2023 NFL Fair Catch Percentage Leaders

The share of a punter's punts that the returner fair caught instead of running back. Public play-by-play does not record hang time, so the fair-catch rate is the best available stand-in: a punt that hangs long enough for the coverage team to arrive leaves the returner no choice but to wave for a fair catch.

Higher usually means better hang time, though a returner who is no threat also calls for more fair catches. College punts whose play text does not say how they ended are left out of the count. In 2023, Ty Zentner (42.1%) led NFL punters in fair catch percentage, ahead of J.K. Scott (41.3%) and Daniel Whelan (38.6%). 33 punters qualify (minimum 30 punts). The median qualified punter had 31.7%.

Final 2023 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	FC %	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	Points
1	Ty Zentner	Tennessee Titans	42.1%	38	44.9	40.4	10	26%	11%	−3.2
2	J.K. Scott	Los Angeles Chargers	41.3%	75	46.3	42.3	30	40%	5%	+0.3
3	Daniel Whelan	Green Bay Packers	38.6%	57	46.2	39.7	18	32%	9%	−2.4
4	Jamie Gillan	New York Giants	37.9%	95	46.0	42.3	35	37%	4%	+6.2
5	Cameron Johnston	Houston Texans	37.9%	66	47.7	44.0	30	45%	5%	+6.2
6	Logan Cooke	Jacksonville Jaguars	36.1%	61	47.4	43.8	29	48%	7%	+17.4
7	Jake Bailey	Miami Dolphins	35.8%	53	45.7	40.7	20	38%	6%	+7.5
8	Jack Fox	Detroit Lions	35.1%	57	46.4	41.7	26	46%	9%	−8.4
9	Tress Way	Washington Commanders	34.2%	75	46.0	40.7	30	40%	3%	−6.7
10	Brad Robbins	Cincinnati Bengals	34.2%	76	44.3	40.3	20	26%	7%	−2.4
11	Riley Dixon	Denver Broncos	34.2%	79	46.3	42.3	27	34%	8%	+8.5
12	Tommy Townsend	Kansas City Chiefs	33.9%	59	47.1	41.8	20	34%	8%	−2.5
13	Pressley Harvin	Pittsburgh Steelers	33.3%	78	43.8	39.2	30	38%	8%	−17.4
14	Sam Martin	Buffalo Bills	33.3%	51	45.8	39.9	24	47%	6%	−1.9
15	Bradley Pinion	Atlanta Falcons	32.0%	75	47.0	41.5	27	36%	4%	−2.4
16	Lou Hedley	New Orleans Saints	32.0%	75	43.0	39.7	31	41%	5%	−8.8
17	Johnny Hekker	Carolina Panthers	31.7%	82	46.8	43.0	25	30%	6%	+10.0
18	Bryan Anger	Dallas Cowboys	29.5%	44	51.4	44.9	17	39%	5%	+1.6
19	Thomas Morstead	New York Jets	28.3%	99	48.8	41.8	36	36%	8%	+10.9
20	Ryan Wright	Minnesota Vikings	27.1%	59	48.7	41.9	16	27%	12%	−4.3
21	A.J. Cole	Las Vegas Raiders	26.7%	75	50.4	45.1	34	45%	8%	+3.2
22	Jordan Stout	Baltimore Ravens	25.8%	67	47.8	39.2	28	42%	8%	+12.2
23	Mitch Wishnowsky	San Francisco 49ers	25.0%	52	47.7	42.7	26	50%	4%	+6.7
24	Bryce Baringer	New England Patriots	24.5%	98	46.9	40.8	38	39%	8%	−11.6
25	Trenton Gill	Chicago Bears	19.4%	67	46.1	38.0	18	27%	12%	−19.0
26	Rigoberto Sanchez	Indianapolis Colts	19.1%	69	48.3	42.3	21	30%	0%	−8.1
27	Ethan Evans	Los Angeles Rams	19.0%	64	49.2	38.5	20	31%	11%	−22.4
28	Corey Bojorquez	Cleveland Browns	18.4%	87	49.4	42.5	31	36%	10%	+10.2
29	Michael Dickson	Seattle Seahawks	18.2%	66	50.0	44.1	25	38%	12%	+4.3
30	Blake Gillikin	Arizona Cardinals	17.6%	51	50.6	43.6	11	22%	4%	+14.5
31	Ryan Stonehouse	Tennessee Titans	13.2%	54	53.1	43.9	28	52%	19%	+2.9
32	Jake Camarda	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	13.0%	77	50.1	41.8	26	34%	12%	−3.4
33	Braden Mann	Philadelphia Eagles	11.4%	44	49.8	43.9	15	34%	2%	+0.3

All 2023 NFL punter rankings

Fair Catch Percentage in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016

More 2023 NFL punter leaderboards

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