01-11-2018, 09:56 PM
I've always thought the proper way to measure returners' effectiveness was pretty straightforward, so straightforward I'm surprised no one has done it: simply measure the percentage of available yardage gained. Better returners, obviously, get more. You'd have to adjust slightly in kick returners' case to deal with touchbacks (do those automatically count as 25%?) but for punt returners, the virtues are pretty obvious.
People generally rate punt returners by their average return, but I've always found that to be pretty deceptive. Let's say one punt returner has a 30 yard punt return over two games (and the rest are fair caught), while another has (we'll say) four 10 yard punt returns. Intuitively, the second one is making more valuable contributions, but average return stats would tend to promote the former player.
People generally rate punt returners by their average return, but I've always found that to be pretty deceptive. Let's say one punt returner has a 30 yard punt return over two games (and the rest are fair caught), while another has (we'll say) four 10 yard punt returns. Intuitively, the second one is making more valuable contributions, but average return stats would tend to promote the former player.