GREEN BAY, Wis. – Last season, one punter led the NFL in hangtime. Another punter led the NFL in touchbacks.

The punter who led the league in hangtime was JK Scott, who the Green Bay Packers released last week. The punter who led the NFL in touchbacks was Corey Bojorquez, the one the Packers acquired in a trade to replace Scott.

The raw numbers suggest the Packers made a major upgrade at one of their weakest positions. Last season for the Buffalo Bills, Bojorquez led the NFL with a 50.8-yard average and was fifth with a 44.0-yard net average. Scott, meanwhile, was 18th with a 45.5-yard average but a woeful 28th with a 37.0-yard net. In other words, in a hypothetical gameday punting competition between Bojorquez and Scott, the Bills would have gained 7 yards of field position with every exchange of punts.

Nonetheless, the Bills didn’t give Bojorquez a restricted free agent tender and couldn’t come to terms on a contract. So, Bojorquez joined the Los Angeles Rams, who added him to challenge Johnny Hekker – the team’s longtime but highly paid standout. Bojorquez did his part with a superb preseason but the Rams reworked Hekker’s contract and traded Bojorquez to Green Bay on Tuesday.

“Honestly, I had no idea,” Bojorquez said after Monday’s practice. “It would’ve been nice to stay, just for the fact I’m from that area and who doesn’t like a new stadium? But, really, I had no idea. Johnny’s a four-time All-Pro, one of the best punters to ever play, so trying to beat him for a job is dang near impossible. You need to have perfect games. Going into it, I was just trying to keep my focus on doing better than I did last year, which I feel like I’ve been doing and showing. Things worked out pretty nice.”

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