Australian Arryn Siposs Stars in NFL Debut
There were a number of strong performances by Eagles players in Atlanta on Sunday and the higher-profile ones got all the love with Jalen Hurts and Javon Hargrave leading the way on their respective sides of the football.
But, what about special teams?
Punter Arryn Siposs had a brilliant NFL debut, punting four times and pinning the Atlanta offense inside its own 20 three times. The only rep in which Siposs wasn’t able to do that was his longest punt of the day (54 yards) and the Falcons were still inside the 25.
The long fields were untenable for a Falcons offense that generated only 260 total yards, 146 of them on the first two drives that generated all six of Atlanta’s points in the 32-6 drubbing.
It was the type of complementary football that Nick Sirianni wants as Siposs finished with a 47.3 gross average and a 44.5 net.
“I thought Arryn did a phenomenal job,” special teams coordinator Michael Clay said Tuesday. “… I kind of felt this from the first day I met Arryn working with him, first time working with him in rookie minicamp. Arryn’s a different type of person in terms of he’s not a rookie in terms of the age. He’s not 21, he’s not 22, he’s 28.
“He’s dealt with real-life situations.”
A former Australian rules football player, Siposs started exploring a transition to American football with ProKick Australia before receiving an offer to play for Auburn in 2017 as a 25-year-old college freshman.
By 2020, Siposs was in Detroit for a training camp competition with arguably the NFL’s best punter in Jack Fox. Siposs obviously didn’t win the job but he was impressive enough that the Lions kept him around on the expanded practice squads as a COVID-19 contingency.
The Eagles, wary of losing another Aussie punter, Cam Johnston, in free agency this offseason, identified Siposs early and signed him to a futures deal back in January as an insurance policy.
When Johnston did in fact get a big deal from Houston, the Eagles were ready to rock with Siposs, something highlighted by the fact no competition was brought in for him.
“It was never any nerve things I was worried about with him,” said Clay. “He always comes ready to prepare Wednesday, Thursday, when we have our big punt days, and it just paid off.
“I’m just really happy for him. I know he’s been working really hard to get to this spot, his first real NFL game. He really performed to the level that we all know he can.”
