{"id":293671,"date":"2026-07-25T12:00:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T16:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=293671"},"modified":"2026-07-24T07:53:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T11:53:30","slug":"afc-south-special-teamers-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/07\/25\/afc-south-special-teamers-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranking the Top AFC South Special Teamers For 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many kickers and punters in the NFL impact their team by helping add more points to the scoreboard, whether or not a touchdown is scored, and by putting the defense in a good position to stop opposing offenses. Now it’s time to rank the best special teamers in the AFC South<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Best AFC South Special Teamers for 2026<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

5. Blake Grupe, Indianapolis Colts\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Indianapolis Colts<\/a> placekicker Blake Grupe<\/a> is ranked number five on this list because he has been consistent for the majority of his professional football career and is a player with a lot of resilience. The 5-foot-7, 156-pounder who went undrafted out of Notre Dame in 2023 has made 98% of his extra point attempts and 81.9% of his field goal attempts, while his longest made field goal is 60 yards.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Grupe began his NFL career with the New Orleans Saints<\/a>, where he spent his first few seasons, and was released by the team in November of 2025 after struggling to make field goals. Grupe didn\u2019t let this define him as he signed with the Colts practice squad a week later before eventually being added to the active roster, where he appeared in five games and finished the season missing no field goal or extra point attempts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since Grupe finished last season the way he normally plays, he definitely has a shot to have an impact for Indianapolis. Still, he will have to compete for a final roster spot as the Colts also have place kicker Spencer Shrader<\/a>, who also went undrafted out of Notre Dame in 2024. Adversity isn\u2019t anything new to Grupe, as he\u2019s already undersized for a kicker, but at the same time could use the odds being against him as motivation to earn the spot as Indianapolis\u2019 kicker.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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4. Ka\u2019imi Fairbairn, Houston Texans\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Houston Texans<\/a> placekicker Ka\u2019imi Fairbairn<\/a> is number four on this list because of his longevity; he has been with the Texans for more than 10 seasons, which wouldn\u2019t be surprising a few years ago but is pretty rare nowadays. The 6-foot, 183-pounder who went undrafted out of UCLA in 2016 was the NFL\u2019s scoring leader in 2018 and has made 93.3% of his extra point attempts and 87.6% of his field goal attempts, while his longest made field goal is 61 yards.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fairbairn had the third-best season of his career statistically in 2025, as he was more consistent, marking the third season in which he made more than 90% of his field goals. Houston is going to need to rely on Fairbairn a lot this season to help the team at least try to stay within reach of its opponents, especially if the slump C.J. Stroud<\/a> had last postseason carries over into 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Jan 12, 2026; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Houston Texans place kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn (15) kicks a field goal during the second half of an AFC Wild Card Round game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

3. Rigoberto Sanchez, Indianapolis Colts<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Another Colts player to make this list and be ranked the third-best special teamer in the division is punter Rigoberto Sanchez<\/a> because he\u2019s not only another player who\u2019s been with the same team for many years, but also can launch deep punts.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 6-foot, 195-pounder who went undrafted out of Hawaii was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team in 2017 and punted 22,388 yards, while his longest punt went 79 yards. There have been only two seasons in Sanchez\u2019s career where he didn\u2019t finish kicking a punt at least 60 yards. Indianapolis is a team that hopes to make the playoffs in 2026. The Colts are in good hands and can rely on Sanchez to continue booting kicks deep to help their defense as best as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

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2. Tommy Townsend, Tennessee Titans\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Tennessee Titans<\/a> punter Tommy Townsend<\/a> is number two on this list because he has played in every game in his career and has constantly lived up to expectations despite not being in the league as long as Fairbairn and Sanchez. The 6-foot-1, 191-pounder who went undrafted out of Florida was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team in 2020, made the Pro Bowl and was named First-team All-Pro in 2022, and is a two-time Super Bowl champion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Townsend, who started his career with the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> but also played for the Texans before signing with the Titans, has punted 16,626 yards, while his longest punt went 76 yards. Since joining the NFL, Townsend has ended every season launching a punt at least 67 yards. If Tennessee has another awful season, Townsend could be one of the team’s most notable players as long as he does his job to the best of his ability.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Tennessee Titans punter Tommy Townsend (3) goes through drills during OTAs at Vanderbilt Health Football Center in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, June 8, 2026.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1. Cam Little, Jacksonville Jaguars<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The best special teamer in the AFC South is Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> placekicker Cam Little<\/a> because he was very productive in his first two NFL seasons and possesses massive range as a kicker. The 6-foot-1, 172-pounder was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team in 2024 and has made 98.7% of his extra point attempts and 90.5% of his field goal attempts, while his longest made field goal is 68 yards, which is currently the longest field goal kick in NFL regular-season and all-time history.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many special teamers end up going undrafted, but there\u2019s a reason Little was drafted 212th overall in the sixth round out of Arkansas. He wasn\u2019t as consistent making field goals in 2025, but he even kicked a 70-yard field goal in a preseason matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> last season. The Jaguars were the best team in their division last year, and it certainly helps that they have one of the best kickers whom they can heavily rely on if a lot of their games this season do end up going down to the wire.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Jacksonville Jaguars place kicker Cam Little (39) eyes his missed field goal as time expires with punter Logan Cooke (9) looking on during the second quarter of an NFL football AFC Wild Card playoff matchup, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. [Corey Perrine\/Florida Times-Union]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many kickers and punters in the NFL impact their team by helping add more points to the scoreboard, whether or not a touchdown is scored, and by putting the defense in a good position to stop opposing offenses. Now it’s time to rank the best special teamers in the AFC South.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5728,"featured_media":293711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,6431,33916],"tags":[32832,35044,35045,35046],"class_list":["post-293671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-nfl-teams","category-power-rankings","tag-blake-grupe","tag-kaimi-fairbairn","tag-rigoberto-sanchez","tag-tommy-townsend"],"modified_by":"Sue Levine","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5728"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293671"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":293712,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293671\/revisions\/293712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}