AFC East Rankings - Special Teams

This will be the final post I do where I rank the player positions in the AFC East.  I may do one for the coaching staffs later on, but I'm not sure yet.  While the Dolphins looked good overall on offense, they're rankings fell on the defensive side.  So how does Miami and the rest of the division rank on special teams?

                              Mia                     NYJ                      NE                      Buf

K:                             1                         4                          2                          3

P:                             1                         3                          4                          2

KR:                           3                         2                          4                          1

PR:                           4                         2                          1                          3

I gave the Dan Carpenter the top rank in this category.  It was a close one between him and Stephen Gostkowski of the New England Patriots.  Gostkowski is the better kicker on kickoffs as his kicks average a farther distance and the return rate is lower.  Carpenter has been better on FGs and has had more success with the deep FGs.  Gostkowski was 5-8 from 40-49 yards and Carpenter was 8-9.  When it came down to it, I chose the kicker I was worried less about putting 3 points up on the board rather than the more reliable to cause a touchback.  Rian Lindell of the Bills is similar to Carpenter where his weakness is kicking it deep into the endzone, but he too is reliable when it comes to converting FGs.  Both of these kickers averaged the same yards per kickoff.  Carpenter wins this on his FG kicking.  Nick Folk of the Jets was terrible in Dallas last year.  Possibly the worst move of the offseason for New York was letting Jay Feely to leave via free agency without getting a reliable replacement.  Folk was 4-11 from 40-49 yards out on FGs last season and finished with an abysmal 63% on FGs.  He did not kickoff last year in Dallas.  Teams can't go wrong with Carpenter, Gostkowski, or Lindell on their roster, but the Jets will regret being stuck with Folk.  Don't be surprised to see the Jets sign a replacement kicker sometime during the season.

The battle between punters was close between Miami's Brandon Fields and Buffalo's Brian Moorman.  Their averages were very similar in a lot of categories.  Moorman actually beats Fields by only tenths of a point in most most of them, but Fields has forced more fair catches with fewer punts.  What gave the edge to Fields were the 10 touchbacks by Moorman compared to Fields' 6.  Fields also has a 39 net yards average compared to Moorman's 36 net yards average.  It was close enough I initially had Buffalo ranked #1 in this category when I started the post.  Steve Weatherford of the Jets ranks number 3.  His punt average is nearly 5 yards less than Fields and Moorman, but his net average is the same as Moorman's.  Weatherford did good as his low return percentage rate was great, but he also have 9 touchbacks.

None of the kick return teams I am particularly high on.  Ted Ginn and Leon Washington were the starting kick returners last year for the Dolphins and Jets, but both of them moved on out west.  Fred Jackson goes number one because he's the only returner in the division with solid experience and good numbers.  Jackson had over 1,000 kick return yards last year and averaged nearly 25 YPR.  I went with the Jets at number two simply because Brad Smith had a touchdown on 10 returns even though he averaged only 22 YPR outside of that.  Cobbs was unspectacular last year as he averaged only 22.6 YPR.  New England had a bunch of returners last year, but none of them showed enough to be a consistent returner.  Both Miami and New England were very close in rankings in this category.

Wes Welker of the Patriots was the best punt returner in the division last year.  His awareness of the surroundings when he's waiting for the ball is unmatched and his shiftiness allowed him to average 12 YPR.  The Jets ranked number two with Jim Leonhard and Jerichi Cotchery splitting the duties.  Both were unspectacular, but finished with 8.7 and 10.3 YPR respectively.  Roscoe Parrish was horrible in the punt return game last year as he averaged only 5.6 YPR on 24 punt returns.  Fred Jackson salvaged this ranking with 11.5 YPR on 6 punts.  Davone Bess averaged 7.4 YPR on 27 returns, but he needs to show he can catch the ball cleanly and needs to show more awareness when the ball is in the air.  These rankings were close between Buffalo and Miami, but the glimmer of hope shown by Jackson gave the Bills the edge.