Three years ago, Jordan Stout was drafted to follow in the footsteps of Sam Koch. Punters are fastidious about their footwear, and those were big shoes to fill.
Koch was innovative in the way he approached punting, and retired after 16 seasons as one of the NFL's G.O.A.T.s. Stout wanted to make his own mark.
"I've been trying to find for a long time, how am I going to change the game of punting?" Stout said this week.
It was an up-and-down first three seasons for the Ravens' young, talented punter, but he's having his breakout in Year 4. Through the first half of the season, no punter has been better.
Stout leads the NFL in net average (46.0), which is the most important statistic. Stout is also fifth in average yards per punt (51.4) and his four punts resulting in opponents starting inside the 5-yard line is tied for the NFL's most.
Two weeks ago versus the Bears, with the Ravens leading by just three points in the fourth quarter, Stout's 40-yard pooch punt pinned Chicago at the 4-yard line. Two plays later, with Caleb Williams throwing from his own end zone, Nate Wiggins made a game-changing interception.
Last week, Stout's 56-yard blast after Baltimore's offense went three-and-out to open the game in Miami was also downed at the 4-yard line. Two plays later, Alohi Gilman made a game-changing strip and fumble recovery.
"He's been big," Head Coach John Harbaugh said of Stout. "He had a couple punts – you may have noticed – they weren't the normal style, right? He's added to his repertoire of punts, [off] the 'Sam Koch' list. … I'd say the last few games he has really stepped up."
In the offseason before his third year, Stout tried to beef up his already strong leg. For 2 ½ months, he did speed training like a sprinter, hoping that getting more explosive in his lower half would lead to punts that boomed even further.
Stout's net average per punt improved, but he still ranked 20th in the league. This past offseason, Stout decided to switch things up. He went to the beach.
After taking just two weeks off, Stout flew to San Diego, where he met up with a personal punting coach and a couple of the NFL's best punters, Detroit's Jack Fox and Las Vegas' A.J. Cole, among others. Fox set the NFL record for net average (46.2 yards) last season.
Their routine?
"Go to the beach, punt, and enjoy ourselves," Stout said. "I feel like being around guys like that, it's great energy. Happy people, it not only helps me punt, but it helps me fall in love with it more."
Much of the change had to do with simply punting more. More punting meant less time getting rusty and more time experimenting.
"I had to remember how to punt again after speed training because punting is all about how your body feels," Stout said. "You have to be so in-tune with every little muscle fiber in your leg. It has to fire in the exact same way or else you're going to shank the ball.
"I tried a lot of different things. I feel like experimenting with punting is how you find what's good for you and what's not."
Stout thought one way he could change the game of punting was with his leg strength. When the Ravens drafted him in the fourth round out of Penn State in 2022, they marveled at his power. You could hear the difference.
While Stout boomed many punts over his first three seasons, he wasn't consistent enough.
"I thought maybe [my signature] could be hangtime, but you can't do that in Baltimore. It's too windy, it's too cold," Stout said. "The boomerang works well, though."
Part of his work in San Diego was on incorporating more punts into his arsenal – something Koch mastered over the course of his career. Koch revolutionized the game by not just hitting huge punts, but by being craftier with directional punts that had different spins, trajectories, curves, etc.
Koch worked with Stout as a special teams consultant his first three seasons. This offseason, Stout also studied Jacksonville Jaguars punter Logan Cooke, who he cited as the best at curving "boomerang" punts in today's game.
"I was like, 'How can I implement that?' It took months," Stout said. "It's not just a punt you can go out there and do and have consistency with. We worked on it for a long time and it eventually clicked. In Year 4, a lot of things are clicking."
