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Brett Kern

P Brett Kern Announces Retirement

June 1st, 2023 at 9:07am CST by Sam Robinson

One of this era’s most experienced punters, Brett Kern will wrap his career after 15 seasons. The former Broncos, Titans and Eagles specialist announced Thursday he is retiring.

Best known for his Tennessee tenure, Kern punted in 197 games with the AFC South team. Although Oilers legends Bruce Matthews and Elvin Bethea have that number beat for the franchise, Kern has logged the most games — by a considerable margin — during the organization’s Tennessee period. Punters occupy the top two spots on the Tennessee section of that list, with Kern surpassing the player he replaced (Craig Hentrich).

Kern, 37, finished his 13-year Titans career with three Pro Bowl nods and a first-team All-Pro honor. The Titans gave promising UDFA Ryan Stonehouse the job out of training camp last year, and while Kern spent most of the season away from the game, he finished his career by helping the Eagles to Super Bowl LVII. Kern replaced an injured Arryn Siposs in December for the Eagles, punting in six games. Though, Siposs’ recovery from a December injury ended up booting Kern off Philly’s active roster just ahead of Super Bowl Sunday.

The Titans acquired Kern in 2009, claiming him a day after the Broncos waived him in-season. Kern signed three Titans extensions, including two deals that paid him at least $3MM per season. The most recent — a $12.65MM deal — came during the 2019 offseason. Despite playing the NFL’s second-lowest-paid regular position (ahead of long snapper), Kern earned more than $29MM during his career.

Kern led the NFL with 49.7 yards per punt in 2017 and finished four other seasons north of 47 years per boot. Following his three-year Pro Bowl run, Kern placed a career-high 59.5% of his punts inside the 20-yard line in 2020. He placed a career-high 39 punts inside the 20 in 2018.

Eagles Activate S C.J. Gardner-Johnson, DE Robert Quinn From IR

January 7th, 2023 at 4:06pm CST by Ely Allen

Philadelphia is getting some help on defense as it looks to secure the NFC’s No. 1 seed heading into the postseason, according to the team’s official Twitter account. The Eagles have activated safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and defensive end Robert Quinn from injured reserve today. To make room on the 53-man roster, Philadelphia placed linebacker Shaun Bradley and defensive end Janarius Robinson on IR. Lastly, the team signed punter Brett Kern to the active roster from the practice squad.

Gardner-Johnson will return in time for the playoffs after a lacerated kidney sidelined him for the past five games. The unusual injury put a pause on a career year for the fourth-year safety. After being traded from New Orleans just prior to the start of the regular season, Gardner-Johnson started every game for the Eagles alongside Marcus Epps before getting placed on IR following the Week 12 injury. At the time of his placement on IR, Gardner-Johnson led the NFL in interceptions with six through 11 games. His presence in the defensive backfield will provide a big boost for a team who has had their sights set on the postseason all year.

The Eagles pass rush has been just fine without Quinn but that’s not to say it won’t benefit from a reunion. Philadelphia leads the league in sack total, and frankly, it’s not very close. Quinn had yet to add to the team’s sack total before finding himself on IR, but it’s hard to imagine that defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon isn’t excited about the aspect of adding a pass rusher who was pushing for a season total of 20 sacks as recently as last year.

Bradley and Robinson being moved to IR is a small price to pay for the return of Gardner-Johnson and Quinn. Bradley is a core special teamer who has yet to appear on defense this season for the NFC’s current top seed. Robinson was signed off the Vikings’ practice squad early in the year but has yet to appear in a game this season.

Kern has served as the team’s punter for the last three weeks as Arryn Siposs has been on IR. The long-time Titan has been serviceable on special teams for Philadelphia, showing that he can be depended on for the postseason.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/31/22

December 31st, 2022 at 5:15pm CST by Ely Allen

Today’s roster moves heading into gameday:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

  • Promoted from practice squad: G Kyle Hinton, DL T.J. Smith

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Washington Commanders

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/23/22

December 23rd, 2022 at 5:56pm CST by Ely Allen

Today’s minor moves heading into the NFL’s largest slate of Saturday games of the season:

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Kansas City Chiefs

Minnesota Vikings

  • Promoted from practice squad: G Kyle Hinton

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/17/22

December 17th, 2022 at 5:41pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Dallas Cowboys

  • Promoted: C Brock Hoffman

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Commanders

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/13/22

December 13th, 2022 at 7:56pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

  • Signed: QB Carson Strong

Atlanta Falcons

  • Signed: LB Nate Landman
  • Released: OL Parker Ferguson

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

  • Signed: LB Storey Jackson

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Las Vegas Raiders

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Tennessee Titans

Eagles To Sign P Brett Kern; P Arryn Siposs Expected To Miss Time

December 12th, 2022 at 5:45pm CST by Sam Robinson

Brett Kern will have an opportunity to begin his 15th NFL season soon. After a Monday workout, the Eagles are signing the veteran punter, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.

The Eagles had a need at punter, with Arryn Siposs out indefinitely (via Tom Pelissero of NFL.com, on Twitter) due to a lower-leg injury sustained when the Giants blocked a first-half punt. Week 15 stands to be Siposs’ first missed NFL game.

Kern, 36, has punted in 219 NFL contests; though, none have come since last season. The former Titans and Broncos specialist has not been with a team since the Titans released him on roster cutdown day. Tennessee had kept Kern in place as its punter since 2009, but the team shifted to a younger player (Ryan Stonehouse) out of training camp this year.

Three Pro Bowl nods — form 2017-19 — appear on Kern’s resume. He will follow thirtysomethings Ndamukong Suh and Linval Joseph in joining the 12-1 Eagles in-season. Kern finished with his lowest per-punt average since 2016 last season, at 44.8. Siposs is averaging 45.6 per boot in his second Eagles season. Should this Kern move be an active-roster addition, it should be expected Siposs will land on IR.

The Eagles added Siposs as a UDFA last year. Despite Siposs being only in his second season, he recently turned 30. The Australian ventured to Auburn in 2017, transitioning from a career in Australian Rules Football. The Eagles gave him a reserve/futures deal in January 2021. It remains to be seen if Siposs will miss the rest of this season, as it is not known exactly what injury he sustained. But Siposs being carted off did not represent a good visual for the Eagles, who will pick up the pieces with Kern.

Titans Set 53-Man Roster

August 30th, 2022 at 9:56pm CST by Ben Levine

The Titans have trimmed down their roster to 53 players:

Released:

Waived:

Waived/injured:

The Titans will open up at least one roster spot on Wednesday. Terry McCormick of TitansInsider.com writes that wide receiver Racey McMath is expected to land on short-term injured reserve. McMath sustained a hip injury during Tennessee’s preseason finale, and he’ll be sidelined for at least four weeks while sitting on IR. Robert Woods, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Treylon Burks, and Kyle Philips currently make up the Titans’ WR room, so there’s a chance one of the four wide receivers who were waived today (Dez Fitzpatrick, Cody Hollister, Mason Kinsey, Reggie Roberson) will end up back with the team.

Logan Woodside could also land back on the Titans practice squad after the team opted to keep only two QBs on their active roster (Ryan Tannehill, rookie Malik Willis). Woodside has seen time in 11 games for Tennessee over the past two years, completing one of his three pass attempts (he did break out a sweet 18-yard run, though).

Titans To Release P Brett Kern

August 29th, 2022 at 10:38am CST by Adam La Rose

The Titans will have a new punter for the first time in over a decade this season. The team is set to release veteran Brett Kern, reports ESPN’s Adam Schefter (Twitter link). 

The 36-year-old was the longest-tenured player on the team, having started his 12-plus-year Nashville tenure in 2009. The move to the Titans came after being waived by the Broncos following 22 games in Denver. Since then, he has accumulated 197 appearances in Tennessee, which ranks third in Oilers/Titans franchise history.

Kern’s peak came during a three-year stretch from 2017-19. He was named a Pro Bowler in each of those seasons, earning All-Pro honors in two of them as well. During the 2017 campaign, the Toledo product led the NFL with a punt average of 49.7 yards. Overall, his average in that regard sits at 45.9, though his numbers have dropped during each of the past two seasons.

Kern had one season remaining on his current deal, which was set to pay him $2.2MM; the move will save Tennessee $1.2MM. With him off the roster, it appears that undrafted rookie Ryan Stonehouse will take over the team’s punting duties. During five seasons at Colorado State, he punted a total of 244 times at an average 47.8 yards, including a career-high 50.9 yards in 2021.

As Kern now looks for a new NFL home, many have suggested Buffalo as a logical landing spot. The Bills are currently without a punter, as they cut ties with sixth-round rookie Matt Araiza over the weekend in the wake of recent developments related to a suit naming him in gang rape allegations. As a native of Grand Island, New York, Kern signing with the Bills would not only fill the team’s roster void, but also represent a homecoming. Regardless of where he lands, the Titans will face some notable uncertainty this season on special teams.

Titans, P Kern Rework Contract

March 12th, 2022 at 6:06pm CST by Ely Allen

With Titans’ punter Brett Kern heading into the final year of his contract, he’s agreed to terms with Tennessee to take about a $1MM pay cut, according to Field Yates of ESPN (Twitter). The longtime Titan was set to earn $3.2MM to complete a four-year, $12.65MM deal, but will now make $2.2MM for the 2022 NFL season. 

The 14-year veteran is Tennessee’s longest-tenured player and has spent all but one of his NFL seasons in Tennessee after signing as an undrafted free agent in Denver. There are only four punters older than Kern and only Sam Koch, Andy Lee, and Dustin Colquitt have been in the league longer.

The three-time Pro Bowler’s play has dipped a bit in recent years. Since it’s mostly a result of the team’s offensive ability and a more successful offense can lower the number of a punter’s opportunities, it can be hard to truly gauge a punter’s play. Still, Kern pinned the opposing team’s offense inside the 20-yard line only 18 times last year, his lowest season total since his rookie season as a Bronco. He also missed three games for the second consecutive year.

Kern’s initial salary of $3.2MM would’ve made him the highest paid punter in the 2022 season (before Jake Bailey‘s proven performance bonus). With the updated number down to $2.2MM, Kern ranks as the ninth-highest paid punter for the upcoming year. The extra $1MM for Tennessee will grant them a bit of wiggle room for cap spending.

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