Ray Guy says ‘stupid people’ are keeping punters out of the Hall of Fame

Ray Guy is almost without question the greatest punter to ever play in the NFL. He kicked for the Raiders for 14 season, accumulating nearly 45,000 yards of punts throughout his career. Yet, for some insane reason, at least insane in my mind, Ray Guy remains left out of the Hall of Fame.

Ray Guy holds punting camps every Summer, helping young kids learn the skills and techniques that can help them eventually become an NFL punter. Still, he knows those kids will be underappreciated if they make it to the NFL level.

"I watch them and in the back of my mind I know you're wasting your time because we got some stupid people who don't understand," Guy told Yahoo Sports. "Here's a kid who's got a dream of being a punter in the NFL, but you got people here who cut him down before they even get out of the chute. So what are you telling these kids? To forget about it?"

Guy is right. Punters are indeed underappreciated in the NFL, and at all levels of football. Part of the problem with the perception of punters is that punting is inherently a bad play, which isn't always the case. In a close game, punters can flip field position with one kick; they can pin a team inside their own five yard line.

Eventually, there will be a punter in the Hall of Fame. I believe that, but it may not be in the near future. Guy summed up my opinion of the lack of a punter in the Hall of Fame during his chat with Yahoo, saying, "I'm pretty much in every damn Hall of Fame except this one."

About Shane Clemons

Shane Clemons came from humble beginnings creating his own Jaguars blog before moving on to SBNation as a featured writer for the Jaguars. He then moved to Bloguin where he briefly covered the AFC South before taking over Bloguin's Jaguars blog. Since the inception of This Given Sunday, Shane has served as an editor for the site, doing his best not to mess up a good thing.

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