Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Jerrel Wilson
Punter
Kansas City Chiefs (1963-1977), New England Patriots (1978)
3x Pro Bowl, 1x Super Bowl championship, 2x AFL Championship
Played in 217 games
Played in 8 playof games, including Super Bowl I and Super Bowl III
Career average 43.0 yards per punt on 1072 punts.

A great career and HOF worthy as well. His only fault was having a number of blocked punts but played a long time and had a great game in SB IV.

Wilson was one of the first players I knew, and the first player I wrote in my father's Gameplan 1978 magazine (the only one that could be purchased here in Mexico) when he went to the Patriots (for the record, my father, my brother and I had every year a magazine, first Gameplan, then Street&Smith's and until 2003 or so we cross out a player that went to another team, and wrote the team's new players on the magazine.

And returning to Wilson, he is worthy, but I think that Tommy Davis deserves to have a look first.

As a kid I thought Jerrel Wilson was the best punter I had seen.
I have since been convinced by the "film students" here that his propensity for having punts blocked puts him in the second tier... but man could he boom the ball!

I think he (and Tommy Davis) would be excellent additions tot he HoVG and they would likely receive my vote(s), depending of course, on who else was on the ballot at the time.

This is a minority opinion, but I think guys who did double duty like Tommy Davis, Dennis Partee, Don Chandler, etc. deserve to go into the HOVG before guys who were strictly either kickers or punters.

Bryan wrote:This is a minority opinion, but I think guys who did double duty like Tommy Davis, Dennis Partee, Don Chandler, etc. deserve to go into the HOVG before guys who were strictly either kickers or punters.

I feel the same way.

Bryan wrote:This is a minority opinion, but I think guys who did double duty like Tommy Davis, Dennis Partee, Don Chandler, etc. deserve to go into the HOVG before guys who were strictly either kickers or punters.

I concur with you Bryan

Teo wrote:Wilson was one of the first players I knew, and the first player I wrote in my father's Gameplan 1978 magazine (the only one that could be purchased here in Mexico) when he went to the Patriots (for the record, my father, my brother and I had every year a magazine, first Gameplan, then Street&Smith's and until 2003 or so we cross out a player that went to another team, and wrote the team's new players on the magazine.

And returning to Wilson, he is worthy, but I think that Tommy Davis deserves to have a look first.

12 blocks in 16 years is not bad at all would you least agree there

JuggernautJ wrote:As a kid I thought Jerrel Wilson was the best punter I had seen.
I have since been convinced by the "film students" here that his propensity for having punts blocked puts him in the second tier... but man could he boom the ball!

I think he (and Tommy Davis) would be excellent additions tot he HoVG and they would likely receive my vote(s), depending of course, on who else was on the ballot at the time.

Can you explain why you feel the responsibility for blocked punts should fall onto the shoulders of the punter? I would think a punter's first priority is to focus on the ball and meeting it with the right velocity and angle. I suppose he could choose to do something else with the ball, instead, if it looked like someone got through, but I would think a good portion of the responsibility falls on the offensive line and any protecting backs. This is one thing I don't understand, but not because I disagree, but because of my ignorance, I'm sure.

RyanChristiansen wrote: Can you explain why you feel the responsibility for blocked punts should fall onto the shoulders of the punter?

This is a valid point...
Like I said, I loved watching Jerrel as a youth but have been convinced by the film students here (and at PFJ) that he perhaps belongs in the 2nd tier of punters.
First, Wilson had 1.1% of his punts blocked (compared to say Ray Guy who had .03% blocked) and
Second, he was blocked almost once a season, consistently over his career... regardless of the line or coach at the time:
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... lsJe20.htm

Like I said, I think both he and Tommy Davis would make excellent members of the HoVG.
And, I would very likely vote for either of them depending on who else was on the ballot at the time.
I am just not convinced, as I once was, that Jerrel Wilson is the best punter ever... the statistical evidence says otherwise.