Matt Haack has collected plenty of football helmets and team workout gear in the last few years.
So, one can say this of the Denver Broncos’ new 30-year-old punter: He’s a survivor. He’s persistent. In a league where “NFL” is colloquially considered to stand for “Not For Long,” he’s headed into his ninth season.
But since New Year’s Day 2021, Haack has been under contract at some point with 25 percent of the NFL.
The Broncos represent his eighth team in that span, as he’s hopscotched from Miami to Buffalo to Indianapolis to Arizona to Cleveland back to Buffalo to the New York Giants to Jacksonville and finally to Denver this month.
Haack’s career began with new Broncos special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi in Miami and he certainly hopes it finds some stability as he reunites with him.
The two parted in 2019 when Rizzi moved on to New Orleans after a 10-year run with Miami ended in much the same way as his six seasons with the Saints ended — with an interview for the head-coaching vacancy.
But there’s a reason why Haack has moved around so often, and it’s the tale of life on the NFL fringe.
Haack is one of the 32 best punters walking the earth. It’s just that his performance over the years happens to be more toward the back end of that list than the top of it.
And that means you’ll get teams to bring you in to punt some footballs … but they’re not going to build their long-term special-teams plans around you.
Consider where Haack stands in his across-the-board rankings that cover six key punting metrics among players with at least 20 punts: gross average, net average, touchback percentage, percentage of punts inside the 20, hang time and percentage of punts returned:
• 2024: 25th of 34 eligible punters
• 2023: Not enough punts to qualify
• 2022: 11th of 34 eligible punters
• 2021: 30th of 34 eligible punters
• 2020: 13th of 34 eligible punters
• 2019: 24th of 32 eligible punters
• 2018: 23rd of 34 eligible punters
• 2017: 22nd of 33 eligible punters
That’s two of seven seasons in the top half of the league — but outside of the top 10 — and five of seven seasons in the bottom half, with two in the bottom 10.
Compare that to where Broncos punters ranked in that span:
• 2024: Riley Dixon, 6th of 34
• 2023: Dixon, 25th of 33
• 2022: Corliss Waitman, 21st of 34
• 2021: Sam Martin, 5th of 34
• 2020: Martin, 23rd of 34
• 2019: Colby Wadman, 25th of 32
• 2018: Marquette King, 26th of 34; Wadman, 31st of 34
• 2017: Dixon, 18th of 33
Placement metrics are kinder to Haack than distance ones. His average rankings are better in those than in gross and net average.
• Average gross ranking: 24.4
• Average net ranking: 25
• Average touchback-percentage ranking: 14
• Average inside-the-20 ranking: 17.3
• Average range time ranking: 18.3
• Average return-percentage ranking: 14.6
And since leaving Miami after the 2020 season:
• Average gross ranking: 25.3
• Average net ranking: 29
• Average touchback-percentage ranking: 17.3
• Average inside-the-20 ranking: 16.3
• Average range time ranking: 22
• Average return-percentage ranking: 11
Since his rookie contract expired, Haack’s work has been good enough to keep him around the NFL fringes and give him opportunities in tryouts and competitions.
But it hasn’t been good enough to keep him in one place. Last season, Haack’s time with the Giants lasted a month; his stint on the Jaguars’ practice squad covered all of seven days. He was with the Browns in the 2023 season for eight days.
The unfortunate reality of life in the NFL is that if you’re not at or near the top, a team is searching for your replacement. Someone younger — and often cheaper. Someone with “upside.” You approach or reach the age of 30 and words like “upside” and “potential” don’t apply that much, even as a punter. You’re a known commodity.
But that can have appeal, as well. For better or for worse, the Broncos know who and what they’re getting in Haack.
It’s obvious that he wasn’t the Broncos’ first choice. They tried to re-sign Riley Dixon, who ranked 6th in across-the-board punter rank last year, 19 spots higher than Haack. But Dixon chose familiarity when he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, opting to reunite with his old special-teams coach from his days with the New York Giants.
The Broncos made a run at Bryan Anger, who has two recent second-team All-Pro selections under his belt; he ranked 20th across the board last season. Anger stayed in Dallas.
So, competition in some form is likely coming for Haack — whether with a rookie acquired via the draft or as a priority free agent, another veteran added in the offseason or in training camp — or with any of the punters who could be shed by other teams at or near the roster deadline at the end of the preseason.
But a reunion with Rizzi, a chance to punt at elevation and an opportunity to work with a punt-coverage team that ranked in the NFL’s top 10 in average-per-return allowed in each of the last two seasons might give Haack his best chance to find the stable situation that has eluded him since leaving Miami and becoming the epitome of the peripatetic punter.
THE NITTY-GRITTY: THE NUMBERS ON MATT HAACK
2024
• Gross average: 18th (47.0 yards)
• Net average: 31 (39.0 yards)
• Touchback percentage: 11 (4.8 percent)
• Inside-the-20 percentage: 14 (42.9 percent)
• Hang time: 23 (4.29 seconds)
• Percentage of punts returned: 19 (42.9 percent)
AVERAGE ACROSS-THE-BOARD RANKING: 19.3, 25th of 34 punters
2023
Not enough punts to qualify; in one game with the Browns, he posted a 51.7-yard gross average and a 41.7-yard net average.
2022
• Gross average: 27 (44.8)
• Net average: 26 (40.2)
• Touchback percentage: 7 (4.29)
• Inside-the-20 percentage: 14 (40.0)
• Hang time: 11 (4.36)
• Percentage of punts returned: 9 (37.1)
AVERAGE ACROSS-THE-BOARD RANKING: 15.7, 11th of 34
2021
• Gross average: 31 (42.9)
• Net average: 30 (38.4)
• Touchback percentage: 34 (13.5)
• Inside-the-20 percentage: 21 (34.6)
• Hang time: 32 (4.07)
• Percentage of punts returned: 5 (33.9)
AVERAGE ACROSS-THE-BOARD RANKING: 25.5, 30th of 34
2020
• Gross average: 26 (44.7)
• Net average: 23 (39.8)
• Touchback percentage: 2 (2.94)
• Inside-the-20 percentage: 16 (38.2)
• Hang time: 8 (4.43)
• Percentage of punts returned: 12 (35.3)
AVERAGE ACROSS-THE-BOARD RANKING: 14.5, 13th of 34
2019
• Gross average: 21 (45.0)
• Net average: 20 (41.1)
• Touchback percentage: 8 (2.90)
• Inside-the-20 percentage: 25 (33.3)
• Hang time: 24 (4.30)
• Percentage of punts returned: 21 (42.0)
AVERAGE ACROSS-THE-BOARD RANKING: 19.8, 24th of 32
2018
• Gross average: 25 (44.6)
• Net average: 25 (38.9)
• Touchback percentage: 19 (6.90)
• Inside-the-20 percentage: 14 (40.2)
• Hang time: 11 (4.38)
• Percentage of punts returned: 19 (42.5)
AVERAGE ACROSS-THE-BOARD RANKING: 19.5, T-22nd of 34
2017
• Gross average: 23 (44.5)
• Net average: 20 (40.7)
• Touchback percentage: 17 (6.02)
• Inside-the-20 percentage: 17 (36.1)
• Hang time: 19 (4.31)
• Percentage of punts returned: 17 (42.2)
AVERAGE ACROSS-THE-BOARD RANKING: 18.8, T-22nd of 33