Jack Fox has become one of the NFL’s best punters, and on Sunday he reached a milestone that established NFL record marks.
Jack Fox earned a Pro Bowl nod in his first year as a Detroit Lion, and he followed it with another strong season last year (49.2 yards per punt). He’s doing well again this season, averaging 48.7 yards per punt.
The Lions have given Fox a new contract that will make him the highest-paid punter in the NFL based on annual average.
The Lions’ offense has been better this season, so Fox is not getting as much work (28 punts through nine games; on pace for 53 punts after 65 in 2021 and 59 in 2020). But with his second of his four punts in Week 10 against the Chicago Bears, he reached 150 career punts.
That certainly feels like a fairly arbitrary number to set for determining records. But the Lions’ PR Twitter account dropped a notable Fox nugget anyway, after he booted his 150th career punt.
.@Lions P @MrJackFox has reached 150 punts for his career.
— Detroit Lions PR (@LionsPR) November 13, 2022
He own's the highest gross (49.2) and net (43.0) averages through a punter's first 150 punts in @NFL history.#OnePride pic.twitter.com/Vcm6Erizuo
Jack Fox sets NFL record marks for start of punting career
Fox set the NFL records for highest gross (49.2) and net (43.0) punting averages through the first 150 punts of his career. His 151st career punt, also last Sunday of course and as noted by Jeff Risdon of Lions Wire, went all of 30 yards and was probably the worst kick of his career. So his gross average now sits at 49.1 per punt, though his career net now sits at 44.7 yards.
Any way you want to slice it, Fox has had an excellent start to his career to quickly estlablish himself as one of the best punters in the league. If you ask Bill Belichick ahead of when the Patriots played the Lions in Week 5, Fox is the best punter in the league and a legitimate weapon. And we know the New England head coach’s allergy to hyperbole and saying anything of note about much of anything.