, but I don’t think that’s going to be an issue.”
With eight punts apiece through Thursday, Masthay has averaged 48.5 yards while Mandell has averaged 47.0 (not including a pooch-punting period on Thursday). Both punters had three pooch attempts on Thursday, with Masthay’s punts landing at the 10, 11 and 4 (average of 8.3-yard line) and Mandell’s at the 6 and 15 for an average of 10.5.
UPDATE: This article must have been good luck for Masthay as the Packers have just cut Mandall:
The Packers just announced they have released punter Cody Mandell.
— Michael Cohen (@Michael_Cohen13) August 10, 2015
Photo Credit: Andrew Weber – USA TODAY Sports.
