re: Punt returning question...

quote:

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After the Auburn game where he got his last TD, he went -2, 2, -2, 5, -4, 4 in yards per game.

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One thing he did well was protect the ball. Did he muff any catches this year? I know he fumbled after catching a deep ball from Etling early on in the Auburn game, but I don't recall him dropping any punts, but he may have. He wasn't going Tre White on some shite and making you nervous as hell on almost every punt. It takes some major guts to be the guy back there catching that shite. He did it well. And all the guys we've had back there have been pretty fricking awesome over the years.

You also left out the fact that DJ only had 8 attempts in those 6 games. So yards per game might actually be equivalent to 1 return in a game. It would be pretty ridiculous to judge a QB or RB off of very few tries. Even the #1 returner in the nation from Washington that averaged 20.4 yards per return (6 above the next best) had a game where he had 3 returns for 7 yards and a 2.3 average.

I understand what you're getting at, but I don't think it was a lack of chark's ability, but more of punt coverage, depth of kicks, and blocking. Even if you make the first guy miss, you're depending on space in which to run.

Chark was actually unbelievable this year in every part of his game. He earned the #7 with his play this year, and I know he surprised many with how good he really was. I'd say that he's better than both Dural and Dupre ever were, yet he was playing behind them.

Also, I'll leave some more stats right for everybody as reference. One of everyone's favorite players, who also fumbled a punt deep in our own territory against UGA in 2013 after one-handing kickoffs in the back of the endzone all game leading up to that moment... I'd love someone to tell me how bad of a player/punt returner this guy was, and we'll just compare DJ to him for reference-

Odell Beckham: Games Returns Yds Avg TD
2011- 14 9 77 8.6 0
2012- 13 35 320 9.1 2
2013- 13 18 160 8.9 0

DJ Chark:
2017- 13 18 190 10.6 2