Ryan Stonehouse – March 25, 2025
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Tuesday, March 25, 2025
P Ryan Stonehouse
(I’m intrigued by this 53.1-yard punt average of yours. I’m sure when you get down to it leg strength has a lot to do with it, technique has a lot to do with it, there are various things in play. What do you think is the most important thing that led to that kind of fat number that way? Can you give us some insight into how you go about maintaining your leg strength.) – “I think with a big average comes opportunity. I think it’s a fair share of punting from backed up plenty, we had a lot of those that year, but also just taking advantage of the opportunity. I’ve always been a big-legged punter, whether that was in college or taking that into the league. The way that I maintain leg strength is just kind of – throughout the offseason there’s ways to train and one of the things that I think benefits me a lot is working on my explosiveness. I’m not the biggest guy in the world; I don’t have long levers, but leg speed can certainly make up for that. So the quicker twitch that I am, I try to train like an athlete even though sometimes they don’t consider punters athletes that often. (laughter) I think that that’s such a big thing about my game, is that I feel like I can be versatile and be athletic and that leg speed is really the key I try to hit on in the offseasons.”
(Were you surprised that Tennessee let you walk the way they did?) – “Yeah, absolutely. I think it was as big of a surprise to me as it was to anybody else. Yeah, so for sure.”
(I saw you went to Mater Dei, which I know is an athletics high school. Are you excited to check out some high school football in South Florida which many say is the best in the country?) – “Absolutely. Yeah, we’ll see how it compares, for sure. (laughter) I might be biased. Obviously, Mater Dei helped kickstart my career, but I was blessed and lucky enough to go there, because it really turned me into the player I am and the competitor I am because I only played one year on varsity at Mater Dei because obviously how competitive and how good it was. But yeah, I’m excited to check out South Beach, for sure.”
(Get ready for a lot of those conversations on which state has the best high school football. Those conversations are definitely all the time.) – “(laughter) Yeah, I know Florida high school football is passionate about it.”
(You mentioned being surprised with the Titans not keeping you, describe the whirlwind of emotion. I know there had been a lot of talk after they let you go that it was a normal fit, a logical fit to join the Broncos for example. I’m curious as to what that process was like, them not tendering you as a restricted free agent and then the Dolphins eventually signing you.) – “Like I said, I was surprised; I think a lot of other people were as well. I truly didn’t expect it. I’m a guy that I like to be where my feet are, been training in that building ever since I stepped foot in it three years ago. I thought it would be a little bit different, just more clarity would have been nice, but it is what it is and I’m excited for this new opportunity. I think that’s what the league is all about. I’ve certainly built my career off of not being the first one picked. Obviously, I wasn’t drafted. I didn’t have very many opportunities after the draft – Tennessee was one of them. So I kind of took that as a chip on my shoulder and I truly felt like that’s kind of where my career has taken me. Whether that was college, I didn’t really have very many scholarship offers – Colorado State took a chance on me. Same what I said in high school, I only played on varsity one year; I had to compete for that job. So I really truly have built a career off of competition. Yeah, I think there was some things about natural fits and I actually truly believe the Dolphins are the best fit for me. I’ve kind of come to realize that being in the league for three years now that fit matters so much and understanding the player that I am matters a lot – how to use me as a weapon is truly something that I thank Craig Aukerman and Chase Blackburn for when they brought me into Tennessee. It was very important for me to have a good fit, so I truly believe Miami is that place.”
(You’ve got the really ridiculously high gross punt average, the net at times has not been quite as high. How difficult is it to balance booming it as far as you can and then the hang time to all your coverage guys to get down there?) – “Yeah, that’s a fair question. So first year in the league, I think we netted 44.0 yards, it was obviously – we were shooting for 45.0. I’ve always had a goal to have the highest net. I’ve never been trying to get the most gross yards. I think the more gross yards you have the better potential your net can become. Obviously, there’s a healthy balance of directional punting as well as hang time. My second year, got a lot better at the hang time aspect of it, was putting more balls out of bounds. I think we netted 43.9 that year, but you can see as like last year, the first eight games, what we went through as a punt team, whether that was cycling personnel, whether that was blocked punts, whether that was the Detroit game. Those first eight games of the year, our net was horrible, I think probably bottom of the league. And that took – we signed Justin Hardee against the Patriots. Justin came in, played one game there, kind of got his feet under him. We had some guys step up in that room. I think from after the Patriots game, from the Chargers game forward I think we netted 44.0 yards – probably would have been a top three net average in the league. It’s so important to look at context like that because I think there’s a lot of things the gross yards can affect – too much of the net if you start line driving the ball, which I agree. I think that you have to have a healthy amount of hang time with it, but it’s important to look at the full picture with regards to net. It was bad for the beginning, for sure, and that’s why the number at the end of the year is what it was. But it’s a combination of the directional with a little bit of hang time and then giving yourself the best opportunity for guys to go down there and make plays.”
(We haven’t met Special Teams Coordinator Craig Aukerman just yet, fill us in. How would you describe his personality and his coaching approach?) – “When I met Craig (Aukerman), I realized the passion that had for special teams, and it was great when he brought me in in Tennessee. My work ethic and his work ethic meshed really well together, and he’s a guy that values hard work. He’s passionate about special teams. He’s really about the guys, and that’s what it’s about. I’ve learned that in the punt team it matters about the players and who fits where, and he’s very good at that. He’s very great at developing young players, putting them in the right position. I think that’s so important. Special teams is not a thing where you play it as much in college. A lot of times drafted players, you’re not playing special teams, you’re not playing on punt team in college. Sometimes you are, but that coach it really is important when you come in, and I think Craig is that guy. He brings a lot of energy which I think is super important. I think you guys are going to be excited to meet him because I certainly – when I came into Tennessee, I was blessed to have him as my coach.”
(So if you were in one of those punter, long-drive competitions – like no rush, nothing, just you take the ball and you kick it in the air as far as you can, I’m going to guess – 83 yards. Am I over or under 83?) – “It depends on the day. Is there a little wind at the back? (laughter) I think I can hit it a long way, but I’ve really been honed in on getting a lot of hang time this offseason. I’ve really tried to get that down. When I was coming out for the draft, that was the big knock on me that my hang time wasn’t as great. But I kind of set out to prove that wrong and I came into camp – you can ask Craig (Aukerman) when you get him on – I was hitting 5.0s consistently, and that’s what I’m striving for this year because I think it matters so much.”
(Can anybody go goal line to goal line in the air? Seriously, can it be done?) – “I’m sure it can be done. Given the right conditions, for sure.”
(Alain Poupart wanted to ask you about the net yards. I wanted to ask you about working with people on special teams. The Dolphins had a punter, Thomas Morstead, a couple of years ago and they had a special teams player Keion Crossen and part of the reason they got together was Michael Thomas, a guy who played here and was a special teams specialist, they were all three at a players union meeting and Michael Thomas told Morstead, “Hey, Keion Crossen does a good job at tracking punts. You guys ought to get together.” That wasn’t the only reason they both played here, but my question to you is are there certain guys or is there a relationship that a punter has with certain guys like that and how long does it take that relationship to develop? Training camp? Eight games? A whole season?) – “Chris, I think that was like one of the best questions I’ve been asked in a long time, to be honest with you. So here’s the deal, if you look at like last year or what I went through in Tennessee, we had a few guys, a lot of young guys. It was hard to kind of mesh relationship-wise, I was coming back off of a major injury. Those relationships start at OTAs, at least in my opinion. They start before OTAs but in my situation right now, it would start in OTAs, getting with your gunners. It’s so important to have a relationship with those guys so they know what’s going on; how the punt is supposed to look, where is it supposed to end up. Your core guys, ‘Hey, we need inside-out. Don’t throw the guy to my kick side.’ There’s so many things that work like that, and like I was saying with Justin Hardee and Luke Gifford last year with us, it took one game to totally flip. I think we were at the worst punting average possible; we had given up two blocked punts, we gave up a tip against Miami when we played y’all. We had the Detroit game where we gave up some of the most return yards ever in a game. We weren’t playing as a unit. We weren’t playing together; we just didn’t have guys in the right spots. A guy like Justin Hardee comes in and totally changes the momentum of that unit. We go from a bottom-32 unit to a top three unit in one game. It’s not like we changed something crazy, all it took was a player coming in, playing hard – a Luke Gifford who we had in the core go out against Buffalo and make three tackles in open space. It takes that kind of – I don’t want to use a bad word, but it’s the ‘give a (expletive) factor,’ it really is. That was so important, and Hardee brought that for us as a unit. That can change an entire special teams in one swoop, and it certainly did for us last year. But those relationships start in OTAs and that’s something that as an older player, I’ve realized leadership matters so much more and that’s something I’m going to strive to do the minute I step foot in that facility is build relationships with as many of the guys that a I can.”
(And if I can ask one more building on relationships, you and Special Teams Coordinator Craig Aukerman being together. What does that mean for you, for Craig and for the Dolphins special teams?) – “Well, I was an All-Pro under Craig (Aukerman), and I don’t think it’s a secret that I was. Fit matters so much. I’m very excited to work with Craig again. The opportunity, when it was presented, I couldn’t pass it up. I think he understands my ability, and I value critique and coaching a lot. Craig is honest with me. He knows where I need to improve on and he’s willing to hold me accountable, which that’s the most important thing as a coach – holding guys accountable. It doesn’t matter what level you are, if you’re an All-Pro, if you’re the best player, got to hold guys accountable and I think he does that, so I’m very excited to be in that system again.”
