Three LA Rams players are biggest snubs form the 2021 NFL Pro Bowl

P Johnny Hekker

Despite leading punters in fan voting, punter Johnny Hekker was not named to the 2021 NFL Pro Bowl. That’s a bit surprising, isn’t it? After all, he was the punter recently named to the All-Decade team, and he’s still playing just as effectively. In fact, much of the Rams defensive success starts with Hekker’s booming punts.

It was Hekker who pinned the Washington Football team inside of their 10-yard line four times in one game. He followed that one up by placing all five punts against the Chicago Bears inside their 10-yard line.

That accomplishment earned him the NFL’s Special Teams Player of the Week. That’s pretty solid for a punter competing with return specialists and field goal kickers.

What the Hekk?

So the summary of this one is that the NFL watches Hekker do something that no other punter has done in the NFL’s history for the past 30 years, and decides he simply isn’t ‘Pro Bowl’ material this season?  Well, that’s pretty outlandish.  Hekker isn’t just some one-hit wonder in the NFL. He’s been one of the top punters in the NFL his entire career.

The NFL’s Pro Bowl punter is Detroit Lions punter Jack Fox. Fox is also the team’s designated kicker on kickoffs as well. Hekker has punted the ball 59 times for a 45.9 yards-per-punt average. And Hekker has punted 26 times inside the 20-yard line for better than a 44 percent coffin kick rate. Fox has punted 49 times for a 49.3 yards per punt average. But the truth of the matter is that he has punted just 21 times inside the 20-yard line, for a just over 42 percent coffin kick rate.