Cowboys countdown to kickoff: #5 Bryan Anger

We’re continuing our countdown to the opening game of the Dallas Cowboys 2023 regular season. Each day we’ll present a new player whose jersey number represents the countdown to opening day. Today is number 5.

P Bryan Anger
Born: 6th October 1988 (34) - Camarillo, California
College: California Golden Bears
Draft: 2012, Round 3, Pick 70, Jacksonville Jaguars

2022 Stats:
Snaps: 171 (32%)
Punt Attempts: 76
Punt Yards: 3,667
Avg: 48.3
Longest: 83
Inside 20: 29
Touchbacks: 7

College:
Bryan Anger earned a scholarship for the California Golden Bears and redshirted his first year in 2007. The next year he got the role as the team’s punter and featured in all 13 games. He had 71 punt attempts for 3,063 yards and an average of 43.1 yards. The next year he again played in all 13 games for Cal with 69 punts for 2,861 yards and an average of 41.5 yards.

As a junior, he set the school single-season record for punt average and was ranked sixth nationally with an average of 45.6 yards per punt. He punted 62 times for 2,825 yards. He set a number of records in his senior year. He finished second in school history in career gross punting average. He also became the second player in school history to receive first-team All-Pac 10 honors for three consecutive seasons. He averaged 60 yards per punt in the East-West Shrine game. He finished the year with 53 punt attempts for 2,345 yards and never missed a game in four years as a starter.

Cowboys Review:
Anger was drafted by the Jaguars in 2012, ahead of quarterback Russell Wilson which was met with a lot of controversy at the time. Regardless, Anger had a very productive career at Jacksonville. He left the team to go to Tampa Bay in 2016 after leading the league in punt yards and average yards per punt. After Tampa Bay he was signed by Houston Texans, then in 2021 he moved to Dallas and in 2022 he signed a three-year contract extension.

When he joined the team in 2021 he filled the empty role left by Chris Jones who was on the decline. Anger finished the year with 3,411 punt yards which ranked seventh in the league and with an average of 48.7 yards per punt which ranked fifth-most.

Last year Anger was effective again and finished in the top-ten in punt yards (3,667), an average of 48.3 yards per attempt which ranked tenth and his 83-yard punt was longest among punters last year.

2023 Roster Projection:
This isn’t too hard to analyse. Anger is the team’s starting punter, he’s one of the league’s better punters, and thanks to his efforts pinning teams back, he does a lot to assist the defense. We should expect much the same this year from Anger and a finish in the top-ten in average punt yards per attempt. His high booming kicks should again offer a lot of hang time to reduce the threat of any return. Let’s also not forget he’s a reliable holder of field goals, which will be needed on a year where both the long snapper and kicker are new to the team.

2023 Projected Stats:
Snaps: 150
Punt Attempts: 65
Punt Yards: 3,152
Punt Average: 48.5

The Big Question:
Does Bryan Anger finish in the top-ten in punt average this year?

Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images