Britain Covey Gives a Master's Class in Punt Return Game

The Eagles' UDFA only has one NFL game under his belt, but listening to him talk makes you think he can make a living doing this for a while

PHILADELPHIA – Here’s something you should know about Britain Covey. He never wants to fair catch a punt.

“The most important thing, first, is securing it,” he said in the Eagles locker room earlier this week. “And then, I’m a big get as many yards as you can guy. I think a lot of returners fair catch things when they can get two yards.

“Sometimes they don’t want to ruin their average, and so they’ll fair catch it, and that always bugs me. I’m like, ‘You could’ve gotten two yards there.’”

A case in point was in Detroit last week when the Lions’ punt team was bearing down on him. Covey didn’t fair catch it but was hit right afterward and fell forward for two yards.

“I could have fair caught that, but I’m like, I can fall forward, get two yards,” he said. “It’s better than nothing.”

Covey compared it to an NBA player who doesn’t take a three-quarter court shot at the end of a quarter.

“Nothing bugs me more,” he said. “That’s one of my pet peeves in all of sports. It’ll affect his field goal percentage. That is selfish. 

"You won’t see it as much now, but watch, four or five weeks into the season, you got someone who’s a good punt returner, he’ll start fair catching ones that he doesn’t think will get 10 yards. I’m like, ‘You can get three yards there. No, you’re not going to break it.’”

In four to five weeks, Covey may be on the 53-man roster, provided he makes every catch punted to him.

He will likely be back there fielding punts on Monday night in the Eagles’ home opener against the Minnesota Vikings after another practice squad elevation.

Talking punt returning with Covey is like taking a master class in the subject and before you worry about him forcing a return, well, class is underway.

LESSON 1

Covey said that the time between the long snapper sending the ball to a punter and the time the ball hits his foot is about 1.9 to 2.1 seconds. That is when he scans the field to watch for which gunner gets a good release or a free release?

From there, Covey begins to focus on getting to within a five-yard radius where he thinks the ball will drop from the sky.

“I can tell right off his foot, within about 5 yards, where it will land,” he said. “Get there. You take one last look. And then it’s just the ball.”

LESSON 2

After a punter launches the ball, Covey begins a mental countdown.

“Two seconds is the time he kicks it until the ball’s apex,” he said. “Then the two seconds from the apex down. And so it’s like, you compartmentalize it like that - apex down. The only thing you’re worrying about is the ball. Before that, you can scan a little bit. You can do certain things. But from the time when it’s apex-down, you have to be in the right position to catch the ball. That’s why the focus is there.”

LESSON 3

Covey is very aware of his surroundings. He was unfazed when Zach Pascal knocked into him on a punt inside the 20 late in last week’s win. It could have been a disastrous scenario.

“I knew he was there,” said Covey. “I think I might have even yelled his name. I just think I yelled, ‘Z!’ It’s something that you practice, you really do practice.

‘When I was in college, we used to have (Utah defensive coordinator) Morgan Scalley throw a (exercise) ball at me, and it would hit me right as I’d catch it. He’d throw those at me, throw cones up, all those different things. It’s really something you practice. During the summer, I would catch 50 punts per day. That’s where I wanted it to be second nature to where you don’t ever think about catching the ball. You just (snaps fingers) do it instinctively.”

Covey said he would find a high school punter and pay him to punt to him.

“I would find the best punter in Utah high schools, so if one of the college punters couldn’t do it that day, I’d call up a high school punter,” he said.

That’s commitment.

Perhaps even lesson four.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.