Washington Redskins 2014 Player Profile: Robert Malone, Punter

Robert Malone

Punter

Fresno State

Undrafted in 2010

@Robert_Malone_

Career Stats:

Robert Malone has punted for one full season in his career: 2012 with the New York Jets. It's comforting that legendary special teams coach, Mike Westhoff, trusted him enough to give him the job. In 2012 he finished with a 45.8 yards/punt average.  That average was good for 18th in the league. However, if you take that 45.8 mark and stack it up against Redskins punting history, Malone would have the best single season since Sammy Baugh in 1959. That tells you how starved this franchise has been for good punting. The Redskins have been in the bottom fourth of the league in punting average in all but one year over the last decade.

Add longest single punt to his list of potential record breakers. Malone booted an 84-yard punt back in 2012. That would be 1 yard short of Baugh's franchise record.

2014 Outlook: Malone was released by the Jets early last year after an off-season back injury and the subsequent emergence of Ryan Quigley. Interestingly enough, the Redskins' newly appointed special teams coordinator, Ben Kotwica, was the ST coordinator for the Jets when Malone was released last year. So, it's a positive that they have a history together but the fact that Kotwica saw Malone dispensable is definitely a negative.

Indications are that it is Malone's job to lose. He will compete with Blake Clingan this off-season for the starting job but a new candidate could emerge if their performances in practice and the pre-season are sub-par. Based on the film I've seen, he can boom a punt and line-drive the next one, as you'd expect from a free agent punter like him. There's promise with the ST unit as a whole under the leadership of Kotwica, so I would expect Malone to have a solid, middle-of -the-pack season especially with the coverage unit revamped.

***Quick Note***- Malone does have experience as a PK holder, in case Gruden wants to put his punter in that role.

Roster Bubble: Making the roster

Personal Information: Malone is listed at 6'1", 215lbs but I'm certain that weight measurement needs to be updated. Malone got YOKED this off-season! Don't believe me? Watch him hit the 225lb bench press. By my count (granted he's not locking his elbows) he hits 30 REPS! That would make him the strongest linebacker at this year's combine and 4th strongest offensive tackle.

Most of Malone's tweets show that he's passionate about his religion, but one gem I found was a screen-shot of a text from his sister-in-law (I think) that he re-tweeted. He utilized the services of RG3 to recruit her to Baylor.

There I was stressin about my college decision when RG3 weighs in. @Robert_Malone_ doesn't play fair!! #SicEm #Baylor pic.twitter.com/VVn1lT5kGp

— Madi Olsen (@MadiOlsen) April 22, 2014

Finally, Malone had an aforementioned off-season injury before the start of the 2013 season that lingered with him for a while, but the embarrassing cause may linger a while longer. Malone's back gave out while getting into a hot tub! How that happens? I have no idea.