Does anyone know that a couple of Chiefs are perhaps on the verge of setting new records? Obviously, one of those Chiefs is Larry Johnson, but Jon has already written about his pursuit. How many people know that Dustin Colquitt will be chasing one also? Fortunately, the record is not for most punts in a season, which would have a potential negative connotation similar to Johnson's potential most-carries record.Currently, Colquitt has a 39.9 yard net punting average. Why is this number important? Because, according to several reports, including this one from the Buffalo News website, no punter has ever had a 40.0 net punting average ever since the NFL began keeping track 30 years ago. In fact, the Dallas Morning News goes an extra step and lists the top net punting averages, and Colquitt could easily exceed the top number of 39.6, achieved by Detroit's Jim Arnold in 1988. There is a bit of a catch-- according to the Chiefs' official news release (PDF), Colquitt would actually still be chasing the team record of 40.0 by Jerrel Wilson way back in 1968. Also according to the release, the best net punting average of the Super Bowl era is 42.1, set in 1972 by Dave Chapple (yes, that is spelled correctly, one of our favorite comedians was not a stud punter before he was born).
But that was before the NFL actually took net punting averages seriously. In fact, the NFL still does not consider the best net punting average to be an official record. But the fact of the matter is that Colquitt has a chance to do something that the NFL has never officially recorded, and something that can at least be confirmed has not been accomplished in over 30 years.
Technically, according to my calculations, Colquitt's net average is actually 39.85, so he has a bit more work than it initially appears. Here is what I calculate. For the no-cheapie record (meaning 40.0 exactly, no rounding up), Colquitt must have: 5 punts, 42.0 net; 4 punts, 42.5 net; 3 punts, 43.3 net; 2 punts, 45.0 net; 1 punt, 50.0 net. If we are rounding up (39.95), Colquitt needs the following: 5 punts, 41.28 net; 4 punts, 41.61 net; 3 punts, 42.17 net; 2 punts, 43.28 net; 1 punt, 46.60 net.
So certainly, Colquitt has a good chance at the unofficial record. I would, of course, be very happy if Colquitt has zero punts and falls just short, but that is unlikely to happen. Pretty impressive stuff for a second-year player.
