Packers sign punter

[BananaMan]

JsOnline.com:

Seeking to tap into the Australian pipeline again, the Green Bay Packers signed "street" free-agent punter David Lonie Friday.

Lonie, who turns 28 in May, follows Australian Rules football player Nathan Chapman to Green Bay. Unlike Chapman, whose short tenure in Green Bay apparently didn't sour the scouting staff on taking another plunge Down Under, Lonie has major college experience, serving two seasons as the University of California's punter and kickoff man.

The 6-foot-6, 220-pound Lonie signed with Washington as an undrafted rookie last spring but was released on the cut to 65 and was not picked up. A former decathlete who originally came to the U.S. in 1999 to work at a summer camp in Wisconsin, Lonie attended Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls, Iowa, and later received scholarship offers from both Ohio State and Cal.

Lonie, who averaged 41 yards per punt at Cal, was especially good at landing balls inside the 20-yard line, totaling 22 his junior year and 21 his senior year. Also, 27 of his 68 kickoffs were touchbacks in '05.

Lonie is trying to follow in the footsteps of other Australian punters who have had an impact in the NFL, such as former San Diego Charger and Minnesota Viking Darren Bennett, New York Jet Ben Graham and Dallas Cowboy Mat McBriar.

The Packers aren't necessarily looking to replace incumbent Jon Ryan, but after a shaky rookie season (26th in net average, 28th in punts inside the 20) they want to challenge him.
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Crikey! Nice sign, mate!

[RashanGary]

I thought Ryan was pretty poor but Punters typically get better for 3 or 4 years and the are what they are for 10 or so. Ryan has room to grow. I think it's good to always be looking for something better though. He didn't impress me at all.


Rayner is almost a lock though. He was really good for any kicker and considering his age; he'll get better.

[Bretsky]

I thought Ryan was pretty poor but Punters typically get better for 3 or 4 years and the are what they are for 10 or so. Ryan has room to grow. I think it's good to always be looking for something better though. He didn't impress me at all.


Rayner is almost a lock though. He was really good for any kicker and considering his age; he'll get better.


Ryan has a ton of potential with his big leg; but he needs to find consistency.

Rayner was solid, although his misses versus the Rams and Bills, if memory serves me right, really hurt.

[esoxx]

Ryan really had some tough circumstances. Not only being a rookie but what he went through with his Dad and his bout with cancer. I expect improvement and better consistency this year.

Rayner needs to improve his accuracy. I suspect some competition will be brought in.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Both guys showed promise, but are far from sure things. Ryan's hang time really improved though in the second half of the year. Rayner showed me a lot by the fact that in the couple of games he missed a couple of kicks early and came back and showed supreme confidence by nailing clutch kicks later.

[Kiwon]

What's the consensus on Ryan Longwell's first year with the Vikes? Average for Longwell, Above-average, or below-average?

[superfan]

What's the consensus on Ryan Longwell's first year with the Vikes? Average for Longwell, Above-average, or below-average?

Slightly disappointing by his standards and slightly below expectations, but not a bad season overall. He made 21 of 25 for 84%, which is slightly above his career average of 81.8%. He was perfect inside of 40 yards, 4-6 from 40-50 yards, and 0-2 from beyond 50. Not bad numbers, but people were expecting near perfection since he's kicking indoors now for his home games, and he signed a big contract for a kicker.

The fans and coaching staff are already grousing about his lack of leg strength on kickoffs.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Actually, I think his kicking was pretty good. I believe a couple of his misses were blocks. His kickoffs were below average though. Not surprising. They've had some bad kicking though, and I'm sure (with their cap room) they were satisfied with him. Not great, but better than what they had.

[mmmdk]

What baffles me is that Jon Ryan has very poor hang time on his punts...so what's with the huge leg? Being a guy from the soccer world, and I know soccer as I've played it for 20 years, it beats me that hang time is a problem for our GB punter. Not a good sign but I'm rooting for the guy nonetheless.

[red]

i don't know if ryan did get better as the season went a long

at the start of the year he had huge punts now and then, with a bunch of very poor punts in between. as the season went on the punting did get a little better, but the massive kicks vanished

if he's just going to end up as a punter that averages 40 yards, then why not just go grab one now that can already do that with a lot better accuracy

i looked to me that the lessons or coaching he was given took away his god given advantage. they changed too much and took away what made him special IMO

[Fritz]

What's the consensus on Ryan Longwell's first year with the Vikes? Average for Longwell, Above-average, or below-average?

Slightly disappointing by his standards and slightly below expectations, but not a bad season overall. He made 21 of 25 for 84%, which is slightly above his career average of 81.8%. He was perfect inside of 40 yards, 4-6 from 40-50 yards, and 0-2 from beyond 50. Not bad numbers, but people were expecting near perfection since he's kicking indoors now for his home games, and he signed a big contract for a kicker.

The fans and coaching staff are already grousing about his lack of leg strength on kickoffs.

I believe there were some issues with the holder on those two misses...

[red]

LOL

[Lurker64]

Personally I'm inclined to cut Ryan a lot of slack due to the personal drama he was suffering during the season last year. I mean, if the night after Irv died if Brett had thrown six INTs instead of the four TDs he threw, we'd all be inclined to let Brett off the hook. Ryan had a lot on his mind that wasn't football last year, so what we saw last year wasn't necessarily his potential.

Bringing in a new guy to compete is good, since any time you can have the better of two players instead of the worst that's a net win, but it's not like there's any need to replace Ryan yet.

[Brando19]

I thought Ryan was pretty poor but Punters typically get better for 3 or 4 years and the are what they are for 10 or so. Ryan has room to grow. I think it's good to always be looking for something better though. He didn't impress me at all.


Rayner is almost a lock though. He was really good for any kicker and considering his age; he'll get better.


Ryan has a ton of potential with his big leg; but he needs to find consistency.

Rayner was solid, although his misses versus the Rams and Bills, if memory serves me right, really hurt.

He also missed a FG at the Bears/Packers opener (which I was at) that would have put the Packers on the board, avoiding the blowout.

[prsnfoto]

What I don't understand about punting is if Ryan can kick 70 yards and he proved he can, rather than changing it to get better hangtime why can't he kick it out of bounds? No team does this anymore, I have heard two different excuses one they want T.O.'s which in my opinion is silly only 1 in what 40 will happen and two the zebras can't spot correctly, if thats true oh my God fire them all!

[red]

why not try and kick the ball low and away from the guy, so it gets past him?

that way he's you got him running in the wrong direction, he has to stop and turn around before he can take off

wouldn't this work?

[woodbuck27]

Good !

Jon Ryan needs this competition in order to accelerate improvement in only his second season in the NFL.

Jon Ryan will 'in fact' improve and be OUR punter for a good many seasons.

[Packnut]

I see no reason why some wanna give guys chances when they did nothing to earn it. I understand Ryan had stuff on his mind. Still, his in-ability to down balls inside the 20 made him no better than B.J. was. Excuse me if I'm wrong, but in order to get better, you have to IMPROVE when you replace players.

Also, our kicker was nothing more than avg. I'd be very upset if TT does'nt bring guys in with the idea of getting better. After all, thats the whole point is'nt it?