Kern Remains Critical of Himself

Titans punter was a first-team All-Pro in 2019 but still identified things he wants to do better.

NASHVILLE – Being the best is not good enough for Brett Kern.

The Tennessee Titans punter made his third straight Pro Bowl and was named a first-team All-Pro for the first time in 2019. There were any number of ways to make the case that he was the NFL’s best at his position.

Yet the 13th-year veteran insisted it was not difficult to identify areas for improvement as he prepares for 2020.

“It's easy. I'm a perfectionist. I'm probably my toughest critic,” Kern said Sunday. “I'm really hard on myself, so when I go back and look at film it's not very hard for me to find stuff that I know I need to get better at.”

Kern did concede that his self-examination extended beyond last season and went back several years.

Of course, those seasons were filled with highlights as well. He capped 2018 with a streak of 16 straight punts that landed inside the 20. His gross punting average in 2017 (49.7 yards) ranks among the top 10 in NFL history.

That led into 2019, when he topped the NFL with 37 punts inside the two (with just two touchbacks) and his 43.1-yard net punting average was second best in franchise history. It is worth noting that he has produced the top eight net punting averages in franchise history and is the Titans/Oilers’ all-time leader in gross punting average (45.9 yards) and net punting average (40.8 yards).

“Obviously, we hold Brett to a very high standard here,” special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman said. “He's going to be his own worst critic. I might point things out here and there just to nit-pick, because he's done a real good job these past couple years and throughout his career.

“But any little detail that we can help him out with as coaches, he's all for it. … But he handles it, and he takes coaching, and goes out there and tries to improve every day.”

For this year, Kern said he felt good about his ability to kick to the left sideline from the left hash and the right sideline from the right hash, but would like to be better when he kicks from one hash to the opposite sideline, which requires a little extra distance. He also said he wants to be more familiar with the wind patterns and idiosyncrasies of particular stadiums, especially ones in which the Titans will play this season. Plus, he wants to make sure he is not too predictable in how he will punt based on field position and/or game situation.

“I obviously watch the film, I’ll look at last year, even the year before, maybe go three years back and just look at different games in the same stadium, really just try to dissect,” Kern said. “… I go back and I look at things that I did last year that I want to improve upon and so I'll work on those a little bit during training camp and definitely fine tune some stuff.”