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| No. 7, 8, 6 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Punter | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | (1957-01-25)January 25, 1957 (age 68) Charleston, Illinois, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||
| Weight | 200 lb (91 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | Charleston | ||||||||
| College | Eastern Illinois | ||||||||
| NFL draft | 1980: undrafted | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Jeffrey Alan Gossett (born January 25, 1957) is an American former professionalfootball player who was apunter in theNational Football League (NFL) and theUnited States Football League (USFL). He playedcollege football for theEastern Illinois Panthers.
Gossett attendedCharleston High School. In football, he played as aquarterback and punter. He also practicedbaseball andbasketball.
Gossett, accepted an athletic scholarship fromEastern Illinois University. As a sophomore, he led theNCAA Division II in punting with a then school record 43.1-yard average. He also set the school records career average (40.7) and longest punt (77 yards).
He competed inbaseball as ashortstop. In 1978, he contributed to the team earning a fifth place in the College Division World Series. He set the school record for triples in a season (7) and in a career (14), while ranking in the top ten in career hits, home runs and RBIs.
In 1987, he was inducted into the school's Sports Hall of Fame.
In 1978, Gossett was selected in the fifth round by theNew York Mets and played in theirfarm system for two seasons as anoutfielder andthird baseman.[1] He left after he was asked to convert into apitcher.[2]
Gossett was signed as anundrafted free agent by theDallas Cowboys after the1980 NFL draft on April 30. He was released before the start of the season on August 25.
On March 9, 1981, he signed as afree agent with theSan Diego Chargers. On August 31, he was released after the team acquired punterGeorge Roberts.[3]
On November 5, 1981, he was signed by theKansas City Chiefs to replace an injuredBob Grupp, finishing with a 39.3-yard punt average.[4]
In 1982, he was cut before the seventh game of the season and surprisingly brought back a week later after a terrible showing by rookieCase deBruijn against theDenver Broncos.[5] He ranked fourth in the American Football Conference with a 41.4-yard average, but his net average of 30.9 was the worst in the league.[6]
On August 29, 1983, he was released after losing a preseason competition with rookie fifth round draft choiceJim Arnold.[7]
On August 31, 1983, he was claimed off waivers by theCleveland Browns, to replaceSteve Cox, who was recovering from a surgery to remove a blockage between his brain and his spinal cord.[8] He had a 40.8-yard average on 70 punts.
On December 20, 1983, he was signed by theChicago Blitz of theUnited States Football League.[9] In 1984, he led the league with a 42.5-yard average on 85 punts, including downing 18 punts inside the 20-yard line.
In 1985, he played for thePortland Breakers of theUnited States Football League. He ranked fourth in the league with 74 punts for a 42.2-yard average, including 19 kicks downed inside the 20-yard line.
On January 27, 1985, he signed with theCleveland Browns after theUnited States Football League folded, averaging 40.3 yards on 81 punts, including a career-long punt of 64 yards against theSt. Louis Cardinals.
In 1986, he had 83 punts for a 41.2-yard average, including a 61-yard punt against theMinnesota Vikings. He experienced some struggles, like the contest against theHouston Oilers, when he shanked five consecutive punts.[10]
In 1987, he played in the first 5 games of the season, before being replaced with rookie punterGeorge Winslow and released on November 18.[11]
On December 2, 1987, he signed as afree agent with theHouston Oilers.[12] He played in the last 4 games of the season.
In 1988, the team drafted punterGreg Montgomery in the third round and traded Gossett to theLos Angeles Raiders on August 15, in exchange for undisclosed future considerations.[13]
In 1988, he was acquired to replace punterStan Talley. He finished fourth in the league with a 41.8-yard average on 91 punts, was third in the American Football Conference in net punting with 35.7-yard average and tied for the league lead for punts downed inside the 20-yard line with 27. He had a 58-yard punt against theMiami Dolphins.
In 1991, he switched his jersey number from 6 to 7, and went on to average a career-high 44.2 yards per punt, while being named anAll-Pro and selected to thePro Bowl roster.
In 1996, he was the NFL's oldest punter at age 39.[14] He broke four ribs after being tackled on a fake punt in the twelfth game against theSeattle Seahawks.[15] On November 27, 1996, he was placed on theinjured reserve list. He was replaced withLeo Araguz.[16] He was released on February 14, 1997.[17]
Gossett finished his Raiders career with 642 punts (at the time second in team history) for 26,747 yards (at the time second in team history) and averaged 41.7 yards per punt. Overall he had 982 punts for 40,569 yards and averaged 41.3 yards per punt.
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | Punting | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Punts | Yds | Net Yds | Lng | Avg | Net Avg | Blk | Ins20 | TB | ||
| 1981 | KAN | 7 | 29 | 1,141 | 953 | 55 | 39.3 | 32.9 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
| 1982 | KAN | 8 | 33 | 1,366 | 1,019 | 56 | 41.4 | 30.9 | 0 | 6 | 5 |
| 1983 | CLE | 16 | 70 | 2,854 | 2,385 | 60 | 40.8 | 34.1 | 0 | 17 | 8 |
| 1985 | CLE | 16 | 81 | 3,261 | 2,797 | 64 | 40.3 | 34.5 | 0 | 18 | 8 |
| 1986 | CLE | 16 | 83 | 3,423 | 2,955 | 61 | 41.2 | 35.6 | 0 | 21 | 10 |
| 1987 | CLE | 5 | 19 | 769 | 641 | 55 | 40.5 | 33.7 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| HOU | 4 | 25 | 1,008 | 782 | 53 | 40.3 | 30.1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 1988 | RAI | 16 | 91 | 3,804 | 3,247 | 58 | 41.8 | 35.7 | 0 | 27 | 8 |
| 1989 | RAI | 16 | 67 | 2,711 | 2,270 | 60 | 40.5 | 33.9 | 0 | 12 | 7 |
| 1990 | RAI | 16 | 60 | 2,315 | 2,082 | 57 | 38.6 | 33.6 | 2 | 19 | 4 |
| 1991 | RAI | 16 | 67 | 2,961 | 2,580 | 61 | 44.2 | 38.5 | 0 | 26 | 2 |
| 1992 | RAI | 16 | 77 | 3,255 | 2,810 | 56 | 42.3 | 36.5 | 0 | 17 | 3 |
| 1993 | RAI | 16 | 71 | 2,971 | 2,490 | 61 | 41.8 | 35.1 | 0 | 19 | 9 |
| 1994 | RAI | 16 | 77 | 3,377 | 2,711 | 65 | 43.9 | 35.2 | 0 | 19 | 15 |
| 1995 | OAK | 16 | 75 | 3,089 | 2,635 | 60 | 41.2 | 34.7 | 1 | 22 | 8 |
| 1996 | OAK | 12 | 57 | 2,264 | 1,972 | 64 | 39.7 | 34.6 | 0 | 19 | 5 |
| Career | 212 | 982 | 40,569 | 34,329 | 65 | 41.3 | 34.8 | 4 | 250 | 101 | |
| Year | Team | Punting | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Punts | Yds | Net Yds | Lng | Avg | Net Avg | Blk | Ins20 | TB | ||
| 1985 | CLE | 1 | 6 | 223 | 200 | 57 | 37.2 | 33.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1986 | CLE | 2 | 14 | 569 | 473 | 58 | 40.6 | 33.8 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| 1987 | HOU | 2 | 6 | 239 | 158 | 57 | 39.8 | 26.3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1990 | RAI | 2 | 5 | 200 | 150 | 52 | 40.0 | 30.0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 1991 | RAI | 1 | 1 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20.0 | 20.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1993 | RAI | 2 | 10 | 392 | 347 | 50 | 39.2 | 34.7 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Career | 10 | 42 | 1,643 | 1,348 | 58 | 39.1 | 32.1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | |
He was a member ofSigma Pi fraternity.[18]
