Punter Siposs is one of the few not rolling right now
The Eagles are buzzing right now.
Through four games, the offense has shown it can win in many ways with quarterback Jalen Hurts emerging as an MVP candidate — while the defense has harassed opposing quarterbacks with a league-best 16 sacks and 10 takeaways.
However, special teams remain a legitimate concern.
Kicker Jake Elliott’s status for the road game Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals remains hazy after Elliott suffered a foot injury against Jacksonville. Undrafted rookie Britain Covey is still trying to find his footing as the team’s featured returner. And the unit’s most pressing issue: Second-year punter Arryn Siposs continues to struggle.
Siposs ranks 28th in the league in net yards per punt and 24th in raw yards per punt, according to TruMedia. He ranks 28th in Puntalytics’ pEPA, which measures the value of individual plays in terms of expected performance.
“We’ve got to get better ... because it’s going to help our whole team out, especially with how the defense is humming right now to give [opponents] a long field,” special teams coordinator Michael Clay said Tuesday of Siposs. “We’ve just got to tighten up in that plus-50 area [on punts beyond the 50-yard line].”
Of Siposs’ 16 punts, only seven have pinned foes inside their 20-yard line (four in Week 3 at Washington). He is tied for the second-highest total of touchbacks with three. His touchback numbers are concerning; Siposs had three touchbacks during the entire 2021 season. His net average of 39.9 yards is nearly 10 yards behind the league’s top net average.
None of Siposs’ punts have gone out of bounds, which suggests that either the Eagles haven’t prioritized directional corner kicks or Siposs hasn’t mastered that yet.
When asked about the art of directional kicking, Clay replied: “You still want to give the gunners an opportunity right there. If it goes super deep into the corner, there’s always ifs, ands, or buts about it. But if you go super deep into the corner and the gunner to the other side gets thrown out of bounds, he can’t touch the ball right there, and then the returner has a little bit straighter line away from the backside gunner right there.
“I think we’re just [letting] him go [kick] the ball and just allowing him to do what he did last year. He looked pretty good in the plus-50, so we’ve got to get better.”
Siposs signed with the Eagles as a free agent in January 2021. General manager Howie Roseman executed an assortment of moves throughout the offseason to improve the roster. The additions were highlighted by wide receiver A.J. Brown, linebacker/edge rusher Haason Reddick, cornerback James Bradberry, defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson, linebacker Kyzir White, and top draft picks Jordan Davis, Cam Jurgens, and Nakobe Dean.
However, the Eagles neglected to bring in another punter — not even as an extra training-camp body — to test Siposs and create more competition. This practice is typical across the NFL, especially for teams with struggling kickers or punters.
At some point this season, special teams will play a major role, and the group’s performance could decide victory and defeat. During the NFC wild-card game against Tampa Bay in January, Siposs had a subpar outing (six punts with only two landing inside the 20).
In addition to punting, Siposs also serves as the team’s holder on kicks. Bringing in a different punter would mean messing with the kicking operation. To Siposs’ credit, he made a touchdown-saving tackle during Week 2 when one of Elliott’s field-goal attempts was blocked.