Houston Texans: 15 best free agent acquisitions of all-time
P. (2013-17). Shane Lechler. 8. player. 10.
Punter might not be the most exciting position to write about, read about or even watch, but it is an unsung position for all 32 NFL teams. For the Texans from 2013 to 2017, they had one of the better ones in the NFL for 80 games.
In his final season with the Texans, Shane Lechler led the NFL in punting yards with 4,507 on 92 attempts, averaging 49 yards per punt that season. That is both a good and bad thing for the Texans, as they were punting the ball a lot that season.
In 2016, Lechler had his least amount of punts in a season for the Texans while playing a 16-game schedule. That was 72 punts, where he averaged 47.5 yards per punt.
For his entire five-year career with the Texans, Lechler totaled 430 punts and had only one blocked in all of those attempts. He averaged 47.6 yards per punt while wearing a Texans uniform. Going back to his final season with the Texans, did I mention he was 41 years old in 2017?
Lechler played an entire 18 seasons in the NFL with his first 13 seasons with the Oakland Raiders. While wearing the Silver and Black, he led the NFL in punting yards on three occasions, had the longest punt twice in a season and led the league five times in yards per punt average. His career-high came in 2009 at 51.1 yards per punt.
Being one of the top punters of his era, Lechler might be a future Pro Football Hall of Fame selection.
For him to cap off his career with the Texans for the final five seasons and to still be averaging nearly 50 yards a punt in his final season with the team — his best punt that year went for 68 yards — the Texans made a good choice when they brought him into the franchise back in 2013.
By the way, he even completed a pass for the Texans in 2014 for 10 yards. For good measure, he had two tackles in the 2013 regular season with the Texans, plus in 2016 he made a tackle in a playoff game at 40 years old.