San Francisco 49ers punter Andy Lee is a lock to make the team’s 53-man roster for the 10th straight season this year. The former Pitt Panther is 31 years old and has averaged 45.9 yards on punts throughout his career, but he is still looking to expand his repertoire.
In the Niners’ fourth and final preseason game against the San Diego Chargers, Lee is hoping to bust out the “knuckle punt” he has been working on in practice for years.
“It’s definitely something I want to do in a game to see how it actually happens in a live situation,” Lee said Wednesday, per Mindi Bach of CSNBayArea.com. “In practice, you can do things and you can mimic as much as you can, but you never really know how a new thing you’re going to do is going to react in a game situation. So I’d love to hopefully be able to pull it out and try it and see if it’s something I can work in my regular routine.”
If you watch baseball or have seen “D2: The Mighty Ducks,” you can probably get an idea of what a knuckle punt is. In most instances, NFL punters try to kick a spiral punt for distance, height and accuracy. However, a knuckle punt would have very little spin and wobble through the air, making it difficult for returners to handle.
“It can cause some fumbles,” Lee explained. “It can do some things like that, and sometimes when I hit the rugby punt it will come out a little slower rotation so it’s kind of that same idea except making it move maybe four rotations the whole time it’s in the air.”
One of Lee’s teammates, wide receiver Kyle Williams, remembers the first time he saw the knuckle punt in practice during his rookie season back in 2010.
“I turned to Ted Ginn and said, ‘What the hell was that?'” Williams said. “It’s just like a knuckleball in baseball. It’s floating up there, and it will change direction probably three or four times within the last 5 yards, 10 yards, and then it’s right there. It’s tough to deal with. It’s literally sideways, and then it just kind of shifts around. It moves around. It’s tough.”
A knuckle punt would certainly be interesting to witness, though I have my doubts about whether it would be useful during the regular season. Field position is so important that the inconsistency of the knuckle punt would probably make it tough to use. Then again, Lee could be a trailblazer if he finds a way to perfect it.
H/T Shutdown Corner
