ALLEN PARK -- Sam Martin's first four years for the Lions were the four best they've ever gotten out of a punter.

Then he had the mysterious incident, reportedly with a conch shell on the beach, that cost him six games. He wasn't the same when he returned, and he admitted that.

He has to get back to the level he was at or someone might just take his job.

That's the message the Lions are sending, at least, with the addition of Ryan Santoso to the position this offseason.

"Ryan and Sam, I think there's going to be a battle there," Lions special teams coach Joe Marciano said. "Ryan has a chance."

Asked if Santoso has a chance with the Lions, right now, he doubled down: "If he beats out Sam, yes."

That doesn't mean he will or can. Santoso has impressed the Lions in early boots and kickoffs with the strength that goes into his 6-foot-5-inch frame, particularly in kicking into the wind, but he went undrafted out of Minnesota this spring. He doesn't have nearly the experience the sixth-year Martin does, nor the acumen.

But Detroit isn't looking for the Martin it had last season, the guy who missed a month and a half and had them scrambling for replacements after another early-season injury, the one who fell to 33rd in net average in a league with 32 starting punters.

The Lions are paying Martin $2.9 million this year to be more than that. They can save around $1 million if they replaced him with a rookie.

"He's on a mission to try to rectify what happened last year," Marciano said. "He didn't have a good year."

Martin acknowledged the same at the end of last season, calling it an asterisk on his career. He's always taken passion in the craft and nuance of punting, and last year was the first since Detroit drafted him in the fifth round out of Appalachian State in 2013 that the formulas just would not compute.

General manager Bob Quinn has said that it's his job to bring in competition for different players, and that's how the Lions are labeling their punting room as training camp starts up Friday. Marciano, who has coached special teams for decades, said that it's not just for show.

"I'm not going to bring in some guy who's got no chance. That doesn't look good for me," Marciano said.

"We will see if he rises to the occasion or if he doesn't rise to the occasion."