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Line of Scrimmage: NFL GameChangers '10: Specialists

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07/20/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bill Belichick has achieved considerable success during his 10-season stint as head coach of the New England Patriots, but for those with the time or wherewithal to look at his resume' with a magnifying glass, there is a tiny hole to be found.

Brace for it - Belichick has never employed a consistently outstanding punter.

Has this fact led to sleepless nights for the notoriously leaden Belichick? Doubtful, though the fact that New England used a fifth-round pick on Michigan punter Zoltan Mesko in this past April's draft offers a clue to just how pleased the head man has been with that area of his team. The 6-5, 230-pound Mesko was the first specialist taken in the Draft.

"He's a good player, a guy that's worked hard, been productive in his career [at Michigan] and has obviously earned the respect of the people he's been around," Belichick said of Mesko. "He's a big, good-looking kid."

Though the weather the Patriots face both at home and on the AFC East road isn't going to do the team's punters any statistical favors, Belichick and New England special teams coach Scott O'Brien were finished making excuses for the team's deficient punting game. The Pats were last in the NFL in both gross punting average (39.7) and net average (36.4) in 2009, and subsequently opted not to tender veteran Chris Hanson a contract after three seasons with the club.

Three seasons has been about the limit for New England punters, as Josh Miller (2004-06), Ken Walter (2001-03, as well as a short stint in 2006), and Lee Johnson (1999-2001) have all lasted roughly the same amount of time as did Hanson.

If Mesko sticks for the duration of his recently-signed four-year deal, he will be New England's longest-tenured punter since Rich Camarillo spent the better part of the 80's (1981-87) with the team. Camarillo, incidentally, is the only Patriots punter ever named to the Pro Bowl (1983).

Closing the recent revolving door is clearly a challenge that the former Michigan co-captain embraces.

"If I go out there on the field and perform, the rest will take care of itself," Mesko told reporters in the spring. "There's a lot of punters that have a hard work ethic and a lot of talent so if you combine the two, that's probably the best hybrid to have."

Mesko had one of the most intriguing stories among the '10 draft class, and has already conquered long odds on his journey to the NFL. Born in Romania in 1986, Mesko survived the revolution that predated the fall of communism in 1989, then emigrated to the United States with his parents at the age of 12. Eventually, the family landed in Twinsburg, Ohio outside of Cleveland. Soon after, Mesko's powerful left leg was spotted during a kickball game, when he broke a gymnasium light with a booming kick.

After starring at Twinsburg High School, Mesko became a fan favorite at Michigan, eventually becoming the Wolverines' all-time punting leader. The big-bodied Mesko also proved he was more than a punter, executing multiple fakes and proving tougher to bring down than your average punter.

No doubt, it was Mesko's generous build that sealed the deal for Belichick, who had never before drafted a punter.

"I imagine he probably does most things that all the other players on the team do, as opposed to there are some kickers that really aren't at the same athletic level as other players on the team," said Belichick. "I think he would be a lot closer to that than a lot of other guys would be."

Below, as the eighth and final installment of our eight-part "GameChangers" series, we look at five incoming punters or kickers who will enter their first year in a new uniform as central figures in their team's 2010 development:

5. Jay Feely, K, Cardinals (free agent, from Jets) - Though his controversial political musings seem to make as many headlines as his work on the field, the journeyman Feely has quietly become one of the more reliable kickers in the game. He's been at 83.3 percent or better on field goals for the last five seasons, yet the Jets became the fourth team since 2004 (Falcons, Giants, Dolphins) to deem him expendable after last season. The Cardinals snapped the former Saturday Night Live punchline up for $3.5 million over two years, after the once-reliable Neil Rackers (now with the Texans) had begun to show diminishing returns in big situations. Feely has likewise experienced some trouble in big spots - he missed field goals of 44 and 52 yards indoors against the Colts in last year's AFC Championship - but also had a stretch of 24 consecutive made field goals in 2009 and is a slight upgrade over Rackers.

4. Matt Dodge, P, Giants (rookie, East Carolina) - Last year's Giants punter, Jeff Feagles, made his NFL debut on Sept. 4, 1988. This year's Giants punter, the 6-1, 224-pound Dodge, made his debut as a human on May 30, 1987. The movement from old guy to young guy isn't the only transition the Giants punting game will make this season, as Dodge has a bigger leg but less directional acumen than did Feagles, who spent seven years with Big Blue before retiring in April. The first time Dodge over-hits a pooch-punt for a touchback, the New Meadowlands Stadium faithful are sure to groan. But the Giants are thus far happy with their decision to select Dodge in the seventh round, as they cut Jy Bond, the only other punter on the roster, on June 21st. If Dodge can approach the 45.8 average he had as a senior at East Carolina - Feagles averaged 41.2 as a Giant - the quality of the decision will be confirmed.

3. Josh Bidwell, P, Redskins (free agent, from Buccaneers) - The Redskins' struggles to find a reliable punter have been even more pointed than those of the Patriots, as Washington has recently thrown a bunch of guys at the wall (Hunter Smith, Derrick Frost, Ryan Plackemeier, Durant Books, Glenn Pakulak, Andy Groom) who haven't stuck. The former Pro Bowler Bidwell, who averaged 44 yards per kick in five seasons with Tampa Bay, would seem to possess the ability to close that loop. But Skins fans are necessarily skeptical, as the same was said of Smith last season and Bidwell comes off a hip injury that forced him to miss all of 2009. Smith averaged just 41.3 yards per kick last year (his lowest figure since 2002) and was slowed by a groin injury. That gave new Washington GM Bruce Allen an opening to ink Bidwell, with whom he had a history in Tampa Bay, to a two-year, $2.4 million contract.

2. Zoltan Mesko, P, Patriots (rookie, Michigan) - Upon his selection, Mesko spoke in glowing terms about fellow Michigan alumnus Tom Brady, the man who hopes to keep Mesko firmly planted on the sideline this year. Ironically, the face of the franchise was selected one round later in the 2000 Draft than Mesko was taken this year. In any case, the man known to his Wolverine brethren (curiously) as "The Space Emperor of Space" definitely knows how to align himself with the power by exalting Brady, and has already set about winning over the rest of the locker room. "It takes a lot to earn the respect of your teammates," Mesko said. "And right now, here with the Patriots, I'm starting off from block number zero. So I've got to prove myself all over again, get in the weight room, get on the practice field and ultimately make plays on the game field."

1. Shayne Graham, K, Ravens (free agent, from Bengals) - In the "what have you done for me lately?" world of NFL kickers, it stands to reason that the enduring image most fans have of Graham is his two huge missed field goals in Cincinnati's playoff loss to the Jets this past January. Those misses were a major factor in the Bengals' decision not to actively attempt to re-sign Graham, but the Ravens had seen enough of the fourth most-accurate kicker in NFL history, in seven years worth of AFC North battles, to know that he was a better option than what they had. Baltimore paid the price for not re-signing longtime stalwart Matt Stover last year, as Steve Hauschka and Billy Cundiff combined to make just 21-of-30 (70 percent) field goals, with several key misses between them. Officially, Graham will be competing with Cundiff for Ravens kicking duties in 2010, but should the former display that the demons of the '09 playoffs have been exorcised, the latter is almost certain to be looking for a job on the open market.