Raiders special teams: AJ Cole continuing tradition of high-quality punters

Current boomer is following in footsteps of Silver & Black greats Shane Lechler and Ray Guy

Whether they intended it to happen or not, the Raiders boast two of the all-time great punters the league has seen.

The Silver & Black, after all, is the only team in the NFL that has a punter in the Pro Football Hall of Fame — Ray Guy. And there’s likely another Raiders punting joining the legendary Guy in Shane Lechler at some point.

Both started their respective accomplished careers with the Oakland variant of the Raiders.

The Sin City variant of the Silver & Black have a quality punter in AJ Cole III, carrying on the tradition of a quality boot specialist. The Las Vegas Raiders current punter led the league in average per punt heading into Week 10 action with a robust 53.4 number and is in the upper echelon of statistical categories nine games into his sixth season.

That all said, let’s compare the trio of Guy, Lechler, and Cole in terms of the first six seasons of their respective careers:

• Ray Guy (1973-78): 86 games, 418 punts 18,209 yards, 43.1 yards per punt, long of 74, 43 touchbacks, 47 punts downed inside opponent’s 20, two blocked punts
• Shane Lechler (2001-05): 94 games, 442 punts, 20,266 yards, 45.9 yards per punt, long of 73, 70 touchbacks, 140 punts inside the opponent’s 20, two blocked punts
• AJ Cole III: (2019-24): 92 games, 345 punts, 16,810 yards, 48.7 yards per punt, long of 83, 27 touchbacks, 156 punts inside the opponent’s 20, one blocked punt

The joke, of course, with that trio: Boy, the Raiders punters get a lot of opportunities to build immaculate resumes, don’t they?

Career Insights

Guy, the No. 23 overall pick in the 1973 NFL Draft out of Southern Mississippi has long been the standard bearer for the coffin corner punt. While he could boom with the best of them, his pinpoint boots put opponents in poor field position as he was a field-flipping specialist that pinned the opposition inside their own 20-yard line. The 6-foot-3, 195-pounder’s 14-year career (all with the Raiders) totaled 210 punts downed inside the 20 and 77 of them arrived in the final three seasons of his storied career. His single-season high for punts inside the 20 was 32 in 1985. Guy led the league in punting in three seasons (1974, 1975, and 1977) and he made seven Pro Bowls, was name First Team All-Pro three times, and an NFL 100 All Time Team member, all enroute to a Hall of Fame spot. Overall, Guy finished with 1,049 career regular season punts for 44,493 yards (42.4 average) with 128 touchbacks. He added 111 punts for 4,705 yards (42.4 average), a long of 71 yards, in 22 career playoff games. Those are all-time career records, by the way.

Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images

Lechler, the 142nd pick from the 2000 NFL Draft out of Texas A&M, was power personified. The big-legged boomer not only sent his punts long distance but the hangtime was thoroughly impressive. The 80-yard blast the 6-foot-2, 230-pounder hit over the head of Hall of Fame return man Devin Hester during the 2011 season was one of the best punts I’ve witnessed. Playing 18 years (13 for the Raiders, five for the Houston Texans), Lechler led the league in punting in five seasons (2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2009) with his 51.1 yard average in 2009 tops in the NFL. Lechler could also pin opponent’s deep in their own territory as he totaled 469 punts inside the 20. Lechler has seven Pro Bowl appearances along with six First Team All-Pro accolades. Like Guy, Lechler made the NFL 100 All Time Team roster — as the only two punters to make the list. Overall, Lechler finished with 1,444 regular season punts for 68,676 yards (47.6 average), with 178 touchbacks. He added 56 punts for 2,396 yards (42.8) with a long of 64 in 10 playoff games.

Cole, an undrafted free agent out of North Carolina State, is following in the footsteps of the great punters who precede him. The 6-foot-4, 220-pounder is equal parts long-distance boomer and directional punter. Of his 345 punts so far, 156 of them have been downed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. He’s also been good at limiting touchbacks with only 27 on through five season and nine games into his sixth year. He holds the franchise record longest punt — an 83-yard blast in 2023 — and he led the league in punting once (2021). Cole has made three Pro Bowl teams and is a two-time First Team All-Pro selection. And his 48.7 average is tops amongst active punters. Cole has two punts for 99 yards (49.5) with a long of 58 in his lone playoff game.

Future Look

At 28 years old, Cole is still at the early stages of his pro career as punters tend to have very long stints in the NFL. Guy for example, retired after the 1986 season and was 37 years old. Lechler, on the other hand, saw his Raiders career end at age 36, but he punted for the Texans until 2017 before retiring at age 41. Based on his first six seasons in the NFL, Cole is on his way to becoming one of the game’s best as he continues his career.

Don’t expect Cole’s opportunities to lessen as the Raiders come off their by and prep for a Week 11 matchup at the Miami Dolphins. Las Vegas’ offense remains one of the worst in the league and it remains to be seen of interim offensive coordinator Scott Turner and his father, senior advisor Norv Turner, can turn things around. So expect Cole to get his number called aplenty.

Cole is in the midst of a four-year, $12-million contract extension he inked with the Raiders back in 2021. Currently, he’s making just over $3 million with his cap number reading a cool $3.517 million. He’s under contract for the 2025 season ($3.733-million cap number) and is slated to be an unrestricted free agent in 2026 — unless the team extends him prior.

In terms of the punter position contracts, Cole’s current deal ties him for fourth most valuable with the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Logan Cooke ($12 million). The Seattle Seahawks’ Michael Dickson tops the position group with a $14.7 million four-year contract he inked in 2021.