The curious case of the Tennessee Titans 2019 special teams
By Brady Akins
The Good: Brett Kern
In a world like the NFL, full of uncertainties and surprises year after year, it’s nice to have a player like Brett Kern.
Kern, the three-time Pro Bowler and now First-Team All-Pro punter hasn’t just been consistent for the Titans, he’s been consistently one of the best punters in the NFL— to the point where punting is almost exciting when Kern takes the field.
It took a long while in Kern’s 13-year career for the punter to find his stride, but now that he has, he’s a sure bet for the team going forward. If nothing else, 2019 proved that even in his 30s, Kern can still punt with the best of them, flipping the field on stalled Titans drives and forcing teams into unmanageable field position more times than I can count (take this gem for example).
A good solid punt isn’t the most glamorous play in football, but with an elite punter like Kern, the regularity of those punts helped the Titans across the board.
The defense ranked so well in scoring defense last season in part because of how regularly Kern was able to force teams into a long field, helping get the ball back to the offense without the other team scoring.