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“Punt at your own risk.” Those are the words New Orleans Saints punter Blake Gillikin tweeted when he received a ‘random' drug test from the NFL a day after he had an 81-yard punt in a preseason game.
It's not often you hear a punter or kicker getting checked by the NFL for possible PEDs. They only have one role in an NFL game, and it shouldn't be a surprise whenever they do something out of the ordinary. But after Gillikin had one of the best punts in recent memory, people from the NFL headquarters started to get suspicious.
Before the punt, some people already knew Gillikin had a rocket for a leg. At Penn State, he finished with the second highest punting average (43.04 yards) in school history, and he's the only player in Penn State's school history to have seven or more punts go more than 65 yards, helping him earn an All-Big Ten honorable mention by the coaches and media.
Blake Gillikin's road to the NFL
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Gillikin was an undrafted rookie in the 2020 NFL Draft and he signed with the Saints on April 27th, 2020. In his rookie season, he averaged 47.7 yards per punt on 83 attempts with the Saints, and had the 10th best PFF grade among punters at 64.9. His average hang time was 4.25 seconds, which was tied for 14th best in the league, and he even won the NFC Special Teams Player of the Month in October. His personal record in any game before his 81-yarder was a 69-yard punt back in college. Once he made the NFL, his longest punt in his rookie season was 63 yards.
However, it was nothing compared to what he did in the 3rd quarter of the Saints second preseason game against the Green Bay Packers. The Saints were pinned deep on their own 19-yard line. Gillikin punted the ball from the 4-yard line, causing it to initially bounce on the Packers 13-yard line. The ball bounced again on the 7-yard line before it made its way into the end zone for a touchback. Overall, the punt was impressive considering the last recorded punt over 80 yards was in 2015 by Corey Bojorquez, who was ironically on the Packers at the time.
In the 2022 season, Gillikin slightly underperformed compared to his rookie season. He'd average 46.4 yards per punt on 77 attempts and his longest punt of the season was 68 yards.
