Whoever winds up serving as the Bucs’ punter in 2025 will have one simple directive from head coach Todd Bowles.

“Not shanking ’em,” Bowles said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “It’s one of the few positions that are cut and dried and you don’t have to talk about much. You either do or you don’t, in my mind. So, that’s major for me.”

Bucs P Jake Camarda – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Bucs offense being a top-five unit in the NFL last season played a hand in covering up one of the team’s more glaring issues: a revolving door at the punter position.

Jake Camarda, the team’s 2022 fourth-round pick out of Georgia, started the 2024 campaign as Tampa Bay’s punter. But he began the year already on shaky footing, as the team wasn’t happy with his inconsistency in 2023. That inconsistency continued early in the 2024 season, and he played just the first three games before the team made him inactive for Weeks 4 and 5 in favor of the newly signed Trenton Gill, who was elevated from the practice squad both weeks.

Gill wasn’t markedly better, and Camarda eventually got another shot in Week 6. But that game against the Saints – a game in which he had a punt returned for a touchdown – ended up being his last for the team. Gill was elevated from the practice squad for the third time the following week, then Camarda was waived the following day, spelling the end of his 2.5-year career in Tampa.

Gill held on to his role for the next five games before the Bucs once again went in another direction. Rookie Jack Browning was then elevated from the practice squad to take over for Gill in Weeks 14, 15 and 16. From there, Browning was added to the active roster for Weeks 17 and 18, as well as the Wild Card loss to the Commanders.

No matter who was punting for Todd Bowles in 2024, the results weren’t great:

Jake Camarda (4 games): 13 punts, 45.3 avg., 67 long, 5 downed inside the 20-yard line
Trenton Gill (8 games): 27 punts, 43.3 avg., 57 long, 9 downed inside the 20-yard line
Jack Browning (6 games): 12 punts, 40.9 avg., 56 long, 1 downed inside the 20-yard line

In total, Bucs punters averaged just 43.3 yards per punt over 52 attempts. Todd Bowles wasn’t happy with the group, and based on what he said Tuesday, he’s not asking a ton of whoever wins the punter job this coming summer.

What Options Do Todd Bowles And The Bucs Have At Punter In 2025?

Bucs P Jake Julien – Photo by: USA Today

Right now, the Bucs have two punters on their roster, though there’s nothing stopping them from switching up the composition of that room this spring and into the summer.

It’s safe to say there will be a training camp competition, and while there’s plenty of time for things to change, right now it would be between Jack Browning and the recently signed Jake Julien, a record-setting punter from the Canadian Football League.

Julien, a 6-foot-2, 217-pound punter, had 107 punts for 5,773 yards during the Edmonton Elks’ 2024 season. He led the CFL in gross average (54.0 yards) and net average (40.0 yards). His 54-yard gross average broke the single-season gross punting record of 50.6, which belonged to eventual Super Bowl champion Jon Ryan in 2005.

Julien’s eight punts downed inside the 10-yard line also tied for the CFL lead, and he recorded 15 single-point “rouges,” including a game-winner in overtime.

While Browning and Julien are currently in position to challenge for the punting job in Tampa Bay, there’s always a chance that the team brings in another leg – maybe a rookie – prior to OTAs and mini-camp. At the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine, the Bucs held informal interviews with Florida’s Jeremy Crawshaw and Alabama’s James Burnip.

In his final season with the Gators, Crenshaw punted 59 times for 2,699 yards (45.8 avg), with 25 kicks downed inside the 20-yard line. Burnip punted 52 times, averaging 45.4 yards with 19 downed inside the 20.

Whoever ends up punting for the Bucs in 2025 just needs to avoid shanking their kicks and Todd Bowles will be happy.