FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Austin McNamara’s journey to becoming one of the NFL’s top young punters began on a computer screen.
The New York Jets ‘ first-year standout loved playing soccer and basketball while growing up in Gilbert, Arizona, but never participated in organized football until he got to high school. That’s when McNamara thought, just for kicks, he’d give a new sport a try.
And with his soccer background, McNamara had an idea where he’d be best suited on the football field.
“I knew kicking would come a little more natural for me,” McNamara said. “And it did. I think it clicked right away.”
But not before McNamara and his father Brian spent countless hours on YouTube watching videos of every kicker and punter they could find — college and NFL games, workout videos, whatever was available.
With plenty of rewinding, pausing and rewatching in between.
“Me and my dad, we really didn’t know where to start,” McNamara recalled. “We just Googled how to punt, how to kick. I think we probably Googled how to kick a field goal first because my first love is actually kicking field goals. That’s more fun because you score points.
“Punting, you don’t score points. So I was like, ‘Oh, I like field goals better.’”
The 24-year-old McNamara is making his living these days, though, by booming punts for the Jets. His 43.6 yard net average ranks seventh in the NFL and his 22 punts downed inside the 20-yard line is fourth. McNamara was selected Thursday as the AFC special teams player of the month for November.
“He is a weapon and I call him a weapon,” coach Aaron Glenn said after McNamara had a season-high 49.5 net average in the Jets’ 27-24 win over Atlanta last Sunday and downed three of his six punts inside the 20.
“We call him our sniper,” Glenn added, “because he has the ability to flip the field for us at any given time.”
McNamara’s hang time on punts has been noticeably effective, with opponents averaging just 5.56 yards per return, the second-lowest total in the NFL behind Washington’s 3.78. His 18 fair catches on punts is tied for third. Jets special teams coordinator Chris Banjo credited assistant special teams coach Kevin O’Dea for his work in helping develop the young punter.
“I think there’s some traits that you were able to recognize with him early,” Banjo said of McNamara. “But he’s definitely gotten better in terms of his commitment and consistency to his craft and and working.”
McNamara’s performance this season has some even mentioning him for Pro Bowl recognition. His EPA — expected points added, a statistic that measures how a punter’s performance impacts his team’s scoring potential — is 16.4, which leads the NFL and would be the highest by a Jets punter since Tru Media began tracking it in 2000.
“I’m just trying to do my part and help the team out, put us in the best position possible to win,” he said. “It keeps me motivated, for sure.”
McNamara certainly has come a long way from those days as a young teenager studying every aspect of kicking he could: how to swing his leg on punts, where to hit the ball and all the footwork involved. He and his father also bought a few footballs and rigged their own kicking tee holder out of PVC pipes.
“We just went out there and kind of messed around, and I just learned from there,” McNamara said. “I kind of fell in love with it.
His next big step came in December 2015, when he attended his first kicking camp.
“That’s kind of when I learned and got some actual coaching, like, from an actual person,” McNamara said with a laugh. “Not just YouTube or just me and my dad trying to figure it out.”
McNamara punted and kicked field goals throughout his four years at Highland High School — while watching college and NFL games and focusing on the punters and kickers.
And it paid off. He earned first team all-state honors after his senior year and was heavily recruited by Division I football programs as a punter before he chose Texas Tech over the likes of Arizona, Arizona State, Missouri, Nebraska and Utah State.
McNamara ended his five-year career with the Red Raiders with a 45.91 punting average, the highest in school and Big 12 history. He also had the longest punt in Texas Tech history with an 87-yarder against West Virginia in 2020. Still, he went undrafted last year, was signed by Cincinnati as a free agent and was cut by the Bengals during training camp in August 2024.
He went back home to continue training in Arizona, but had workouts with about a dozen teams over the next several months before the Jets signed him in March to compete for their punting job.
“I was pretty confident in myself and I knew I’d get another shot,” McNamara said. “It was just a matter of when. I wanted to keep pursuing it and not give up on it right away. And so I’m glad I didn’t.”
So are the Jets.
New York released veteran Thomas Morstead during the offseason and signed both McNamara and Kai Kroeger to replace him despite neither ever having punted in a regular-season NFL game. McNamara won the job early in training camp and has been, well, kicking himself ever since.
“I feel great where I’m at,” McNamara said. “Obviously, I’m humbled and excited to keep it going and finishing strong.”
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