Packers have a new punter, replacing Corey Bojorquez

The Green Bay Packers have decided to go in a new direction at punter, replacing Corey Bojorquez with new signing Pat O’Donnell.

Bojorquez had a solid first year in Green Bay after the Packers traded for him in the summer, but the former Los Angeles Ram is a free agent. The team has decided to sign O’Donnell, who had been with the Chicago Bears since 2014.

According to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, O’Donnell has signed a two-year, $4 million deal with the Packers with $1.6 million guaranteed.

Last season, O’Donnell averaged 46.2 yards per punt, which ranked 14th in the NFL. He had 19 punts pinned inside the opponents’ 20-yard line, which ranked 21st.

O’Donnell gives the Packers an affordable option at punter, and there’s good reason why they signed him.

For starters, O’Donnell has spent the past eight seasons playing in Chicago. If there’s a punter in the league who knows what it takes to punt in frozen conditions, it’s O’Donnell. Previous Packers punters have struggled in the cold.

He also offers a lot of experience.

The 31-year-old was a sixth-round draft choice by the Bears in 2014. Since then, he has punted 564 times in the regular season.

The rebuild of the Packers’ special teams continues. They don’t need great play in this side of the game, just not a disaster as we saw throughout the 2021 season and into the playoffs.

Is O’Donnell the best punter in the NFL? No, but he doesn’t need to be. Green Bay was never going to go out and pay a free agent like Johnny Hekker. They don’t need to.

What they need is solid special teams play. They hired Rich Bisaccia to help them do that. And now signing O’Donnell is a smart piece of business.

O’Donnell is an experienced punter and has spent his entire NFL career facing conditions similar to that in Green Bay.