Sam Martin (American football)
Sam Joseph Martin (born February 27, 1990) is an American football punter for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Appalachian State, and was selected by the Detroit Lions in the fifth round of the 2013 NFL draft.[1]
Martin with the Broncos in 2021 | |||||||||||
| No. 8 – Buffalo Bills | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Punter | ||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||
| Born: | February 27, 1990 Fayetteville, Georgia, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||||
| Weight: | 211 lb (96 kg) | ||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||
| High school: | Starr's Mill (Fayetteville, Georgia) | ||||||||||
| College: | Appalachian State | ||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 2013 / Round: 5 / Pick: 165 | ||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Roster status: | Active | ||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics as of Week 18, 2023 | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Player stats at PFR | |||||||||||
Early life
Martin was lettered for soccer for four years and also received all-state recognition in his junior season at Starr's Mill High School.[2]
College career
In his senior season, he was selected to the Associated Press All-America First team.[2] He also was named to the first-team All-America by College Sports Journal and third-team all-America by The Sports Network in his senior season.[2]
Professional career
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 0+1⁄8 in (1.83 m) |
206 lb (93 kg) |
30 in (0.76 m) |
8+1⁄2 in (0.22 m) | |||||||||
| All values from Pro Day[3] | ||||||||||||
Detroit Lions
Martin was selected by the Detroit Lions in the fifth round of the 2013 NFL draft.
In Week 12 of the 2015 season, Martin was awarded as the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for four punts totaling 181 yards and only three punt return yards.[4]
Martin signed a four-year contract extension with the Lions on September 9, 2016.[5] At the conclusion of the 2016 NFL season, Martin was named as an alternate for the 2017 Pro Bowl, but did not participate in the game.[6]
On September 2, 2017, Martin was placed on the non-football injury list after suffering an ankle injury during the offseason.[7][8] He was activated to the active roster on October 28, 2017, for the team's Week 8 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.[9]
Denver Broncos
On March 30, 2020, Martin signed a three year, $7.05 million deal with the Denver Broncos.[10]
Martin was released by the Broncos on August 29, 2022, after he refused to take a pay cut.[11]
Buffalo Bills
On August 31, 2022, Martin signed a one year deal with the Buffalo Bills.[12] He signed a three-year, $7.5 million contract extension on March 13, 2023.[13]
NFL career statistics
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Bold | Career high |
Regular season
| Year | Team | Punting | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Punts | Yds | Net Yds | Lng | Avg | Net Avg | Blk | Ins20 | TB | ||
| 2013 | DET | 16 | 72 | 3,399 | 2,949 | 72 | 47.2 | 40.4 | 1 | 22 | 10 |
| 2014 | DET | 16 | 68 | 3,138 | 2,727 | 71 | 46.1 | 40.1 | 0 | 29 | 5 |
| 2015 | DET | 16 | 80 | 3,679 | 3,356 | 66 | 46.0 | 42.0 | 0 | 25 | 3 |
| 2016 | DET | 16 | 62 | 3,010 | 2,740 | 63 | 48.5 | 44.2 | 0 | 23 | 3 |
| 2017 | DET | 10 | 41 | 1,779 | 1,543 | 64 | 43.4 | 37.6 | 0 | 13 | 6 |
| 2018 | DET | 16 | 74 | 3,310 | 2,898 | 61 | 44.7 | 39.2 | 0 | 32 | 4 |
| 2019 | DET | 16 | 76 | 3,445 | 3,175 | 62 | 45.3 | 41.8 | 0 | 31 | 7 |
| 2020 | DEN | 16 | 65 | 3,040 | 2,734 | 69 | 46.8 | 41.4 | 1 | 19 | 4 |
| 2021 | DEN | 17 | 67 | 3,083 | 2,869 | 68 | 46.0 | 42.8 | 0 | 28 | 3 |
| 2022 | BUF | 16 | 45 | 2,146 | 1,895 | 67 | 47.7 | 41.2 | 1 | 16 | 5 |
| 2023 | BUF | 17 | 51 | 2,334 | 2,030 | 70 | 45.8 | 39.8 | 0 | 24 | 3 |
| Career | 172 | 701 | 32,363 | 28,916 | 72 | 46.2 | 41.1 | 3 | 262 | 53 | |
References
- "2013 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
- "Appalachian State Mountaineers Profile". appstatesports.com.
- "2013 NFL Draft Scout Sam Martin College Football Profile". DraftScout.com. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
- "Lions' Martin wins NFC award; Tulloch honored, too". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
- Shook, Nick (September 9, 2016). "Theo Riddick, Sam Martin agree to Lions extensions". NFL.com. Retrieved October 29, 2016.
- "Lions place P Sam Martin on active/non-football injury list". DetroitLions.com. July 25, 2017. Retrieved September 5, 2017.
- "Lions establish 53-man roster". DetroitLions.com. September 2, 2017. Archived from the original on September 3, 2017.
- "Detroit Lions activate P Sam Martin for Pittsburgh Steelers game". Freep.com. October 28, 2017.
- O'Halloran, Ryan (March 24, 2020). "Broncos come to terms with veteran punter Sam Martin on three-year deal, source says". Denver Post. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
- "Broncos cut punter Sam Martin after he refuses pay cut". NBC Sports. August 29, 2022. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
- "Bills sign punter Sam Martin". BuffaloBills.com. August 31, 2022.
- White, Alec (March 13, 2023). "Bills agree to terms with P Sam Martin and LB Tyler Matakevich". BuffaloBills.com.