[sherck]

I liked Pat a lot. He was a very consistent punter, kickoff specialist and holder on FG and PAT attempts. He honestly will be missed in the locker room, I am sure, for his attitude and ability to keep things light.

Finding a replacement for him is not as easy as it might sound. There are currently only 3 punters who are listed as unrestricted free agents:

40 year old Shane Lechler, HOU
31 year old Britton Colquitt, CLE
27 year old Jeff Locke, MIN

and one guy who is a RFA:

26 year old Colton Schmidt, BUF

There will be some movement of Punters during the off-season and a few will probably be released after the draft and such but there is not much to pick from in free agency.

There are only 2 guys that Walter Football thinks could/should be drafted at the Punter position:

JK Scott, Alabama
Austin Rehkow, Idaho

I like Rehkow because he also kicked FGs for them and was 26 of 29 during his senior year. Flexibility is great! It probably also indicates that he did kickoff duties for them as well so there is that.

My guess is that the Colts would have to use a 6th round draft pick in order to secure one of those guys. That is fine with me since our low round picks rarely seem to contribute much (Good is the only 6th or 7th round pick to really contribute since the 2010 7th round pick of Kavell Conner).

Sadly, neither Scott nor Rehkow are black so Omaha will not be happy.

This sucks. Godspeed, Patty Mac.

Cheers,