American football player (born 1978)
American football player
Jason Baker
Baker in 2008
|
|
Position:
| Punter
|
---|
|
Born:
| (
1978-05-17
)
May 17, 1978
(age 46)
Fort Wayne, Indiana
, U.S.
|
---|
Height:
| 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
|
---|
Weight:
| 205 lb (93 kg)
|
---|
|
High school:
| Wayne
(Fort Wayne, Indiana)
|
---|
College:
| Iowa
|
---|
Undrafted:
| 2001
|
---|
|
|
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only
|
|
---|
|
|
|
---|
|
Punts
:
| 798
|
---|
Punt yards:
| 34,097
|
---|
Punting yard average:
| 42.7
|
---|
|
|
Player stats at
PFR
|
|
Jason Michael Baker
(born May 17, 1978) is an American former professional
football
player who was a
punter
in the
National Football League
(NFL). He was signed by the
San Francisco 49ers
as an
undrafted free agent
in 2001. He played
college football
at
Iowa
. He has also played for the
Philadelphia Eagles
,
Kansas City Chiefs
,
Indianapolis Colts
,
Denver Broncos
, and
Carolina Panthers
.
Early years
[
edit
]
Baker attended
Wayne High School
in Fort Wayne, Indiana and
lettered
in
football
and
baseball
. In football, he won second-team All-Conference honors as a senior.
College career
[
edit
]
Baker played
college football
at the
University of Iowa
. When he graduated, he left as the Hawkeyes' all-time leader in punts and punting yards, with 272 punts for 11,304 yards. He was named
special teams
MVP
of the
1997 Sun Bowl
for his performance in Iowa's loss against
Arizona State University
, after registering eight punts for 391 yards. He also made honorable mention
All-Big Ten
honors as a senior in 2000. He majored in business administration.
Professional career
[
edit
]
He was not
drafted
by any team, and was signed as a
free agent
by the
Philadelphia Eagles
in April 2001 before being
waived
a short while later, not having appeared in any regular season games for them. He was then picked up by the
San Francisco 49ers
, and was their regular punter during the
2001 NFL season
. Unfortunately, he was released the next year, and signed again by the Eagles. He played several games for them before being released again at the end of the season. He was signed by the
Kansas City Chiefs
before the
2003 season
, and was their regular punter for the whole season, averaging a respectable 39.5 yards per punt. Baker then had a bizarre season in
2004
. He was waived by Kansas City, then re-signed two weeks later, then waived a week after that. He was then picked up by the
Indianapolis Colts
, played with them for 5 weeks, then Indianapolis waived him and he was picked up by the
Denver Broncos
, who he finished the season with. He played for Denver in the
AFC wild card game
against his former team, Indianapolis. After the season, he was traded to the Carolina Panthers with a
2006
draft pick
for
Pro Bowl
punter
Todd Sauerbrun
. Baker eventually won the punting job, after battling with
Tom Rouen
and
Steve Cheek
during
training camp
and the preseason. He played the rest of his seven seasons in Carolina, where he averaged 44.0 yards per punt in 112 games, set most of the franchise records, twice led the league in punts, and was a Pro Bowl alternate multiple times but never attended. The Panthers rewarded him with a contract making him the highest paid punter in the NFL prior to the 2007 season. Baker is one of the fastest running punters in the NFL. He managed to surprise the Seahawks'
Leon Washington
in a game on December 5, 2010, tripping up the prematurely celebrating Washington to save a touchdown.
As of 2017
[update]
's NFL off-season, Jason Baker still held at least three Panthers franchise records, including:
NFL career statistics
[
edit
]
Legend
|
|
Led the league
|
Bold
|
Career high
|
Regular season
[
edit
]
Year
|
Team
|
Punting
|
GP
|
Punts
|
Yds
|
Net Yds
|
Lng
|
Avg
|
Net Avg
|
Blk
|
Ins20
|
TB
|
2001
|
SFO
|
16
|
69
|
2,813
|
2,443
|
64
|
40.8
|
35.4
|
0
|
21
|
4
|
2002
|
SFO
|
11
|
42
|
1,688
|
1,346
|
51
|
40.2
|
32.0
|
0
|
12
|
3
|
PHI
|
2
|
13
|
445
|
388
|
44
|
34.2
|
29.8
|
0
|
2
|
1
|
2003
|
KAN
|
16
|
80
|
3,156
|
2,689
|
68
|
39.5
|
33.2
|
1
|
21
|
7
|
2004
|
KAN
|
2
|
9
|
340
|
242
|
52
|
37.8
|
26.9
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
IND
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
DEN
|
4
|
15
|
591
|
516
|
48
|
39.4
|
34.4
|
0
|
7
|
1
|
2005
|
CAR
|
16
|
72
|
3,118
|
2,803
|
59
|
43.3
|
38.9
|
0
|
23
|
4
|
2006
|
CAR
|
16
|
98
|
4,483
|
3,861
|
70
|
45.7
|
39.0
|
1
|
31
|
12
|
2007
|
CAR
|
16
|
90
|
3,978
|
3,393
|
64
|
44.2
|
37.7
|
0
|
22
|
5
|
2008
|
CAR
|
16
|
73
|
3,217
|
2,841
|
63
|
44.1
|
37.4
|
3
|
30
|
5
|
2009
|
CAR
|
16
|
76
|
3,352
|
2,820
|
61
|
44.1
|
36.6
|
1
|
22
|
4
|
2010
|
CAR
|
16
|
95
|
4,097
|
3,469
|
60
|
43.1
|
36.5
|
0
|
22
|
7
|
2011
|
CAR
|
16
|
66
|
2,819
|
2,253
|
56
|
42.7
|
34.1
|
0
|
19
|
5
|
Career
|
167
|
798
|
34,097
|
29,064
|
70
|
42.7
|
36.1
|
6
|
235
|
58
|
Playoffs
[
edit
]
Year
|
Team
|
Punting
|
GP
|
Punts
|
Yds
|
Net Yds
|
Lng
|
Avg
|
Net Avg
|
Blk
|
Ins20
|
TB
|
2001
|
SFO
|
1
|
5
|
183
|
148
|
45
|
36.6
|
29.6
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
2003
|
KAN
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2004
|
DEN
|
1
|
4
|
150
|
141
|
46
|
37.5
|
35.3
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
2005
|
CAR
|
3
|
16
|
600
|
547
|
52
|
37.5
|
34.2
|
0
|
7
|
2
|
2008
|
CAR
|
1
|
4
|
192
|
177
|
53
|
48.0
|
44.3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
Career
|
7
|
29
|
1,125
|
1,013
|
53
|
38.8
|
34.9
|
0
|
11
|
2
|
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]