NFL Draft – Special Teams

April 21, 2026

by Alex Zeese

We are down to the very end, the days before the draft and we all know what that means. It is time for me to break down special teams prospects. What I will say about this class from the get go is that this does not look like a good year to need a kicker.  Many of the top prospects there this season are works in progress. However, there are a couple of really good punters coming out. Sadly this doesn’t help Washington very much.

But lets get on with it.

Kicker prospects:

Obviously every year several dozen college kickers graduate, most of whom end up getting a good white collar job in communications or something, and there’s a bunch of guys in college who have an NFL caliber leg. 60 kickers in college last season were 80% or better on field goals. I found one list that had up to 25 prospects listed. Now, I’m not going to do that to you all. Instead let’s just go over the few big names that will likely be getting a shot in the NFL next year.

These four guy’s seem to be getting a lot of hype in this draft class:

Trey Smack- Florida, 6’1” 200 lbs
Most folks have Smack as the top kicker prospect this season. his senior year he was 27/28 on extra points and 18/22 on field goals. In his 3 years starting he’s been the most consistent of all the kickers, never being below 81% on kicking accuracy, the rest of the prospects this years have had some year-in-year-out inconsistency . He was 10/13 from 50+ over the last three seasons.

Dominic Zvada- Michigan, 6’ 2” 155 lbs
Over the course of 4 seasons Zvada has made 140/142 EP and 72 of 87 Field goals, though he had a down season his senior year when he was 17/25, which is a 68% average. Despite those bad numbers his senior year, this is a kid with a good strong leg. When it comes to 50+ yard FG’s, he was 11/13 over his college career, those are the kind of numbers you want these days.

Drew Stevens- Iowa, 6’1” 205 lbs
Stevens in his senior year was 22/28 on FG’s, and 66% from 50 yards plus. He has a not so great 78%, overall. He was 124/126 on EP’s and 76/95 on field goals.

Will Ferrin- BYU, 6’3” 175 lbs
A five year player out of Boise State and then BYU he didn’t really play his 1st two seasons. Was 23/30 on FG’s his senior year, a real concern that his accuracy numbers from 40 and beyond was 6/13

There’s one college senior I would be curious to bring in for a try out if I were an NFL team that isn’t on a lot of radars. Luke Drzewiecki  the kicker for New Mexico, was incredibly accurate last year 18/19, had a huge jump in his overall accuracy his senior year from the low 70% range to 95%. However, he is 0/2 on 50+ yard field goals in his career. I just wonder why his numbers took such a big jump. Was that a fluke or did he “figure something out?”

Punters:

As I say, the advanced numbers for punting are what really matter. Yards per punt averages looks good on paper but the real value is the average times a punt is downed inside the 20 vs touchbacks. Elite punters like the one we’ve had here in DC for so long, they major in pinning the other team back.

Brett Thorson- Georgia, 6’2”, 220 lbs
2025 46 punts average 45.5 yards, 4 TB’s 50% inside 20. In his other season as a starter 2024, he was even better, 42 punts 47.6 average, 5 touchbacks and 52.38% inside the 20. Statistically this guy’s as good as you could want from a punter.

Ryan Eckley- Michigan State, 6’5” 238 lbs
Another boomer of a leg, Eckley’s been a starter for 3 years, improved a little bit each season, his senior year he averaged 48.5 yards on 49 punts, just one touchback and 40.82% downed inside the 20.

Jack Bouwmeester- Texas, 6’3” 197 lbs
Bouwmeester is a 4 year starter has had 213 punts for an average of 43.8 yards. While his average is not as high as the other guys still a seasoned punter who will likely make his way in the NFL.

Returners:
If Washington wants to add one more return man to the WR room, there are three names to look at after round one.

Barion Brown- LSU, 5’11” 185 lbs
15 kick returns for 445 yards and a touchdown. Projected as a round two or round 3 pick. Had a 99 yard return vs Florida when playing with Kentucky and 6 kickoff returns for touchdowns in his college career. He’s an interesting prospect, has a potential to be a gadget receiver as well.

Hank Beatty- Illinois 5’11” 185 lbs
A frequently used punt returner for 2 seasons he has 35 returns over that span of time with 523 yards and a TD, granted the one TD came against Western Illinois. Looks to be more of an east west return guy A 6th or 7th round prospect which I’m personally not a fan of.

Kevin Coleman Jr- Missouri 5’11” 180 lbs
57 punt returns over three seasons 459 yards and a TD over three seasons. 4th or 5th round pick. Of the guys mentioned on this list he’s the most interesting to me because of his twitchiness with the ball.

Long Snappers:
Lastly. lets get through the least cared about position in football, long snappers.

Garrison Grimes – BYU, 6’2″ 235 lbs
Tyler Duzanksky- Penn State, 6’3″ 229 lbs
Beau Gardner- Georgia, 6’5″ 251 lbs
Rocco Underwood- Florida, 6’3″ 230 lbs
Luke Basso- Oregon 6’3″ 236 lbs