Getty Mason Crosby #2 of the Green Bay Packers celebrates with Corey Bojorquez #7 after kicking the game winning field goal during overtime against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium on October 10, 2021 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
A former Green Bay Packers special teamer is headed back to the AFC.
The Cleveland Browns signed former Packers punter Corey Bojorquez to a one-year deal on Monday, April 4. The specific cash details of the contract were not immediately available, per Spotrac.
Bojorquez, a four-year veteran of the NFL, spent last season in Green Bay after playing his first three years as a member of the Buffalo Bills. Bojorquez posted a solid campaign for the Packers in 2021, booting the football 53 times for an average of 46.5 yards per punt, according to Pro Football Reference. He punted the ball 41 times for the Bills in 2020, leading the league with an average of 50.8 yards per punt.
Bojorquez also holds the distinction of kicking the two longest punts in each of the last two years, 72 yards for Buffalo in 2020 and 82 yards for Green Bay last season.
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Packers Punted on Bojorquez For Upgrade From Chicago Bears
GettyKicker Mason Crosby (right) of the Green Bay Packers celebrates with punter and holder Corey Bojorquez (left) after a successful field goal during the second quarter at Lambeau Field on November 28, 2021 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
Green Bay moved on from Bojorquez in favor of long-time Chicago Bears punter Pat O’Donnell. The Packers released Bojorquez on March 16, just one day before NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero broke the news that O’Donnell was staying in the NFC North Division but changing teams.
“The #Packers are signing former #Bears punter Pat O’Donnell, per source,” Pelissero tweeted on March 17.
O’Donnell had been the longest-tenured member of the Bears’ roster before he was let go last month. The team drafted the punter out of the University of Miami in 2014 and he spent the next eight seasons in Chicago.
Packers Pay O’Donnell Double The Salary For Double The Experience
GettyFormer Chicago Bears punter Pat O’Donnell signed a two-year deal with the Green Bay Packers in March 2022.
O’Donnell has punted the ball a total of 564 times over his eight-year NFL career, posting an average of 45.1 yards per punt. That number is actually 0.3 yards less than Bojorquez’s average of 45.4 yards per punt, though the new Browns’ punter has only booted the ball 218 times in his career.
Based on experience and consistency over a longer NFL tenure, the Packers signed O’Donnell to a two-year deal that will pay him $2 million per season as compared to the one-year contract for Bojorquez in 2021 that cost just north of $1 million.
O’Donnell was also an interesting target for the Packers considering his ability to navigate the cold and the wind throughout his career in Chicago. Conditions in Green Bay mirror those in the Windy City, and O’Donnell’s expertise in those circumstances could prove worth the extra salary.
He is also adept at dropping opposing teams inside their own 20-yard line. Pro Football Focus noted that O’Donnell stuck opponents in that area of the field a total of 20 times last season. He has also only had two punts blocked throughout his eight-year career, while Bojorquez has had twice as many boots blocked (four) in half the time as a professional punter (four seasons), per Timothy Lindsey of FanSided.
O’Donnell will also serve as the Packers’ holder this season, as Bojorquez did in 2021.