3 Reactions as former Philadelphia Eagles punter signs with Houston

Once it became public knowledge that Cameron Johnston, one of the Philadelphia Eagles that we knew would be a restricted free agent coming into 2021’s offseason, wasn’t going to be tendered, it was clear that his time in Philly was up.

Remember, the ‘restricted’ term meant that Philly had the option to make their push to reacquire him before another team would get a crack at him, but that offer never came.

15 days later, on March 19th, he signed a three-year deal with the Houston Texans worth $8 million. NJ.com’s Mike Kaye was first with the news.

According to Kaye, “the deal includes a $1 million signing bonus and $3 million in guaranteed money. That’s a pretty good payday seeing as how, recently, NFL punters have been getting around $1.5 million or less. Let’s talk about some fallout as the Birds, who once appeared to be at the beginning of a punter’s competition, now might be in the market for one.

Here are three immediate reactions if you’re a Philadelphia Eagles fan.

1. Philly has another punter on the roster. He just may not be as good.

Those of you who were looking for a gripping punter’s competition in training camp won’t get that satisfaction now but don’t rule out the possibility of the Birds looking elsewhere to find one. Philadelphia does have Arryn Siposs on the roster, who they signed to a futures deal back in January, but there’s no guarantee that they’ve settled on him.

2. This actually affects two areas of Philly’s special teams unit.

Johnston wasn’t just Philly’s punter. He was also the holder for Jake Elliott on field-goal attempts. The Birds will now have to make a special team adjustment there as well.

3. Nobody realizes how important a punter is until your team doesn’t have a good one.

Punters are kind of like offensive linemen. Nobody talks about them when they’re doing their job correctly unless said punter uncorks an 81-yard masterpiece as Johnston once did in a preseason game. A penalty took Johnston’s 81-yarder off of the board, but that will never erase the memories we have of seeing him do it.

Punters live a lonely life though. They’re often unmentioned unless they make a mistake and they shank one off of the side of their foot or something. When that happens, everyone’s all over them.

Here are a few final thoughts for Philadelphia Eagles fans to ponder.

With Cameron Johnston, the hits kept coming though. Despite being signed as an undrafted free agent on May 11th of 2017, Cam missed the Super Bowl festivities. He was waived on September 2nd of that year in favor of Donnie ‘Bag of Bones’ Jones.

On February 17th of 2018, Jones announced his retirement. Johnston stepped in, and for the next three seasons, he averaged over 46 yards per punt.

In 2018, he set single-season franchise records with 48.1 gross yards per punt and a 42.7 net yards per punt average. He also holds team records for career gross average by a punter (47 yards) and career net average (at just under 42 yards. Wait! Why did Philly let this guy go again? Guys like this don’t grow on trees.