Ryan Eckley has officially been named the starting punter for the Baltimore Ravens after an impressive preseason.
Not that he had much competition.
The rookie out of Michigan State put up some All-Big Ten and All-American type numbers in East Lansing before becoming one of the rare punters to hear their names called in the NFL draft. The Ravens needed a punter so they picked Eckley in the sixth round of the 206 NFL Draft which was wise because someone else was going to pick him if they didn’t.
Eckley went from Bryce Baringer replacement at Michigan State to Big Ten Punter of the Year and now he’s the starting punter for an AFC team with Super Bowl aspirations.
What a ride it’s been for Eckley who probably didn’t see this much success coming his way after he replaced an all-world punter like Baringer. The Ravens and Patriots won’t face each other during the regular season but both will be chasing the AFC title and Baringer and Eckley are going to play huge roles in that effort.
Future AFC title game matchup between two former Michigan State punters? Electric Big Ten stuff.
Ryan Eckley’s preseason proved that he can hang
The Ravens didn’t bring in another punter to challenge Eckley this preseason so he needed to prove that he was capable of handling starting duties, and he delivered.
Baltimore’s sixth-round pick had a shaky first game, followed it up with a better second preseason showing, and then the finale was another solid outing for him. He earned his roster spot despite not being incredibly challenged, but he knew that Baltimore could just go out and sign his replacement at any moment. He finished three preseason games with a 52.2 yards per punt average (8th in the NFL) on nine punts with almost half (4) landing inside the 20-yard-line (4th in the NFL).
If he can be a top-10 punter in those respective categories during the regular season, Michigan State could be represented by 20 percent of the top-10 punters in the NFL.
That sounds like “Punter U” to me.
Eckley has also clearly been working on his craft this offseason because his 52.2 yards per punt during the preseason topped all of his previous career-highs at Michigan State. His career-best in East Lansing was 48.5 during his final year which led both the Big Ten and the FBS.
Time to buy up all the stock in the new Ravens punter.
Add us as a preferred source on Google