In 2015, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ranked 31st in the NFL in gross punting average and 27th in net punting average. That underwhelming performance may not have been one of the main reasons the Buccaneers finished 6-10, but punting was clearly not a team strength.

General Manager Jason Licht and Head Coach Dirk Koetter found an avenue to address that shortcoming, and address it quickly: Free agency.

In 2016, the punt team was an enormous strength for the 9-7 Buccaneers, particularly as the team found itself in a series of very close games in which the field position battle was critical. In fact, Tampa Bay may have never fielded a more successful punt team in franchise history than it did this past fall. Each punt and its coverage was the collective work of 11 men on the field, all of whom deserve credit for the team's massive improvement in that part of the game. Still, the two players who stood out the most on the Buccaneers' punt team this year were both signed within a 10-day period early in the 2016 unrestricted free agency period.

On March 14, the Buccaneers signed former Minnesota Vikings cornerback Josh Robinson. The team believed Robinson could provide depth at a position where depth is often hard to cultivate while also bringing proven special teams skills to the table.

On March 23, Tampa Bay signed former Jacksonville Jaguars punter Bryan Anger. That created a competition between Anger and incumbent Jacob Schum (now the Green Bay Packers' punter), and while both punters performed well in training camp and the preseason, Anger won the job.

When the regular season began, the results were dramatic. Simply put, Bryan Anger's debut season as a Buccaneer was the best performance by a punter in franchise history. Meanwhile, Josh Robinson emerged as one of the most productive special teams "aces" in team history, recalling the likes of Corey Ivy, Kenny Gant and Jeff Gooch. As is noted in greater detail below, Robinson was frequently the man on the other end of Anger's most impactful punts, completing plays that pinned the opposition near its own goal line.