2014 1st-Team All-Pro Roster: A Case For Johnny Hekker

Dec 11, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Rams punter Johnny Hekker (6) leads teammates on special teams onto the field before the game between the St. Louis Rams and the Arizona Cardinals at the Edward Jones Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

In the last couple of weeks of the December, the St. Louis Rams revealed that two players from the roster had made the cut for the 2015 Pro Bowl team. The first to be announced was Robert Quinn, who had a slow start to the season, but finished the year with 10.5 sack and tied for the most forced fumbles in the NFL, making the cut for the second-consecutive year. Second, and most surprising, Aaron Donald was recognized for his dominant year, becoming the first Rams rookie since Jerome Bettis to make the roster. However, that left one glaringly obvious name off the list: Johnny Hekker.

Last year, Hekker truly took the NFL punting world by storm. The (then) second-year phenom allowed a league-low 79 total return yards and set an NFL record for net punting yard average. As a result, Hekker was named to his first Pro Bowl and made the cut as an AP 1st-Team All-Pro. In light of that performance, and after starting off the year strong, the Rams’ “Red Rifle” signed the largest guaranteed kicker/punter contact in league history, good for $18 million over the next six years.

However, Hekker’s bank account wasn’t the only impressive feature this season. By virtue of  Pro Football Focus, the Rams’ new millionaire recorded the highest grade for a special teamer since the site began analyzing players back in 2007. Hekker would finish the season tied for tops in the league in net punting yard average (42.9), and nearly double his total from last year in punts landed inside the 20 yard line, the 3rd-most in the league this year. In fact, Hekker would finish the year ranked, at a minimum, Top 5 in every meaningful punting category, including return percentage (4th), total return yards allowed (5th), and fair catches (4th).

…that doesn’t even include his throwing statistics, where Hekker completed all three of this attempts on the year; two going for 37 yards and two first downs, the other being a successful two-point conversion completion. In fact, Hekker has his own “Heisman moment,” sealing the win against the Seattle Seahawks with his end-of-the-game completion on a fake punt, deep in the Rams own territory. At the time, the Rams were leading by a mere three points, meaning that an incompletion would have given the Seahawks the football in position to tie the game, at least, with a field goal or win the game with a touchdown; a strong possibility given the amount of time left on the clock and the way Russell Wilson had been moving the football. Clutch, Mr. Hekker.

Even with the most impressive stat line on the year and the highest special teams grade in the history of Pro Football Focus, Hekker was snubbed from the 2015 Pro Bowl roster. Now, it appears as though many are projecting the AP All-Pro selection team to make the same mistake, pinning Pat McAfee as the likely top vote-getter.

While the Colts’ punter has had an excellent season in his own right, there is little-to-no rationale for why he should make the cut above Hekker. McAfee has a lower punting grade, higher return percentage allowed, more punt return yards allowed, fewer punts landed inside the 20 yard line, and a lesser net punting average than Johnny Hekker this year. Moreover, McAfee isn’t anywhere near the “threat” that Hekker is on special teams, and failed on his only pass attempt this season.

Presumably, the Associated Press is well aware of these numbers and will make the correct decision when they officially announce their 1st-Team All-Pro rosters. Anything less than the top honor is unacceptable this season, particularly after Hekker was snubbed by the regularly-inconsistent Pro Bowl balloting.