{"id":158571,"date":"2025-08-19T14:21:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T14:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/158571\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T14:21:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T14:21:10","slug":"meet-the-new-york-jets-best-player-of-the-2025-preseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/158571\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the New York Jets’ best player of the 2025 preseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many New York Jets players<\/a> have shined in the preseason thus far.<\/p>\n

The best among them? That would be Austin McNamara.<\/p>\n

Austin McNamara\u2019s dazzling preseason stats<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s 24-year-old punter delivered oohs and aahs from mesmerized onlookers with each and every football he sent careening into the stratosphere over his short but stellar stint with the men in green. Relative to their peers around the league, no Jet has been more impressive.<\/p>\n

Across nine punts, McNamara has delivered a gross average of 48.6 yards with a net average of 46.9 yards. He\u2019s showcased deft touch along the way, kicking no touchbacks while forcing three fair catches and landing six of his nine punts (67%) inside of the 20-yard line.<\/p>\n

The most eye-popping aspect of McNamara\u2019s game? His hang time. <\/p>\n

While McNamara\u2019s gross average of 48.6 yards is strong, it would be negated by return yardage if he could not pair it with adequate hang time. But he\u2019s done just that, averaging 4.69 yards of hang time on his punts. Thanks to the time he\u2019s bought for his gunners, McNamara\u2019s punts have yielded just 3.8 yards per return across four tries.<\/p>\n

For perspective, a 4.69 hang time would have led the NFL in the 2024 regular season; Houston\u2019s Tommy Townsend ranked first with a 4.67 mark. While it is unlikely that McNamara maintains a league-leading hang time average across more than nine punts, the early signs are extremely promising.<\/p>\n

Shining in every aspect of the position, McNamara currently has the second-best punting grade (80.6) at Pro Football Focus in the 2025 preseason. His 46.9-yard net average is fourth-best, although he\u2019s punted more than twice as often as the three players ranked above him.<\/p>\n

Austin McNamara preseason highlights<\/p>\n

This is an absolute beaut of a coffin corner punt from the Red Raider. <\/p>\n

Punting from the opponent\u2019s 46-yard line, McNamara delivers the combination of hang time and placement that makes observers (well, maybe just me) drool. By my count, this ball is in the air for 4.57 seconds despite traveling just 39 yards downfield, which buys plenty of time for the Jets\u2019 troops to rally.<\/p>\n

McNamara drops it in at the 7-yard line, which is the perfect spot in this situation. It\u2019s deep enough to where you\u2019d be happy with a fair catch, but shallow enough to potentially take a friendly bounce that pins the opponent all the way back against the wall.<\/p>\n

McNamara puts enough of a kiss on it for a high, team-friendly bounce that buys time for Kene Nwangwu to fly in and save it from the end zone.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fantastic play by Nwangwu, but don\u2019t just write it off as a lucky play for McNamara. Nwangwu needed every bit of McNamara\u2019s excellent hang time to get down there and make this diving play.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Again showing his coffin corner prowess, McNamara one-ups himself with a 4.70 bomb, which flies 47 yards from the Jets\u2019 49 to the Giants\u2019 4. It offers ample time for the Jets to get downfield; you can see that Jarrick Bernard-Converse beat his man and was in position to save the ball from the end zone if needed.<\/p>\n

Instead, McNamara generates a beautiful backspin. The ball returns to the field of play before swerving out of bounds at the 4-yard line.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Punting into the open field this time, McNamara shows his ability to take matters into his own hands by fusing distance and hang time.<\/p>\n

McNamara fires this thing 48 yards down the field, and yet, he still manages to keep it in the air for a whopping 4.77 seconds until the returner secures it. Ja\u2019Markis Weston has plenty of time to beat his man and get in the returner\u2019s face, forcing him to call for a fair catch.<\/p>\n

Fair catches are a great punting result for two reasons: They eliminate any risk of allowing a game-tilting return, and they still yield a chance for the returner to muff the ball back to your team.<\/p>\n

However, if your punter tends to kick the ball too shallow in search of fair catches, he will stockpile a ton of lost yardage in the long run. A 35-yard fair catch keeps the return game quiet, but you\u2019re gifting the offense a free first down.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why punts like this one by McNamara are such a boon. You maintain the benefits of a fair catch without sacrificing those precious yards.<\/p>\n

It can only be achieved with a special punt, one that goes far and high. McNamara pulled it off here, and he\u2019s shown the ability to do it consistently in the preseason.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Alright, now our boy is just showing off.<\/p>\n

Just in case anyone at home had fallen asleep by the 4:50 mark of this preseason laugher, McNamara woke them up with the thundering clap of a 60-yard laser with the destructive capacity to annihilate an entire planet.<\/p>\n

I clocked a hang time of 4.61 on this one. It\u2019s very good \u2013 far from a line drive \u2013 but relative to a massive 60-yard distance, it\u2019s not quite enough to prevent a return.<\/p>\n

However, the critical aspect of this punt is that McNamara pins the returner to the sideline. So, even though the long-distance kick gave him plenty of space to catch the ball and return it, the location of the punt ensured that there was only one way for him to go. This makes it easy for the Jets\u2019 gunners to trap him and make the stop.<\/p>\n

The return yields only 7 yards, and it goes in the books as a 60-yard punt with a net of 53 yards. As Ice Cube would say in the critically acclaimed 2025 film \u201cWar of the Worlds\u201d\u2026 Damn.<\/p>\n

As a side note, credit is due to the Jets\u2019 special teams coordinator, Chris Banjo. On each of these punts, the Jets\u2019 coverage team is in perfect position to cover the return.<\/p>\n

The Jets\u2019 cover men are beating their blockers in a hurry and getting downfield with ideal positioning. There is no Giants blocker in the area on any of these four punts; on this one, the returner is one-on-3 with no teammates on the screen, and the Jets surround him beautifully to eliminate his options. Banjo has the cover team playing exceptionally well as a collective unit.<\/p>\n

Star in the making?<\/p>\n

What\u2019s appealing about preseason punt-splosions is that they offer more sustainability than surprise breakouts at other positions. You\u2019re just punting the ball. It\u2019s you versus you. The competition won\u2019t change once the regular season arrives, which makes the production relatively sustainable.<\/p>\n

McNamara has already shown every tool in the box: distance, hang time, accuracy, and touch. The only question now is whether he can consistently perform across 17 regular season games.<\/p>\n

Earlier this offseason, I explained why I believe that punters are closer in value to kickers<\/a> than football fans tend to think. Over the course of a season, the hidden value of punt yardage can add up to be worth the equivalent of multiple touchdowns. They affect the game in a more subtle fashion than kickers, but the cumulative impact is similar.<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s kicker position received plenty of scrutiny last season, and rightfully so. However, going into 2025, it was just important for the Jets to find a solution at punter after parting ways with the experienced Thomas Morstead.<\/p>\n

McNamara looks like he can be that solution. In just two preseason games, he has already made it abundantly clear why the team was comfortable tabbing him as their lone punter all the way back on July 27, when they waived his competitor, Kai Kroeger. They had already seen enough in practice to end the competition and move forward without adding a new competitor.<\/p>\n

Now, we\u2019re seeing what the Jets saw from him on the practice field.<\/p>\n

While Nick Folk will be the center of attention in New York\u2019s revamped special teams unit, Jets fans should not overlook the impact that McNamara could have on the team\u2019s fortunes. If he maintains his level of play from the preseason, he will be just as significant a difference-maker as Folk could be \u2013 if not more so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many New York Jets players have shined in the preseason thus far. The best among them? That would…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":158572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,92067,92068,1322,59988,92069,92070,405,403,5287,5226,5225,1232,5228,92071,59991,90101,92072,92073,5227,10235,9960,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-158571","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-austin-mcnamara","10":"tag-chris-banjo","11":"tag-featured","12":"tag-free-content","13":"tag-nanias-all-22","14":"tag-nanias-numbers","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-new-york-jets","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkcity","20":"tag-nfl","21":"tag-ny","22":"tag-ny-jets-film","23":"tag-ny-jets-players","24":"tag-ny-jets-roster-depth-chart","25":"tag-ny-jets-stats","26":"tag-ny-jets-videos-highlights","27":"tag-nyc","28":"tag-standard","29":"tag-syndication","30":"tag-united-states","31":"tag-united-states-of-america","32":"tag-unitedstates","33":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","34":"tag-us","35":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115055878916258623","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}