Cleveland Browns young specialists add versatility to kicking game

The Cleveland Browns made the surprising decision to keep rookies at punter and kicker, but the young specialists are both versatile players.

After the first couple weeks of Cleveland Browns training camp and the preseason, it appeared that the Browns were going to have veterans at kicker and punter with Greg Joseph and Britton Colquitt.

But before the end of the preseason, rookie Austin Seibert started to gain confidence and started to nail his kicks. And Jamie Gillan began to show off his monster leg with punts that flipped the entire field and captivated onlookers.

After their strong finish to the preseason, Gillan and Seibert were able to knock off the veterans at kicker and punter on cut down day Saturday.

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Seibert making the team was expected after he kicked the final two weeks of the preseason and made every one of his six field goals and two extra points. But Gillan taking over for Colquitt, who is one of the most consistent punters in the NFL, was mildly surprising.

Although there are concerns about having two rookies as the team’s specialists, it’s hard to deny the leg talent of Gillan and the consistent finish by Seibert. But being young players creates concerns about if the two rookies can handle the pressures of kicking in the NFL.

That will be a question answered at a later point in the season once they are exposed to kicking in high-pressure situations. But one of the least-talked about aspects of the rookies making the roster is their versatility as kickers.

Both Gillan and Seibert have experience kicking and punting. Despite Gillan primarily being a punter at Arkansas-Pine Bluff in college, he was also used their kicker. And Seibert was also Oklahoma’s punter during his four-year career in Norman. Seibert was even a semifinalist for the NCAA’s most outstanding punter award in 2015.

Even though it does not happen often, teams can be put into predicaments when either their kicker or punter suffers an injury and cannot return to games. It forces the other kicker/punter to do something they are not used to doing and they are typically not as effective.

With the Browns specialists both having experience doing the other kicking job, they should be able to manage being in the other role in case an emergency occurs. It may not happen often, or at all, but having the flexibility to move their specialists around could prove to be beneficial for the Browns.

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Cleveland will obviously need their rookie specialists to excel at the roles they made the roster for. But having the ability to do the other job in case of emergency is one of the most underrated aspects of Gillan and Seibert both making the team.

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