New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick still has admiration for Carolina Panthers punter Johnny Hekker, as the Patriots work with the Carolina Panthers in joint practices.
Hekker has put together a solid career with four Pro Bowls and four First-Team All-Pro nods. The Oregon State product was named to the NFL 2010’s All-Decade team and was a staple of the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams special-teams unit from 2012-2021.
He most recently was named to the Pro Football Focus All-Pro Second Team in 2018. Belichick referred to the punter as a “weapon” when New England faced Los Angeles in 2016. The coach had further admiration for the punter prior to the Patriots taking on the Rams in Super Bowl LIII.
Now, the punter is a face of a revamped special teams unit for a Panthers team that is looking to turn the corner. Belichick had nothing but praise for that revamped unit during a session with the media, via Sean T. McGuire of NESN.com.
“They changed coordinators in the kicking game and the acquisition of Hekker and (returner Andre) Roberts I’m sure will impact those units dramatically,” Belichick said. “So this is a great opportunity for us to work against a good, quality football team that has a lot of good players, that’s well coached and that’s established a lot of strong things on the field. And I think, again, you can see where they’ve tried to address some things and I’m sure those will be better too.”
The Panthers ranked 30th in the league with 42.5 yards per punt last season. per statistics from Statmuse. Adding a punter of Hekker’s caliber could help them change the downward trend.
As the Panthers face unknowns with their revamped special teams unit, one thing is certain: Hekker will always have a fan in Belichick.
