Top 5 Kickers

[Gary Najman]

I also think that guys like Tommy Davis and Dennis Partee who performed double duty should somehow receive extra credit.

Surprisingly, there don't seem to be very many dedicated place kicker/punter combo specialists. Here's the full list of folks who actually did this for a significant part of their careers, as best I can find: Tommy Davis, Don Cockroft, Sam Baker, Don Chandler, Danny Villanueva, Mike Mercer, Dennis Partee, Dale Livingston, and Allen Green. That's only 9 players. I'd probably rank them in this order in terms of quality.

Jim Bakken did both for two years and Fred Cox and Mike Eischeid and Roy Gerela did both for one season, but these folks had long careers solely as placekicking specialists.

Dave Green was a punter for the Bengals and Buccaneers in the mid/late-70s, and was also a kicker for two-plus season.

[superbowlfanatic]

Frank Corrall was both Punter and Kicker for the Rams in the late 70's.

[Evan]

While handling punting and kicking for the Browns, Don Cockroft got a rest on kickoffs in 1974 when Chris Gartner took those duties. Gartner had perhaps the worst onside kick ever, when he tried to put too much english on the ball on the carpet at the Houston Astrodome, and the ball spun in a semi-circle pattern, winding up behind the spot that he originally kicked from. You can see this highlight (lowlight?) on the NFL Films 1974 Game of the Week - Week 14 Cleveland at Houston, which also has a very funny scene at the end when Ed Sabol greets Sid Gillman after the game and is roasted in Ray Scott's voiceover.

[BD Sullivan]

While handling punting and kicking for the Browns, Don Cockroft got a rest on kickoffs in 1974 when Chris Gartner took those duties. Gartner had perhaps the worst onside kick ever, when he tried to put too much english on the ball on the carpet at the Houston Astrodome, and the ball spun in a semi-circle pattern, winding up behind the spot that he originally kicked from. You can see this highlight (lowlight?) on the NFL Films 1974 Game of the Week - Week 14 Cleveland at Houston, which also has a very funny scene at the end when Ed Sabol greets Sid Gillman after the game and is roasted in Ray Scott's voiceover.

That game closed out what had been (up to that point) the worst season in Browns history, and marked the first time the Oilers had ever beaten them in 10 tries.