Graduate-level education

Koch and Tucker, in turn, embrace their roles as professors, even if teaching a rookie free agent isn’t their primary concern.

“First and foremost is making sure we get ready,” Koch says. “But the time that we have left to spend with him, we want him to succeed just as much as we want ourselves to succeed. I think what we provide here is we pay attention to every detail. I’m not sure what people do everywhere else, but we have one of the greatest kicking coaches in Randy Brown. And he’ll cut up the film to a T to make sure we’re doing every single thing with the best technique possible.”

Adds Tucker: “I think we do an excellent job of being scrutinous in our work to where, when one of us sees something, we say something. We talk about it, and no one’s opposed to constructive criticism. Especially for rookies, it’s a rite of passage. You have to break them down to build them back up.”

Tucker went through it himself, sitting in an office with Brown and special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg as they picked apart his technique for 2 1/2 hours on his second day of training camp in 2012.

“I think Kenny’s doing a great job of buying in,” the All-Pro kicker says. “And that’s what important.”

The lanky, 6-foot-3 Allen acts as Koch’s shadow, watching every step the 11-year -veteran takes on the practice field.

“For a punter coming in, you’ve got the obvious, the best example of what it means to be a professional in Sam,” Tucker says. “He’s got a refined, specific technique that he’s worked on for years. You get to benefit from seeing that every day, and you have to take advantage of it.”