Johnny Hekker is an American football position for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). Born on February 8, 1990, he played college football at Oregon State and was undrafted in the 2012 NFL Draft. Hekker’s 65-yarder in Super Bowl LIII still stands as the longest Super Bowl punt in NFL history.

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Hekker joined the then St. Louis Rams (now Los Angeles Rams) in 2012 as an undrafted free agent. After putting up three punts for 165 yards and a 48.7 net punt average in Week 2, with the biggest punt measuring 66 yards, Hekker was nominated for Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week. Hekker completed a 2-yard touchdown throw to wide receiver Danny Amendola against the Seattle Seahawks two weeks later on a fake field goal. Since the AFL-NFL merger, he became the first punter for the Rams to complete a touchdown pass.

Hekker smashed the previous record of 56.0 established by Donnie Jones on three further occasions by setting a Rams franchise record with a gross punting average of 56.9 during Week 5’s game against the Arizona Cardinals. Hekker had 82 punts for 3,756 net yards and a 45.8 average to cap off his first campaign. Hekker (44.2) officially surpassed Andy Lee’s (44) single-season mark for net punt yards set for the San Francisco 49ers in 2006 on December 29, 2013. Hekker completed his second season as a professional with 78 punts totaling 3,609 net yards, averaging 46.27 yards per punt.

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Hekker consented to a six-year, $18 million contract extension with a $9 million guarantee on December 5, 2014. His contract was the biggest one ever offered to a punter. Hekker had 80 punts for 3,721 net yards and a 46.51 average for the 2014 campaign.

Hekker once again topped the league in net punting average in 2015, and the Associated Press once again selected him an All-Pro. With 96 and 4,601 punting yards, he also led the charts in the league. Hekker had just one touchback, breaking NFL records most punts downed inside the 20-yard-line, and broke his own mark for net punting yardage in 2016. Some people speculated that he had the best punting season ever in the NFL.

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Hekker earned his third First-team All-Pro selection and third trip to the Pro Bowl. Hekker completed the 2016 campaign with 98 punts for a league-best 4,680 net yards and an average of 47.76 yards. Hekker extended his deal with the Rams for an additional two years on September 11th, through the 2022 campaign. 

He received his fourth Pro Bowl selection on December 19, 2017. Due to the Rams’ effective offence, he punted just 43 times for 1,992 yards in 2018, a career low (46.3 average), and never more than four times in a single game. For the first time since 2014, Hekker failed to receive Pro Bowl and first team All-Pro accolades He punted 65 yards in Super Bowl LIII against the New England Patriots, setting a Super Bowl record. Hekker punted nine times for 417 yards as the Rams lost the Super Bowl 13-3.

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The Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI by a score of 23-20, and the game featured six punts for a total of 261 yards. Hekker was released by the Rams on March 16, 2022. Hekker and the Carolina Panthers agreed to a three-year, $7.6 million deal on March 18, 2022.