Marcus Jones has the highest career punt return average in NFL history at 14.3 yards per return. Rashid Shaheed ranks second at 13.2, while George McAfee and Jack Christiansen share third at 12.8.
The standard career leaderboard requires at least 75 regular-season punt returns. Jones crossed that threshold during the 2025 season and finished the year with 1,132 yards on 79 returns. The list uses regular-season return data available since 1941 and is current through the end of the 2025 NFL season.
Punt return average measures explosiveness, but it does not settle the argument over the fastest NFL players ever or the greatest return specialist. Return volume, touchdowns, ball security, playoff performance and how often opponents avoided a returner all add context that one career average cannot capture.
- Qualification and Ranking Method
- What Punt Return Average Shows
- T-9. Billy Johnson
- T-9. Devin Duvernay
- 8. Desmond Howard
- 7. Rick Upchurch
- 6. Bill Dudley
- 5. Claude Gibson
- T-3. Jack Christiansen
- T-3. George McAfee
- 2. Rashid Shaheed
- 1. Marcus Jones
- What the Top 10 Reveals
- Top 25 Career Leaderboard
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Conclusion
- More NFL Rankings
Qualification and Ranking Method
This is an objective ranking based on career regular-season yards per punt return. The calculation is simple: career punt return yards divided by career punt returns. Players need at least 75 career returns to qualify, preventing a short run of a few explosive plays from controlling the record book.
The statistical record begins in 1941 and runs through the 2025 season. Postseason returns are not included. Players with the same one-decimal average share a rank, and the next position skips the appropriate number of places. The complete table lists the top 25 qualifying players, covering everyone with an official average of at least 11.2 yards per return.
What Punt Return Average Shows and What It Misses
Average rewards field-flipping plays, but it is more volatile for players near the 75-return minimum. Jones and Shaheed have 79 and 77 returns, respectively. Billy Johnson has 282. One long return can move the career average of Jones or Shaheed much more than it can move Johnson’s.
Touchdowns also matter differently. Jack Christiansen scored eight punt return touchdowns on only 85 returns, the best touchdown rate among the top 10. Devin Duvernay reached an 11.8-yard average without a punt return touchdown. The same average can therefore describe very different styles of production.
T-9. Billy Johnson — 11.8 Yards Per Punt Return
Career punt returns: 282 | Punt return yards: 3,317 | Punt return touchdowns: 6
Billy “White Shoes” Johnson combines a top-10 average with the largest workload in this group. His 282 returns are more than three times the career total of Jones, Shaheed or Christiansen. That makes his 11.8 average unusually durable and gives him a stronger longevity argument than the raw ranking suggests.
T-9. Devin Duvernay — 11.8 Yards Per Punt Return
Career punt returns: 109 | Punt return yards: 1,284 | Punt return touchdowns: 0
Duvernay shares ninth with Johnson but reached 11.8 in a very different way. None of his 109 returns went for a touchdown, so his place is not being carried by one or two scores. The average reflects consistent yardage generation rather than a touchdown-heavy résumé.
8. Desmond Howard — 11.9 Yards Per Punt Return
Career punt returns: 244 | Punt return yards: 2,895 | Punt return touchdowns: 8
Howard pairs volume with scoring value. He sits eighth in average, but his eight regular-season punt return touchdowns tie Christiansen and Upchurch for the most among the top 10. His 1996 season also remains the single-season record for punt return yards, reinforcing why his return résumé is stronger than an eighth-place average might imply.
Howard’s best-known NFL years came with Green Bay. He also appears in SOG Sports’ ranking of the best Green Bay Packers players of all time.
7. Rick Upchurch — 12.1 Yards Per Punt Return
Career punt returns: 248 | Punt return yards: 3,008 | Punt return touchdowns: 8
Upchurch is the only player in the top 10 with at least 3,000 punt return yards and an average above 12.0. That balance of efficiency, volume and touchdowns gives him one of the most complete statistical profiles on the page. He is seventh by average, but the broader case for him as an all-time returner is much stronger than seventh.
His entire NFL career came with Denver, where he also belongs in the discussion of the best Denver Broncos players of all time.
6. Bill Dudley — 12.2 Yards Per Punt Return
Career punt returns: 124 | Punt return yards: 1,515 | Punt return touchdowns: 3
Dudley ranks sixth and provides an early-era comparison with McAfee and Christiansen. His 12.2 average came on 124 returns, comfortably above the minimum, and included three touchdowns. The workload separates his efficiency from a barely qualified short sample.
5. Claude Gibson — 12.6 Yards Per Punt Return
Career punt returns: 110 | Punt return yards: 1,381 | Punt return touchdowns: 3
Gibson sits fifth, only two-tenths behind the tie for third. He produced 1,381 yards on 110 returns, giving him both a strong peak rate and enough volume to clear the qualifier by 35 attempts. The gap between Gibson and Dudley is four-tenths per return, the largest separation from third through eighth.
T-3. Jack Christiansen — 12.8 Yards Per Punt Return
Career punt returns: 85 | Punt return yards: 1,084 | Punt return touchdowns: 8
Christiansen scored on 9.4 percent of his career punt returns, an extreme rate even within this group. He shares third in average with McAfee but had six more touchdowns on 27 fewer returns. His total sits only 10 returns above the minimum, yet the scoring output makes the efficiency difficult to dismiss as a small-sample quirk.
T-3. George McAfee — 12.8 Yards Per Punt Return
Career punt returns: 112 | Punt return yards: 1,431 | Punt return touchdowns: 2
McAfee held the career average record for roughly 75 years before Jones qualified in 2025. His 12.8 came on 112 returns, giving him more volume than Christiansen and both active players above him. The longevity of the record says as much about how difficult it is to combine explosiveness with 75 opportunities as it does about era.
2. Rashid Shaheed — 13.2 Yards Per Punt Return
Career punt returns: 77 | Punt return yards: 1,014 | Punt return touchdowns: 3
Shaheed is one of only two qualifying players above 13 yards per return. He cleared the minimum by two returns, so his 13.2 remains more sensitive to future results than the averages of the retired leaders. Even so, three touchdowns and more than 1,000 yards show that his position is not based on one isolated play.
1. Marcus Jones — 14.3 Yards Per Punt Return
Career punt returns: 79 | Punt return yards: 1,132 | Punt return touchdowns: 3
Jones owns the record because he has created more yardage per qualifying return than anyone in the recorded dataset. His 1.1-yard lead over Shaheed is larger than the entire gap separating fifth-place Gibson from the players tied for ninth. That is a real statistical outlier at the top.
The caution is sample size. Jones has only four returns beyond the minimum, so the record can move quickly as his career continues. What makes the early lead striking is that he already has more punt return yards than Christiansen despite six fewer attempts.
Jones is also featured in SOG Sports’ ranking of the best New England Patriots players of all time.
What the Top 10 Reveals
The No. 1 gap is much larger than the middle of the ranking
Jones leads Shaheed by 1.1 yards per return. By comparison, only 1.0 yard separates McAfee and Christiansen at 12.8 from Johnson and Duvernay at 11.8. The leader is farther ahead of second place than third place is ahead of the bottom of the top 10.
Volume changes how the averages should be read
Jones, Shaheed and Christiansen have fewer than 90 returns. Upchurch, Howard and Johnson each have at least 244. The low-volume leaders have the higher averages, but the high-volume group sustained excellent results through far more chances for the number to decline.
A punt return average is not a greatest-returner ranking
Devin Hester ranks tied for 11th at 11.7, just outside the featured top 10, despite owning the career record for punt return touchdowns. Average isolates efficiency. A complete evaluation must also consider scoring, volume, postseason plays and the strategic effect a feared returner had on opposing punts.
The leaderboard is unusually balanced across eras
Four members of the top 10 began their careers before 1962, three began from 1974 through 1992, and three entered the league in 2020 or later. Different blocking rules, punt styles, roster usage and coverage speed make direct era comparisons imperfect, but no single period controls the list.
Most Yards Per Punt Return in NFL History: Top 25
The following table ranks the top 25 players with at least 75 career regular-season punt returns. Ties are based on the published one-decimal average.
| Rank | Player | Yards Per Punt Return |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marcus Jones | 14.3 |
| 2 | Rashid Shaheed | 13.2 |
| T-3 | George McAfee | 12.8 |
| T-3 | Jack Christiansen | 12.8 |
| 5 | Claude Gibson | 12.6 |
| 6 | Bill Dudley | 12.2 |
| 7 | Rick Upchurch | 12.1 |
| 8 | Desmond Howard | 11.9 |
| T-9 | Devin Duvernay | 11.8 |
| T-9 | Billy Johnson | 11.8 |
| T-11 | Devin Hester | 11.7 |
| T-11 | Mack Herron | 11.7 |
| T-13 | Roscoe Parrish | 11.6 |
| T-13 | Bill Thompson | 11.6 |
| T-15 | Darrien Gordon | 11.5 |
| T-15 | Tyreek Hill | 11.5 |
| T-17 | Nyheim Hines | 11.4 |
| T-17 | Gunner Olszewski | 11.4 |
| T-19 | Britain Covey | 11.3 |
| T-19 | Henry Ellard | 11.3 |
| T-19 | Rodger Bird | 11.3 |
| T-19 | Braxton Berrios | 11.3 |
| T-19 | Bosh Pritchard | 11.3 |
| T-24 | Julian Edelman | 11.2 |
| T-24 | Jeremy Ross | 11.2 |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many punt returns are required to qualify for the career record?
A player needs at least 75 career regular-season punt returns. Marcus Jones finished the 2025 season with 79, while Rashid Shaheed had 77.
Does the leaderboard include playoff punt returns?
No. The career leaderboard uses regular-season statistics. Postseason returns are tracked separately and do not change these averages.
Why is Devin Hester not No. 1?
Hester ranks tied for 11th with an 11.7-yard average. His case as the greatest punt returner is built on a record 14 regular-season punt return touchdowns, major postseason plays and sustained volume, not the highest average alone.
Can Marcus Jones lose the career record?
Yes. Jones is active, so every future punt return will change his career average. With only 79 qualifying returns, his number can move more quickly than those of retired players with 200 or more attempts.
Why does the data begin in 1941?
Reliable season-level punt return and average data in the primary historical database begins with the 1941 season. Earlier NFL seasons are therefore outside the statistical scope of this leaderboard.
The ranking includes regular-season results only, requires 75 career punt returns and uses data available since 1941. Active-player totals can change once the 2026 regular season begins. Statistics and links were last reviewed on August 11, 2026.
Conclusion
Marcus Jones enters the 2026 season as the NFL’s career punt return average leader at 14.3 yards per return. His 1.1-yard advantage over Rashid Shaheed is substantial, but both players sit close to the 75-return minimum. Jones owns the record today; maintaining it over a larger workload will determine how the number ages.
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