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Factoid

Declining Punt Return touchdowns

Scores less likely than in past

Item in the Newsblast today that the Cowboys may use rookie CeeDee Lamb on punt returns this year. He's experienced, having handled punts all three years at Oklahoma, averaging 8.8 yards per return. Last year only seven NFL teams had higher averages, so 8.8 is pretty good.

Lamb didn't have any touchdowns on his 54 college returns, though, so no one should necessarily be counting on a bunch of scores from him in that capacity. And the NFL, either due to punting approach, coverage teams, or rules modifications (or all three) has gotten better and better at limiting punt return touchdowns anyway.

Punt return touchdowns used to be more common. From 2000-2009, teams totaled 143 scores on punt returns -- an average of more than 14 per season. And that average held for most of the past decade: at least 13 punt return touchdowns each season from 2010-2015.

But that's gone now. The last four years, teams have scored 10, 10, 7 and 7 touchdowns on returns. That's an average of 8.5 per season -- a little more than half of what the league was scoring over the previous 16 years.

Table shows the last 10 years of punt return touchdowns, team by team. Chicago (not surprisingly, with the work done by Devin Hester over the first part of the decade) leads the way with 9 punt return scores over that span, while Kansas City (also not surprising, with Tyreek Hill accounting for 4 of them) comes in 2nd with 8 TDs.

TEAM PUNT RETURN TOUCHDOWNS, 2010-2019
Team10111213141516171819Tot
Chicago32010012009
Kansas City10021021108
Baltimore01110101106
Detroit00010022016
Philadelphia10102200006
Dallas30110001006
Pittsburgh01011100015
Denver02110100005
Tennessee11300000005
Arizona04001000005
Minnesota00110120005
LA Rams01012100005
Green Bay01112000005
New England11101000004
Buffalo01201000004
Cleveland01110100004
Miami00100110104
LA Chargers00100001114
Jacksonville10000101104
Indianapolis00100000023
Houston01010010003
New Orleans01000100013
Atlanta10001000013
NY Jets00100000102
San Francisco11000000002
Carolina00001001002
Cincinnati01100000002
NY Giants00000100001
Oakland00000000101
Seattle00000100001
Washington00000010001
Tampa Bay00000000000
Total132018131313101077

Dallas ties for 3rd with 6 touchdowns over that span, but note that half of those came way back in 2010. In the last six years they have 1 score on a punt return (better than Tampa Bay, at least, which has none). So it won't take much for Lamb to be an upgrade in that area. But expectations for big numbers should be kept in check. There just aren't many such scores in the NFL these days.

--Andy Richardson

Fantasy Index