Green Bay Packers punter JK Scott is enjoying a Pro Bowl-caliber start to the 2019 season.

If he can continue his torrid five-game pace for a full season, Scott will re-write the team’s record book for punting. He’s averaging 48.3 gross yards and 44.1 net yards per punt, both marks that would smash current franchise records. Scott is also tied for third in the NFL in punts inside the 20-yard line (12) and tied for first in fair catches forced (10).

His efforts aren’t going unnoticed by others in the locker room.

“JK is a weapon,” left tackle David Bakhtiari said Tuesday. “I think he is one of the underrated players on this football team.”

After five weeks, Scott is the fifth-highest graded punter in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus.

He is hitting punts with both terrific hangtime and accurate placement. The ball explodes off his right foot into high-arching spirals that cut through the air. On Sunday in Dallas, Scott hit two punts with over five seconds of hangtime and consistently forced returner Tavon Austin to retreat to make catches.

In the second quarter, he launched a booming 57-yarder that backed Austin back to his own 12-yard line. Later, on 4th-and-26 in the fourth quarter, Scott uncorked a 58-yarder that backed Austin back inside his own 10-yard line.

In just five games, Scott has produced 12 punts over 50 yards, including four over 60. In Chicago during the opener, Scott unleashed a 63-yarder that pinned the Bears back inside their own 20-yard line with under two minutes left. That’s serious field-flipping power.

Bakhtiari mentioned the value of a punter picking up the offense and backing teams up. It’s all a part of playing complementary football. When an offense struggles, a good punter can ensure field position isn’t lost. And defenses love attacking when an offense is operating in the shadow of its own goalposts.

In no area has Scott improved more than in average hangtime. His ability to consistently keep the ball in the air has helped coverage units hold opposing punt returners to only 6.8 yards per return. His first punt in Dallas danced in the air for just under five seconds, giving Will Redmond a chance to get down the field and pop Austin just as he was making the catch.

Scott is currently fourth in the NFL in gross average and seventh in net average. Current team records for each are held by Tim Masthay (45.6 gross) and Justin Vogel (41.6 net).

The challenge for Scott will be punting well into November and December, when the temperature dips, winds pick up and Wisconsin’s winter conditions turn the football into a frozen rock. His rookie numbers plummeted over the final six games of last season.

The schedule might help. The Packers play road games in Los Angeles and San Francisco and finish the season indoors in Minnesota and Detroit, but a three-game stretch featuring a road game in New York and back-to-back games at Lambeau Field in December will challenge Scott’s numbers.

Coaches talk all the time about players enjoying the second-year leap. Rarely is it discussed for specialists. It’s early, but Scott appears to be one of the team’s most improved young players in 2019 – and an early contender to represent the NFC in the Pro Bowl.