The Green Bay Packers acquired Corey Bojorquez in a trade from the Los Angeles Rams just before the season, waiving JK Scott in the process. Bojorquez has been everything Packers fans have wanted in a punter, quietly putting Green Bay in a great position to win football games. So far, he has been one of the most consistent players on the team.
In his three years with the Buffalo Bills, Bojorquez averaged around 46 yards per punt. He had the longest average distance last year while only allowing 138 return yards. After one of the strongest punting seasons we have seen in a while, he was brought to LA to compete against one of the best punters in the league, Johnny Hecker. He didn’t win that competition, but he has had an outstanding season with the Packers.
Through three games, Bojorquez has punted 10 times for 480 yards, averaging 48 yards per punt. That’s only 3.6 yards behind the league leader A.J. Cole of the Las Vegas Raiders. Not only does he have an impressive average, but he also doesn’t have a touchback so far. He has already had four punts get downed within the 20 — impressive given he has only had to punt 10 times so far this season. Given the efficiency of the Packers’ offense (er, aside from the Saints game), Bojorquez is not often in a position where he needs to punt. This gives him plenty of time to rest, which is vital to a kicker or punter’s success. The amount of rest a punter gets is often overlooked, and the Packers’ offense has done a great job this season keeping one of their best players off the field.
Also, Bojorquez has yet to mess up a hold. He has been perfect with Mason Crosby this season, going 8-for-8 on extra points and 4-for-4 on field goals. It’s easy to overlook this stuff, but given Bojorquez’s limited time with the Packers, he has done a great job creating chemistry with Crosby and long snapper Hunter Bradley.
Bojorquez’s best game this season was probably against the Detroit Lions. Bojorquez landed two out of three punts inside the 20, averaging 46.7 yards per attempt. Averaging that many yards while having two punts get downed inside the 20 is a testament to his abilities.
For reference, Scott was 18th in the league in punting average last year and was fourth from last in punting average in 2019. Scott could punt the ball high in the air, but he didn’t have the length Bojorquez did.
Scott wasn’t a lousy punter for the Packers. He got the job done, considering their offensive consistency every year since 2018. One of the reasons Scott kept his job for as long as he did was because the Packers’ offense was typically driving down the field. However, when Scott was backed up in the end zone, the opposing team often received the punt in field goal range.
Having a punter with the ability to consistently down the ball in the 20 while booting it as far as he can is a huge asset for the Packers. Bojorquez has been one of Green Bay’s best players this season.
