2023 NFL Fair Catches Forced Leaders

A fair catch means the returner gave up the chance to run. Punters who kick high and coverage teams who arrive quickly force more of them.

A sign of good hang time and coverage. In 2023, Jamie Gillan (36) led NFL punters in fair catches forced, ahead of J.K. Scott (31) and Thomas Morstead (28). 37 punters qualify.

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

Rk	Player	Team	FC	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Jamie Gillan	New York Giants	36	95	46.0	42.3	35	37%	4%	38%	+6.2
2	J.K. Scott	Los Angeles Chargers	31	75	46.3	42.3	30	40%	5%	41%	+0.3
3	Thomas Morstead	New York Jets	28	99	48.8	41.8	36	36%	8%	28%	+10.9
4	Riley Dixon	Denver Broncos	27	79	46.3	42.3	27	34%	8%	34%	+8.5
5	Johnny Hekker	Carolina Panthers	26	82	46.8	43.0	25	30%	6%	32%	+10.0
6	Pressley Harvin	Pittsburgh Steelers	26	78	43.8	39.2	30	38%	8%	33%	−17.4
7	Brad Robbins	Cincinnati Bengals	26	76	44.3	40.3	20	26%	7%	34%	−2.4
8	Tress Way	Washington Commanders	25	75	46.0	40.7	30	40%	3%	34%	−6.7
9	Cameron Johnston	Houston Texans	25	66	47.7	44.0	30	45%	5%	38%	+6.2
10	Bryce Baringer	New England Patriots	24	98	46.9	40.8	38	39%	8%	24%	−11.6
11	Bradley Pinion	Atlanta Falcons	24	75	47.0	41.5	27	36%	4%	32%	−2.4
12	Lou Hedley	New Orleans Saints	24	75	43.0	39.7	31	41%	5%	32%	−8.8
13	Logan Cooke	Jacksonville Jaguars	22	61	47.4	43.8	29	48%	7%	36%	+17.4
14	Daniel Whelan	Green Bay Packers	22	57	46.2	39.7	18	32%	9%	39%	−2.4
15	A.J. Cole	Las Vegas Raiders	20	75	50.4	45.1	34	45%	8%	27%	+3.2
16	Tommy Townsend	Kansas City Chiefs	20	59	47.1	41.8	20	34%	8%	34%	−2.5
17	Jack Fox	Detroit Lions	20	57	46.4	41.7	26	46%	9%	35%	−8.4
18	Jake Bailey	Miami Dolphins	19	53	45.7	40.7	20	38%	6%	36%	+7.5
19	Jordan Stout	Baltimore Ravens	17	67	47.8	39.2	28	42%	8%	26%	+12.2
20	Sam Martin	Buffalo Bills	17	51	45.8	39.9	24	47%	6%	33%	−1.9
21	Corey Bojorquez	Cleveland Browns	16	87	49.4	42.5	31	36%	10%	18%	+10.2
22	Ryan Wright	Minnesota Vikings	16	59	48.7	41.9	16	27%	12%	27%	−4.3
23	Ty Zentner	Tennessee Titans	16	38	44.9	40.4	10	26%	11%	42%	−3.2
24	Rigoberto Sanchez	Indianapolis Colts	13	69	48.3	42.3	21	30%	0%	19%	−8.1
25	Trenton Gill	Chicago Bears	13	67	46.1	38.0	18	27%	12%	19%	−19.0
26	Mitch Wishnowsky	San Francisco 49ers	13	52	47.7	42.7	26	50%	4%	25%	+6.7
27	Bryan Anger	Dallas Cowboys	13	44	51.4	44.9	17	39%	5%	30%	+1.6
28	Michael Dickson	Seattle Seahawks	12	66	50.0	44.1	25	38%	12%	18%	+4.3
29	Ethan Evans	Los Angeles Rams	12	64	49.2	38.5	20	31%	11%	19%	−22.4
30	Jake Camarda	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	10	77	50.1	41.8	26	34%	12%	13%	−3.4
31	Blake Gillikin	Arizona Cardinals	9	51	50.6	43.6	11	22%	4%	18%	+14.5
32	Ryan Stonehouse	Tennessee Titans	7	54	53.1	43.9	28	52%	19%	13%	+2.9
33	Braden Mann	Philadelphia Eagles	5	44	49.8	43.9	15	34%	2%	11%	+0.3
34	Brad Wing	Pittsburgh Steelers	4	11	45.0	38.9	3	27%	18%	36%	−2.7
35	Nolan Cooney	Arizona Cardinals	3	13	45.5	40.3	2	15%	8%	23%	+0.4
36	Arryn Siposs	Philadelphia Eagles	2	8	43.4	38.4	2	25%	0%	25%	+2.9
37	Nick Folk	Tennessee Titans	1	2	40.5	39.0	0	0%	0%	50%	−0.3

All 2023 NFL punter rankings

Fair Catches Forced in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016

More 2023 NFL punter leaderboards

Other 2023 NFL rankings

Loading the interactive stats…