Between offense and defense, it can be argued that the New York Jets have only five “good” players. Talent is severely lacking in both phases.
That isn’t true for the special teams unit, though.
Rookie coordinator Chris Banjo took one of the league’s least efficient units and turned it into a historically dominant juggernaut overnight. The 2025 Jets finished with a special teams DVOA of 10.3%, the NFL’s fifth-best single-season mark since 1978.
Banjo’s unstoppable force is loaded with stars. Perhaps the brightest among them is 24-year-old punter Austin McNamara.
McNamara lights it up in debut season
A 2024 undrafted free agent out of Texas Tech, McNamara signed with the Cincinnati Bengals. After a brief training camp competition with fellow rookie Ryan Rehkow, McNamara was waived on Aug. 7, before he even got the chance to play a preseason game. He remained unsigned throughout the 2024 season.
The Jets signed McNamara on Mar. 14, 2025, pitting him in a competition against another UDFA, Kai Kroeger.
McNamara extinguished Kroeger even quicker than Rehkow eliminated him; the Jets released Kroeger on July 27, just five days after the start of training camp. No further competition was added throughout camp, affirming that McNamara had made a definitive statement to the organization on the practice field.
And when the real games began, McNamara showed why the Jets believed in him so strongly.
McNamara was one of the NFL’s best punters of the 2025 season, making him an integral cog in the Jets’ historical special teams production. He spearheaded a Jets punting unit that generated a DVOA of 15.6%, tops in the league and second-best among the Jets’ five special teams facets. Only the Jets’ league-best kick return unit (16.7% DVOA), led by team MVP Isaiah Williams, was more impactful.
Jets’ special teams DVOA by facet:
- Field goal/extra point kicking: 11.2% (1st)
- Kickoffs: 0.7% (14th)
- Punting: 15.6% (1st)
- Kickoff return: 16.7% (1st)
- Punt return: 10.0% (4th)
In fact, the Jets’ punting and kick return units were among the three best special teams facets in the entire NFL, including all 160 facets across every team.
NFL’s best special teams facets in 2025, based on DVOA:
- SEA kickoffs (18.9%)
- NYJ kick return (16.7%)
- NYJ punting (15.6%)
- NE punt return (13.2%)
- SEA punt return (12.8%)
While the Jets’ gunners were impressive, playing a significant role in the Jets’ overall punting production, McNamara’s exceptional individual performance was the primary reason New York was so consistent at pinning opponents deep.
Here are some of McNamara’s individual metrics, and where they ranked among 32 qualified punters:
- 4.70s average hang time (2nd)
- 29.6% of punts returned (2nd)
- 90.3 PFF punting grade (2nd)
- 43.1-yard net average (6th)
- 6.3 yards per return (2nd)
- 18 punts downed (1st)
- 25 fair catches (2nd)
McNamara’s elite hang time is the driving force behind the rest of the numbers. By keeping the ball in the air for so long on each kick, he bought plenty of time for his teammates to rally downfield, decreasing the odds of success for opposing returners.
The best way to prevent big returns is to prevent returns entirely, which McNamara excelled at. Only 29.6% of McNamara’s punts were returned, the second-lowest rate. A big reason for this was his second-ranked total of 25 fair catches forced, another byproduct of his ability to hit moon balls.
Even when opponents did return the ball, they were quickly thwarted, with his 6.3 yards allowed per return being the second-best mark. McNamara’s top-notch hang time meant that his teammates were typically close by if returners tried to make a play.
Among McNamara’s standout numbers, the one that stands out the most is his whopping 18 punts downed. Not only did that number lead the NFL, but it was seven more than the second-ranked punter, the same gap between second and 22nd.
This speaks to a couple of things. As it pertains to McNamara, it shows that he had excellent touch around the goal line, frequently getting the ball to bounce upward or back toward him instead of into the end zone. Perhaps more importantly, though, it highlights how the unit as a whole worked in cohesion to rally downfield and beat opponents to the ball, a testament to Banjo’s coaching.
McNamara is a rare reliable building block for the Jets
As we discussed earlier this week, special teams efficiency in the NFL can be extremely erratic from year to year. As impressive as the Jets were in 2025, there is a strong chance they will not be able to replicate their overall special teams dominance in 2026.
Whether it’s blocking a kick and returning it for a touchdown, returning three kicks/punts for touchdowns, or having a kicker who missed one combined field goal and extra point, many things happened to the Jets’ special teams unit that will be difficult to sustain moving forward.
However, a great punter is something New York should be able to count on.
McNamara put together a large sample size of outstanding production. He punted the ball 71 times (sixth-most) and sustained a 4.70-second average hang time across 18 weeks. That’s something he should be able to sustain. His excellence is not based upon a handful of fluke plays; it’s based upon a full season’s worth of consistency.
We shall see whether the Jets continue to field near-perfect kicking and a borderline unstoppable return game, but Banjo can rest assured that he has a weapon at punter. A steady presence like McNamara is the type of anchor that can ensure things never get too far out of hand for a special teams unit.
Only 24 years old, McNamara is capable of raising the Jets’ floor on special teams for years to come.
