2025 NFL Touchbacks Avoided (STOP Rank) Leaders

STOP (Saved Touchbacks Over Projection) is FootballKickingStats.com's touchback rating: how many touchbacks a punter avoided. Every punt gets an expected touchback chance: how often that season's punts from the same 5-yard stretch of the field went into the end zone. Add those chances up over a punter's season and subtract his real touchbacks. A punter who kicks often from midfield and keeps the ball out of the end zone climbs; one who punts from deep in his own end has few chances to gain or lose.

Higher is better. A STOP of +2.0 means two fewer touchbacks than an average punter would have had from the same spots. A short punt also avoids a touchback, so read it with net average. Blocked punts are left out. In 2025, Thomas Morstead (+3.1) led NFL punters in touchbacks avoided (STOP rank), ahead of Jack Fox (+2.9) and Bradley Pinion (+2.8). 31 punters qualify (minimum 30 punts). The median qualified punter had +0.3.

Final 2025 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	STOP	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Thomas Morstead	San Francisco 49ers	+3.1	44	43.6	36.8	22	50%	2%	36%	−8.6
2	Jack Fox	Detroit Lions	+2.9	56	46.6	42.8	28	50%	4%	46%	+4.7
3	Bradley Pinion	Atlanta Falcons	+2.8	64	45.1	40.6	34	53%	5%	27%	+5.0
4	Bryan Anger	Dallas Cowboys	+2.7	41	48.6	42.6	14	34%	0%	32%	+7.9
5	Sam Martin	Carolina Panthers	+2.0	56	47.2	40.5	27	48%	5%	29%	+0.5
6	Corliss Waitman	Pittsburgh Steelers	+1.8	62	45.5	41.7	26	42%	5%	35%	+4.4
7	Riley Dixon	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	+1.7	65	44.7	38.9	29	45%	6%	33%	−7.3
8	Matt Araiza	Kansas City Chiefs	+1.6	56	47.6	41.3	25	45%	5%	29%	+1.7
9	Ryan Wright	Minnesota Vikings	+1.4	65	49.0	44.5	25	38%	5%	34%	−0.7
10	Jake Bailey	Miami Dolphins	+1.4	63	47.7	42.6	21	33%	5%	30%	+9.2
11	Tress Way	Washington Commanders	+1.1	56	47.3	43.9	29	52%	7%	32%	+13.6
12	Tommy Townsend	Houston Texans	+1.1	72	47.6	41.6	30	42%	7%	19%	+0.6
13	AJ Cole	Las Vegas Raiders	+0.9	73	47.6	39.7	24	33%	6%	18%	−12.8
14	Michael Dickson	Seattle Seahawks	+0.5	52	49.0	42.2	20	38%	6%	33%	−0.7
15	Rigoberto Sanchez	Indianapolis Colts	+0.4	44	48.8	44.7	22	50%	7%	34%	+1.7
16	Mitch Wishnowsky	Buffalo Bills	+0.3	38	45.3	41.9	18	47%	8%	39%	−1.1
17	Ethan Evans	Los Angeles Rams	+0.3	50	46.3	38.0	20	40%	8%	20%	−11.6
18	Jamie Gillan	New York Giants	+0.1	55	44.5	38.0	17	31%	7%	31%	−9.4
19	Bryce Baringer	New England Patriots	0.0	51	47.4	40.6	21	41%	8%	29%	−1.0
20	Austin McNamara	New York Jets	−0.2	71	46.7	43.2	32	45%	8%	35%	+15.3
21	J.K. Scott	Los Angeles Chargers	−0.2	60	47.9	41.4	23	38%	7%	38%	+0.1
22	Kai Kroeger	New Orleans Saints	−0.3	58	44.8	37.3	18	31%	7%	20%	−22.1
23	Johnny Hekker	Tennessee Titans	−1.3	78	46.8	40.3	22	28%	9%	27%	−2.5
24	Logan Cooke	Jacksonville Jaguars	−2.0	60	48.0	43.0	22	37%	10%	15%	+12.4
25	Tory Taylor	Chicago Bears	−2.1	60	47.8	40.4	21	35%	12%	15%	−8.7
26	Jordan Stout	Baltimore Ravens	−2.2	53	50.1	44.9	24	45%	11%	11%	+8.8
27	Jeremy Crawshaw	Denver Broncos	−3.0	75	47.6	41.1	30	40%	12%	31%	−1.0
28	Braden Mann	Philadelphia Eagles	−3.9	72	49.9	42.8	20	28%	11%	15%	+1.5
29	Corey Bojorquez	Cleveland Browns	−4.0	93	45.8	36.8	23	25%	12%	19%	−19.1
30	Daniel Whelan	Green Bay Packers	−4.3	49	51.7	43.9	18	37%	16%	24%	+9.2
31	Ryan Rehkow	Cincinnati Bengals	−5.3	65	50.5	42.9	28	43%	17%	18%	+7.2

All 2025 NFL punter rankings

Touchbacks Avoided (STOP Rank) in other seasons: 2026 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016

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