Kickers are people, too–and so are punters. That’s especially true when talking about a two-time first-team All-Pro. As such, Las Vegas Raiders general manager John Spytek made sure to keep field-flipping master AJ Cole around on a four-year, $15.8 million deal.
With that, Cole becomes the top-paid punter annually across the National Football League; and for good reason.
Since 2022, Cole has ranked top-five each season via most net-yards on punts league-wide. He stands alone in achieving this feat in the meantime. In 2023, Cole’s 45.1 net-yards per punt ranked first across the NFL.
In each of his three latest campaigns, Cole has pinned other teams inside the 20 at least 28 times. During his ’23 and ’24 seasons, that number rose to 30-plus, hitting this mark 37 times in 2023; the fourth-most among all punters that year.
Cole’s grades via Pro Football Focus couldn’t have been much better through his last three campaigns, either.
From 2022 onward, Cole has finished each season as a top-three graded punter via PFF. He’s the only punter league-wide to post a grade of 80-plus in this timeframe in each season, being one-of-two punters to have a punting grade of 90-plus in any year.
Cole is, of course, just one half of the All-Pro special teams duo in Sin City. His teammate, Daniel Carlson, has both a second-team and first-team All-Pro under his belt. Like Cole, Carlson is now up for an extension himself. Will he be the next Las Vegas Raiders special teamer to ink a new multi-year deal?
Perhaps that question will get an answer in the upcoming weeks. In the meantime, Cole earns a well-deserved top-dollar extension.
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*Top Photo: Steve Marcus/ LV Sun
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