The Rams have signed punter Johnny Hekker to a record extension that will tie him to the team for the next six seasons, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports (on Twitter). It’s a two-year deal featuring $10MM in guarantees, the most ever for a punter.
Hekker was already under Rams control through 2020 on the six-year, $18MM extension he inked in 2014. That deal still stands as a record pact for a punter and included $7.38MM in guarantees. Combining that accord and his new contract, Hekker stands to rake in $21MM through 2022, according to Schefter (Twitter link).
The 27-year-old Hekker has been resoundingly successful since the Rams pulled him off the scrapheap as an undrafted free agent from Oregon State in 2012. The seventh-year man has racked up three Pro Bowl bids and first-team All-Pro nods apiece, including in each of the previous two seasons, and was a second-team All-Pro in 2014. Hekker led the NFL in average yards per punt (47.9) two years ago and paced the league in net yardage per attempt (46.0) last season, when Football Outsiders ranked him as the game’s premier punter.
While the Rams cruised to a 46-9 rout over the Colts on Sunday, they still had to deploy Hekker five times in their season opener. He averaged 43.6 yards per boot on those kicks.
the raiders should give King the biggest punter contract, hes the best
I need to take my 7 year old out in the back yard and teach him to punt. 3 or 4 plays a game and make millions and with billions of people on the planet it amazes me you can’t find 32 people who can do it really well
You cant teach someone to kick like Hekker
Aaron Donald is like “really!?”
I get that Donald is still likely three years out (two more contract years plus a franchise tag year) from free agency, but considering Hekker was already signed to 2020 and the Rams gave him a two year extension, the Rams are just digging a hole for themselves. When/If they decide to start negotiations with Donald, the main points to back up a more team-friendly deal is cap flexibility (or lack of cap space) and not wanting to extend a guy with at least two more years of team control left. Now with this extension, the Rams can’t pull any of those excuses considering Hekker was essentially in the same situation (albeit at a smaller cap charge).