BEREA, Ohio — Editor's note: Video at the top of this story was originally published on Dec. 9, 2021.
The Cleveland Browns have a new punter in town.
The team announced Friday morning that punter Dustin Colquitt has been signed to the 53-man roster. The move was needed after Browns punter Jamie Gillan was placed on the COVID-19 reserve list earlier this week following a positive test result.
Colquitt is a longtime NFL veteran, currently in his 17th season out of the University of Tennessee. He was drafted by Kansas in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft and spent the first 15 years of his career with the franchise before moving on after the 2019 season. Colquitt has since spent time with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars and most recently the Atlanta Falcons.
Colquitt was released by the Falcons on Monday after appearing in six games with the team this season. With Atlanta he had 23 punts for an average of 47.7 yards per punt.
This isn’t the first time that a Colquitt will be handling punting duties for the Cleveland Browns, as Dustin’s brother, Britton, was the team’s punter from 2016 through 2018.
As for Gillan, he has punted 42 times this season for an average of 43.9 yards per punt, ranking 31st among the 42 players who have punted in the NFL so far this season. Colquitt’s 47.7 average per punt is good for 12th in the NFL.
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