Thompson noted the biggest improvement he's hoping to see at punter is consistency. Ryan had two solid seasons in Green Bay, but the strong-legged CFL product had his ups and downs, and had struggled particularly in poor weather.
In Frost, a fifth-year veteran who spent one season in Cleveland and the last three in Washington as a full-time punter and holder, the Packers hope they've found a punter with better directional skills and the ability to perform in difficult conditions.
"He looks like the kind of guy that can kind of adapt in those situations, can kind of drive the ball when you need to and you have to against the wind," Thompson said. "Some of that factored in."
In a horribly windy game last December in the Meadowlands against the New York Giants, Frost had to punt nine times and averaged a respectable 37.6 yards (35.3 net), with three punts downed inside the 20-yard line.
With temperatures in the mid-30s and wind chills in the mid-20s at the evening kickoff time, Frost estimated the winds reached 40 miles an hour during that game, as evidenced by quarterbacks Todd Collins and Eli Manning combining to complete just 26 of 77 passes on the night.
"Those games are hard to make it out with terrible numbers sometimes," Frost said. "Just a brutal situation. We had a couple of those."
Despite NFL averages (41.4 gross, 36.4 net) similar to or slightly below Ryan's (44.5 gross, 37.0 net), Frost's directional and situational numbers are better. In his four seasons, Frost has placed 97 of 317 career punts (30.6 percent) inside the opponents' 20-yard line, while having just 24 (7.8 percent) go for touchbacks. In two years here, Ryan placed 35 of 144 (24.3 percent) inside the 20, with 23 touchbacks (16.0 percent).