[JAFF]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

Reliably, I don't think so.

Catching and returning punts is becoming a lost art. Colleges don't use their best guys to do it anymore. And college teams have so many scholarship players they can find a guy who does it well keeping their best players free for the offense.

And of course its the best guys that get drafted. NFL rosters are so small they don't have that luxury. Unless your the best on your team, you have to play special teams, but they probably haven't played special teams since middle school. If you are a good player, and you have special teams experience, it may actually help you make a roster.

Same concept of why Cambell was playing outside receiver. Cambell could do it, and he could run the whole route tree if they worked on it with him. But he played the slot so well and he did those plays so well, why move him? They also had good guys that could play the outside effectively. College specializes their players more, but the NFL requires versatility.

Im so old I remember when the LA Rams used a full back as their punt returner. I think his name was Bertlsen. Not a lot of moves but he ran over a few dbs.