Pete Prisco Thinks Punters Are Stupid

CBSSports.com's Pete Prisco obviously has no idea what special teams is all about. I suspect the former Jags beat writer is focused more on Jacksonville's 2007 fourth-round pick, Adam Podlesh, but to make the blanket statement that using a draft-pick on a punter is a waste is, well, dumb. Especially when he includes Pittsburgh's rookie fourth-rounder, Daniel Sepulveda in the conversation:

Those two punters are near the bottom of the league rankings after two weeks. Adam Podlesh ... is averaging 38.3 per punt to place him 24th in the league. Daniel Sepulveda is averaging 37.7 yards per punt for the Steelers, placing him 28th, but he has five of his seven punts downed inside the 20, which isn't bad.

First, according to NFL.com, it's worse than Prisco writes -- Podlesh ranks 31st in average yards per punt, and Sepulveda ranks 32nd. But here's the thing: Sepulveda's net average is ... 37.7. You don't need to be Norman Einstein to know that that means he's yet to have a punt returned (seven punts, six downed, one fair-caught).

Also, of his five punts inside the 20, there have been zero touchbacks. Compare that to Chris "I've NEVER had a punt blocked!!" Gardocki, who had punted 11 times inside the 20 last season, and had four touchbacks.

Prisco's not impressed by fancy numbers, though: "So why draft punters high? You can find them without wasting draft picks on them." Ah, yes, because Pittsburgh has had so much success with their second-day picks in recent drafts. It's a completely insane idea to take a player who not only will make the team, but will start. Stupid, stupid Steelers.