I can’t say writing is bittersweet at all. I’m actually excited right now. Long-Time Titans Punter Brett Kern announced his retirement earlier this morning. A press conference is scheduled for 1 p.m. today at Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park.
Per Jim Wyatt of TennesseeTitans.com, Kern had this to say when talking about his retirement speech:
“It’s been hard,” said Kern, who is retiring after 15 NFL seasons. “It’s also brought back a lot of memories, too. You want to be able to thank a ton of people who helped you over the years, and all the memories from games, from teammates and coaches, conversations in the locker rooms, and road trips.
“To try and get 15 years into 3-4 pages on Microsoft Word, it’s been pretty challenging. It’s been emotional, too, just thinking back at certain memories. It’s also emotional just because there’s such a sense of gratitude to a lot of people who have helped me get this far. And, just knowing it’s closing a chapter on a really important part of my life and starting a new one.”
In his 15-year NFL career, Kern appeared in 223 regular season games and punted 1,006 times for 46,136 yards (45.9 avg.) with 396 kicks placed inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. Kern played in 9 postseason games and had 41 punts for 1,879 yards (45.8 avg.) with 20 kicks placed inside the 20-yard line. He was named to 3 consecutive Pro Bowls from 2017 to 2019 and earned first team Associated Press All-Pro honors for the first time in 2019 and was a two-time captain (2020 & 2021).
Kern finished his career in Tennessee as the team’s all-time career leader in punts with 923, gross punting average (45.9 yards), net punting average, and punts placed inside the 20 (373). Kern owns 9 of the top 10 net punting seasons in Titans history and 6 of the team’s top nine gross punting seasons. Kern’s 197 starts for the Titans ranks him 3rd in franchise history behind Bruce Matthews 1st and Elvin Bethea 2nd. His total is also the most in the “Titans era” of the franchise.
Brett Kern was our best player at one point in-time. Obviously, it sucked having to punt as much as we did back in those days, but as a Titans fan, you couldn’t help but to acknowledge Kern as he pinned multiple opposing offenses against the wall. Once the team around him got better, those punts felt much more satisfying. In my opinion, this was the most satisfying one:
I could sit here all day and post Brett Kern doing this to multiple teams, but I’m going to go ahead and wrap it up. I’m very thankful and blessed to have witnessed such a great career. Brett Kern has definitely earned a seat next to all of the other great men that have played for our franchise.
