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SF San Francisco 49ers · WR· #4

Jacob Cowing

Age
25
Height
5'9"
Weight
170 lbs
College
Arizona; Texas-El Paso
Drafted
2024, No. 135 overall (SF)
Experience
3rd NFL season
Compare with another playerPunt returners leaderboard

25

Overall grade

34th of 34 punt returners

Among the weakest

among the worst; 50 is average

Grades updated Rechecked every few hours on game days

The read

Jacob grades among the worst among punt returners so far, with no number far from the middle.

Written from his numbers, not from film. 5 games are behind the season figures.

How he stacks up

Every graded stat at a glance, against all the punt returners in the league.

  • Yards per return5.0 yds23rd of 24small sample
  • EPA per punt fielded−0.8434th of 34small sample

Left is the worst at his job, right is the best, and the line down the middle is average. The bubble is his percentile: 90 means better than nine in ten qualifying punt returners. Faded bars are still small samples.

How he has progressed

Where he has ranked among punt returners after each week, and every game behind it.

WorstMiddleBestrecent12345Week 1: 40th percentileWeek 2: 68th percentileWeek 3: 13th percentileWeek 4: 13th percentileWeek 5: 0th percentile0th

Season rank slipped: 40th to 0th percentile since Wk 1.

The line is his season-to-date rank among players at his position after each week, from 100 (the best) to 0 (the worst). It rises when he passes other players, not when he has one big game. Early weeks are noisier because fewer plays are behind them. The shaded weeks are the recent stretch.

EPA per punt fielded game by game
WeekOpponentThat gamepuntsSeason rank after
1vs LAR+0.06340th pct
2vs MIA+0.33168th pct
3vs ARI−0.67213th pct
4vs DEN−0.23113th pct
5vs SEA−5.6910th pct

One game is a small sample: a single stat over 2 punts can swing on a handful of plays. Shaded rows are the recent stretch.

The numbers, in context

Each one against every punt returner with at least 5 punts fielded. Right on the strip is better.

EPA per punt fielded

Among the weakest

−0.84

34th of 34 punt returners · bottom 3%

Expected points added: how many points the play added to (or took from) the offense's scoring chances, given the down, the distance and the field position. From his team's side, for every punt he fields, fair catches included.

The box score: Return average ignores fair catches and the starting field position.

Does it show up in winning? Across 54 games league-wide, a good or bad game on EPA per punt fielded from a punt returner has not lined up much with his team winning (61% wins in the best third, 53% in the worst).

Last 2 games: −2.96 (2) vs −0.14 before

Small sample: could move a lot · 8 punts · true level likely −1.31 to −0.38

Yards per return

Among the weakest

5.0 yds

23rd of 24 punt returners · bottom 9%

Average yards when he returns the punt (fair catches excluded).

The box score: This is the box score number.

Last 2 games: 0.0 yds (1) vs 6.3 yds before

Small sample: could move a lot · 5 returns · true level likely -0.9 yds to 10.9 yds

How he plays

Tendencies: how his game differs from the punt returners around him. These are not better or worse, only different, and often say as much about the offense or defense he plays in as about him.

Fair catch rate

Style

38%

Right around the middle of punt returners: a typical one is 41%.

How often he fair catches instead of returning, a choice about risk.

Small sample: could move a lot · 8 punts

Game by game

Every game this season: how it ended for his team, how much he played, his box score, and the advanced numbers from that one game. One game is a small sample, so read the right-hand columns as a snapshot, not his level.

Jacob Cowing game by game
GameResultFieldedYdsEPA/puntYds/return
Wk 1 vs LARW 27–7317+0.068.5 yds
Wk 2 vs MIAW 35–1311+0.331.0 yds
Wk 3 vs ARIW 36–3027−0.677.0 yds
Wk 4 vs DENW 24–1410−0.23–
Wk 5 vs SEAW 32–2910−5.690.0 yds

The box score

The traditional totals, with where each ranks among punt returners. A total rewards volume, which is why the advanced numbers above matter.

Jacob Cowing box score totals
StatTotalRank
Punts fielded822nd of 34
Return yards2527th of 34

Players with a similar profile

The punt returners whose grades are closest to his across the same stats. Similar means similar numbers, not the same style of play.

Ranks are among players at the same job who have enough plays to be graded. Grades and rankings come from play-by-play, charting and snap-count data, so they cannot see blocking, route running or assignments. See how the grades work.

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Data: nflverse play-by-play, CC BY 4.0. Also FTN charting, Pro Football Reference advanced stats, snap counts and injury reports, all through nflverse. Calculations and charts by Raiders Rundown.

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