The Houston Texans brought in one of the top special teams standouts that college football had to offer during the 2024 season to see what he could do at the team's rookie minicamp, but his stay with the franchise was a short one.
Former South Carolina Gamecocks punter Kai Kroeger tried out for the Texans but the franchise did not extend an offer his way. While Houston did not feel that Kroeger could beat out incumbent punter Tommy Townsend, another AFC team jumped at the opportunity to add two-time All-American as the New York Jets signed him to a contract on Wednesday, releasing veteran Thomas Morstead.
Jets Sign Punter Kai Kroeger
Kroeger proved time and time again during his career at South Carolina that he can impact the game in a variety of ways. He was a favorite option for head coach Shane Beamer when the Gamecocks attempted fake punts and routinely flipped the field when needed. That track record and a tryout weren't enough to convince Houston to make a change, though.
There is good reason for that decision as well. During his tenure with the Kansas City Chiefs, and his stint with the Texans this past season, Townsend was quite reliable and did a great job of forcing the opposition to start drives inside their own 20-yard line. In fact, he had a career-best 39 punts land inside the opposing team's 20-yard line this past season. That equated to over 51% of his punts placing the opposition with 80+ yards to navigate in order to reach the end zone.
Townsend is under contract with Houston through the end of the 2025 season and will carry a cap hit of just under $3.8 million. The former Florida Gators standout's average annual salary of $3 million places him among the top tier of punters in the league.
With Kroeger jetting off to New York, this appears to be Townsend's job moving forward, and, given it is a contract year, the pressure will be on the punter to perform at his best once the 2025 season kicks off.