Darren Bennett’s journey: Australia’s first ever NFL punter

Darren Bennett pioneered the shift for AFL players transitioning to be NFL punters, revolutionising the game with his unprecedented kicking technique.

Bennett was a key forward for Melbourne, where he kicked 208 goals in just 74 games to be the Dees’ leading goal kicker in two consecutive seasons, before lingering knee injuries forced his retirement from the AFL in 1993.

In 1994, Bennett made the transition to the NFL and earned the starting spot in 1995 with the San Diego Chargers, where he made the First Team All-Pro in that same season.

Bennett had a successful career with the Chargers, making the NFL 1990s all-decade team, as well as making the All-Pro First team and the Pro Bowl twice as a punter.

The punter was inducted into the Chargers Hall of Fame in 2012 and was named to both the 40th and 50th year anniversary Chargers team.

Bennett paved the way for former AFL players to transition into the NFL, with Ben Graham and Sav Rocca following a similar path, which has now opened up avenues for young Aussies through dedicated punting academies in Australia.

There are now five Aussie punters in the NFL this season, and 78 in college football, showing the influence that Bennett has had on Australians playing American football.

Bennett joined Sam Edmund on This is Your Journey – thanks to Tobin Brothers, where he discussed his pathway from AFL key forward to NFL punter.

“I beat a 19-year-old Ben Graham in a longest kick contest, and the first-place prize was two tickets to Los Angeles,” Bennett said.

“I was told the Chargers, Tampa Bay and the Jets will take a look at you.

“I got a tryout with the Chargers, I didn’t know where Tampa Bay was, and New York was scary to me.

“I was told, ‘If you can be here by Thursday we will try you out’, so we caught a train all the way from Seattle down to San Diego, got there at 1:00 in the morning and had a kick that day.

“There was no snapper that day, so I just punted 10 balls out of my hand before they turned the sprinklers on to kick us off.

“In eight years of playing in the NFL if you asked me to hit 10 punts as good as I hit that day (I couldn’t), I shanked one and I hit nine punts over 70 meters, it was just one of those days were everything came together.”

Bennett further discussed the process that led to him to become a successful NFL punter and how his unorthodox kicking style took the NFL by surprise.

To hear the full conversation, listen to the rest of the episode via the link below.