New York Jets 2018 NFL Draft Target: Michael Dickson

The New York Jets need a new punter, and University of Texas punter Michael Dickson should be a target for them on Day 2 of the 2018 NFL Draft.

Football is a three-phase game: offense, defense, and special teams. Punters largely go unnoticed, but they play a key role in field position. The New York Jets have a lot of holes, and punter is one of them.

Lachlan Edwards was tied for 10th in gross punt average in the NFL in 2017. Unfortunately, that was the only thing that was good about his season. Gross punt average is a useless stat, because it only shows how far you can kick the ball, but not the results of the punts.

It may have looked good to some, but Edwards was not good in 2017, and he should’ve been a lot better in his second season in the NFL. He was tied for the most returns allowed with 49, and he was one of only seven punters with 50 or more punts to allow more than 50 percent of his punts to be returned. He was also 13th and 17th (respectively) in the NFL in percentage of punts forced to fair catch and inside the 20 percentage.

Punting stats can easily translate to the NFL, because there’s not much of a difference in terms of pressure getting to the punter from college to the NFL. Michael Dickson had half of his punts end up inside the 20-yard line, and only one punter in the NFL could say that in 2017. Also, his 20.2 return ratewould’ve been the best among qualified punters.

The fair catches are the most important stat for a punter. That means the punt is not returnable. He force 33 fair catches on 84 punts.

Next: 2018 NFL Mock Draft: Post-Combine 3-Round projection

The Jets are likely to have a lot of roster turnover on offense. That means it will take some time to gel. Having a punter who can help flip field position and put the defense in a good position to get stops is key. With that, then the offense can have shorter fields and be in better position to score.

You can say a punter isn’t that important, but given the Jets current situation, he’s definitely worth a second-day pick.