Cleveland Browns Scottish Hammer makes PFF All-Rookie Team

The Cleveland Browns rookie class in 2019 wasn’t stellar, but Jamie Gillan stood out and made the Pro Football Focus All-Rookie Team

Jamie Gillan is the Cleveland Browns lone representative on the Pro Football Focus All-Rookie Team. He was not exactly a shoo-in as there was some tough competition.

Jake Bailey, out of Stanford, took over the Patriots’ punting chores this season and had a strong season with 44.9 yards per punt and net average 41.3. Gillan edged him out, however, with 46.2 average yards per punt, and net 43.2 average yards per punt net.

Gillan, of course, is the converted rugby player from Scottland, nicknamed the Scottish Hammer, a nickname he picked up while playing for the Arkansas Pine Bluff Golden Lions.

Gillan played for Highland Rugby Club as a teen, as well as Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh. He came to America because of his father’s job with the UK Royal Air Force, which took the Gillan family to Maryland in 2014.

As a lark, he started both placekicking and punting for his high school football team, and was so good at it that he was invited to play college football at Arkansas-Pine Bluff. In four years at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Gillan continued as a combination of field goal kicker and punter.

Naturally, he used the rugby-style punt in college in which he takes a short running start before whaling on the ball. There are two advantages to this style. One is that it takes a while to develop, allowing your coverage guys to get down the field. Second, it allows the punter to try to run the ball for a first down, which he did a few times in college.

Conventional thinking is that the rugby punt cannot possibly work in the pros because the coverage rules are different. In college, the offensive linemen are eligible to run downfield for punt coverage immediately after the ball is snapped, but in the Pros they have to wait till the ball is kicked.

However, this reviewer would like somebody to try it in the pros. It seems equally plausible, that the restrictions on punt coverage would make it even more effective to try the rugby-style kick because it is absolutely critical to get the gunners down the field and into position.

Come on, coach (whoever you are), try it! Just try it in an exhibition game and see if it works.

Gillan does use the rugby-style kick on onsides punt plays, where his ability to drop kick with either foot and accurately target the kick gives the Browns an advantage. They are going to connect a few times next year with this play.

Cleveland’s rookie punter is also a valued coverage guy, where his ability as a rugby player serves him well.

The Scottish Hammer signed with the Browns as an undrafted free agent. He is easily the most impressive rookie on the roster, with the only close challenge coming from placekicker Austin Seibert, who also had a successful rookie season.

Congratulations to Jamie Gillan for making the prestigious Pro Football Focus All-Rookie Team, and here’s hoping that the rugby player will have a long and distinguished career with the Cleveland Browns.