2026 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 2026, Tommy Doman Jr. (58.3%) led NFL punters in fair catch percentage, ahead of Sam Martin (50.0%) and Brett Thorson (46.2%). 33 punters qualify (minimum 12 punts). The median qualified punter had 31.6%. This season is in progress (through Week 7), so the numbers change each week.

Data through Week 7 of the 2026 season, updated October 24, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	FC %	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	Points
1	Tommy Doman Jr.	Buffalo Bills	58.3%	12	48.7	46.0	6	50%	0%	+0.3
2	Sam Martin	Carolina Panthers	50.0%	18	46.6	42.6	11	61%	11%	+0.4
3	Brett Thorson	Minnesota Vikings	46.2%	13	45.3	40.2	6	46%	8%	−4.1
4	Bryan Anger	Dallas Cowboys	46.2%	13	48.5	42.8	9	69%	0%	+0.1
5	Corliss Waitman	San Francisco 49ers	45.0%	20	47.4	44.5	9	45%	5%	+5.4
6	Riley Dixon	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	44.4%	27	43.7	38.0	5	19%	4%	−10.1
7	Ryan Rehkow	Cincinnati Bengals	43.8%	16	44.9	39.8	9	56%	0%	−2.3
8	J.K. Scott	Los Angeles Chargers	40.0%	26	47.9	40.7	7	27%	12%	−4.6
9	Tress Way	Washington Commanders	39.3%	28	48.8	42.7	10	36%	7%	−0.5
10	Jake Bailey	Atlanta Falcons	38.1%	21	49.3	40.3	8	38%	14%	−0.4
11	Mitch Wishnowsky	New England Patriots	36.4%	22	47.1	41.2	10	45%	14%	+1.3
12	Michael Dickson	Seattle Seahawks	36.0%	25	43.7	42.4	11	44%	4%	+14.2
13	Ryan Eckley	Baltimore Ravens	34.6%	26	46.9	42.5	13	50%	8%	−0.6
14	Johnny Hekker	Minnesota Vikings	33.3%	12	43.6	38.6	2	17%	8%	−1.6
15	Ryan Wright	New Orleans Saints	32.0%	25	46.4	39.8	11	44%	0%	−4.9
16	Ethan Evans	Los Angeles Rams	31.6%	19	48.3	38.1	6	32%	16%	−7.9
17	Jack Fox	Detroit Lions	31.6%	19	47.8	43.3	8	42%	5%	+1.2
18	Bradley Pinion	Miami Dolphins	29.4%	17	45.5	39.6	6	35%	0%	−2.9
19	Rigoberto Sanchez	Indianapolis Colts	28.6%	15	52.1	40.3	6	40%	0%	−6.1
20	Kai Kroeger	Houston Texans	26.1%	23	48.1	43.4	8	35%	0%	−2.7
21	Austin McNamara	New York Jets	25.9%	27	47.0	40.4	9	33%	7%	−5.1
22	Blake Gillikin	Arizona Cardinals	25.0%	28	45.2	38.2	8	29%	11%	−8.0
23	Jeremy Crawshaw	Denver Broncos	21.9%	32	49.0	44.7	14	44%	6%	+1.2
24	Matt Araiza	Kansas City Chiefs	21.4%	14	52.4	45.1	9	64%	14%	+1.3
25	Daniel Whelan	Green Bay Packers	20.0%	25	49.7	45.0	14	56%	8%	+2.9
26	Cameron Johnston	Pittsburgh Steelers	19.2%	26	49.5	44.2	13	50%	8%	+8.7
27	AJ Cole	Las Vegas Raiders	18.2%	22	50.6	43.3	8	36%	9%	−3.7
28	Jordan Stout	New York Giants	17.4%	23	52.0	44.5	11	48%	4%	+4.2
29	Corey Bojorquez	Cleveland Browns	16.1%	31	50.3	44.6	10	32%	6%	+5.0
30	Tory Taylor	Chicago Bears	15.8%	19	49.7	43.4	7	37%	11%	+12.7
31	Tommy Townsend	Tennessee Titans	14.3%	28	49.3	41.7	9	32%	18%	−1.0
32	Braden Mann	Philadelphia Eagles	12.1%	33	47.7	41.8	14	42%	3%	+4.6
33	Logan Cooke	Jacksonville Jaguars	10.5%	19	47.6	42.1	7	37%	5%	+3.0

All 2026 NFL punter rankings

Fair Catch Percentage in other seasons: 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016

More 2026 NFL punter leaderboards

Other 2026 NFL rankings

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