SI's Punter Ratings

As the booming 55-yard punt that rolls into the end zone illustrates, raw numbers don't always tell the story of a punter's effectiveness. So to quantify a punter's value to his team, SI adapted the quarterback rating. For completions, we substituted fair catches, downed punts and punts out-of-bounds. Incompletions we replaced with returns and touchbacks. Instead of passing yards and touchdowns, we plugged in net yards and punts downed inside the 20. Assuming a 99-yarder with no return as the best outcome and one returned for 109 yards and a TD as the worst, we used a series of multipliers to arrive at a perfect punter rating of 100 and a lowest possible rating of -68.1. Like the quarterback rating, this isn't a perfect system—it doesn't take into account factors such as outkicking your coverage (see Shane Lechler, who leads the league with a 51.4 gross average)—but it shows who consistently combines the elements of effective punting. Here, then, are SI's inaugural punter ratings, for the 2009 NFL season through Dec. 7 (minimum 40 punts).

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Punter, Team	Rating
MAT MCBRIAR(above), Cowboys	41.24
BEN GRAHAM,Cardinals	39.76
DUSTIN COLQUITT,Chiefs	39.22
MIKE SCIFRES,Chargers	38.90
DAVE ZASTUDIL,Browns	37.80
BRAD MAYNARD,Bears	36.98
DANIEL SEPULVEDA,Steelers	36.34
JEFF FEAGLES,Giants	36.15
DONNIE JONES,Rams	35.79
SAV ROCCA,Eagles	35.70
MICHAEL KOENEN,Falcons	35.19
BRANDON FIELDS,Dolphins	34.80
MATT TURK,Texans	34.52
SHANE LECHLER,Raiders	34.13
ANDY LEE,49ers	34.02
JON RYAN,Seahawks	33.74
JASON BAKER,Panthers	33.55
PAT MCAFEE,Colts	33.43
SAM KOCH,Ravens	33.20
ADAM PODLESH,Jaguars	32.89
CHRIS KLUWE,Vikings	32.74
KEVIN HUBER,Bengals	32.55
NICK HARRIS,Lions	32.40
BRIAN MOORMAN,Bills	32.07
STEVEN WEATHERFORD,Jets	31.79
DIRK JOHNSON,Buccaneers	31.67
CHRIS HANSON,Patriots	31.60
THOMAS MORSTEAD,Saints	29.99
JEREMY KAPINOS,Packers	25.98

PHOTO

ERIC GAY/AP