The Green Bay Packers decided to go young on offense, and this philosophy must extend to special teams too. It’s already happened at the kicker position, where the Packers drafted Anders Carlson in the sixth round and moved on from veteran Mason Crosby. However, there is a punting battle in Green Bay, and the younger option is the better one. It’s time for the Packers to move on from veteran Pat O’Donnell and invest in Irish punter Daniel Whelan.
Last offseason, the Packers moved on from Corey Bojorquez one year after swapping late-round picks for him with the Los Angeles Rams. Immediately thereafter, the team signed O’Donnell, a long-time Chicago Bears player. His punting numbers were never great, but the idea behind the signing was mostly because of his holding abilities.
O’Donnell was a good holder, even though that’s hard to quantify. However, the holder’s importance was overrated because the Packers were trying to salvage Mason Crosby after a bad 2021 season. Crosby kicked better last year, improving from 73.5 to 86.2 in field goal percentage. However, he converted only one of four from 50-plus yards, which showed it was more than time to move on.
Moreover, the Packers will presumably have a better long-snapper this year. After years of inadequate long-snapping, the team gave former Rams long-snapper Matthew Orzech a three-year deal.
If holding is not as big of a factor anymore, punting is the most relevant aspect of the competition. And this, the most obvious designation of the position, is an area where O’Donnell left a lot to be desired in his first season with Green Bay.
O’Donnell was statistically one of the worst punters in the NFL last year. He was 29th in average yards per punt, 30th in net average, and 18th in punts inside the 20. Only two punters had more than one blocked punt in 2023, and O’Donnell was one of them. The other was Riley Dixon of the Rams. O’Donnell’s average per punt was his personal worst since 2016.
Many people believed that O’Donnell could be a better punter than Bojorquez in the cold, especially in December and January in Green Bay. But that was also not the case. September was O’Donnell’s best month by far, with 49.23 yards per punt. After that, he didn’t have any month with an average over 44, and his January average fell to 39.33 yards per punt. Two years ago Bojorquez’s numbers also fell off in January to 32.67. But his performance in a bigger sample size between November (47.93) and December (46.0) was better.
What to expect from Daniel Whelan
According to Sports Illustrated‘s Packers beat writer, Bill Huber, Whelan was better during the offseason. Each player had six punts during the open practices, and Whelan averaged 4.74 seconds of hang time, compared to 4.20 for O’Donnell. The veteran’s best punt in terms of hang time was 4.80, a number Whelan beat four times.
Born in Ireland, Whelan played college football at the University of California, finishing his career first in school history in punting average (44.0) and punts inside the 20 (86). Undrafted, he spent last year’s training camp with the New Orleans Saints, losing the battle to incumbent starter Blake Gillikin. Then he went to play for the DC Defenders in the XFL’s re-inaugural season. Whelan earned All-XFL honors after ranking third in the league in punting average (45.6) and punts inside the 20 (11).
There is also a financial factor. As a veteran, O’Donnell will get $1.2 million in base salary this season — he already got $700k between roster and workout bonuses this year. If the Packers keep Whelan, his base salary is the minimum of $750k, which means a $450k savings. It’s not big, but it’s also not irrelevant considering how little flexibility the Packers had. More importantly, O’Donnell will be an unrestricted free agent next offseason and would probably command another bigger deal. Whelan would be an exclusive-rights free agent, so Green Bay would only need to extend him a minimum offer sheet to keep him for one more season.
The Packers are in a movement to keep players who may help them now and also in the future. Daniel Whelan fits both criteria, and it makes more sense to keep him over an underperforming veteran.
