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Jordan Stout was the best punter in the game last season.

Now he wants to be the best ever.

The 2025 first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl selection joined Giants.com for a Q&A after practice on the day of his 28^th birthday. Stout talked about what clicked for him in his record-breaking campaign with the Ravens, his unique perspective on the kicking competition, and what it's like to participate in a training camp located two hours northeast of his hometown of Cedar Bluff, Virginia.

Q: What's it like growing up in this part of the country?

Stout: It's great. I feel like it's God's country. A few days ago, my entire high school (Honaker) came, the football team. I was able to go and meet a bunch of those guys and talk to them for a little bit as well as the coaches that I played for, so that was special.

Q: How did you get into punting? I saw in high school you were setting all sorts of school records in soccer.

Stout: My ninth grade year I was out on the soccer field and where I'm from we do football in the fall and we do soccer in the spring. So, they were out there for spring ball, the football team, and I was at soccer practice. At the end of the practice, the quarterback came over and was like, hey, man, can you hit me a field goal? And I was like, yeah, sure. So, I hit a field goal and it went in. He's like, can you play? I'm like, maybe, let me ask my mom. Then she talked to the head coach a bunch and said he cannot get hit. Then I played and the rest is history.

Q: Was that coach here that you were talking about before?

Stout: He was here. Doug Hubbard.

Q: So, I asked around for some intel. I heard, among other things, you're right-handed but a lefty golfer.

Stout: That is true. My dad was a tennis player, so his forehand was his dominant hand, his right hand, and his backhand translates to a lefty golf swing.

Q: How does that come into play holding for two different kickers? (Ben Sauls is a lefty, and Dominic Zvada is a righty.)

Sout: Initially, I was definitely more comfortable holding for the righty because I've been doing that for four years, but as each day goes on, I get better and better holding for Ben. I feel like I'm at a level now that is a very high level. I put myself up against anybody holding lefty. I credit that to Sam Koch back in Baltimore (Koch spent his entire 16-year career with the Ravens before transitioning to a coaching role in 2022), who taught me how to hold in the first place, and (longtime Ravens senior special teams coach) Randy Brown as well as (current Giants assistant head coach/special teams coordinator) Chris Horton.

Q: When did you first start holding?

Stout: I held for one year in college. That was my junior year and then my senior year I kicked, kicked off, and punted, so someone held for me.

Q: You did everything at Penn State. How did you balance that?

Stout: My goal was to one day do all three in the NFL at a high level. I realized pretty quickly that I think it can be done one day. Unfortunately, I wasn't the guy and it just fell to me being a punter, and you know, now I just want to be the best punter I can be each and every day.

Q: You have the previous experience with John Harbaugh. Is it a blessing or curse for a specialist to have a head coach with a special teams background?

Stout: I'd say it's always been a blessing. At times maybe it was a curse because he knows that there's a standard, especially after Sam Koch in Baltimore for 16 years, punting at such a high level. When I first got there, I struggled a little bit, but you know, tough love got me here and I'm sure he's going to continue to give me tough love. And I hope he does.

Q: What clicked last year? (Stout's 44.9 net average led the league in 2025 and set a franchise single-season record. His 50.1 gross average was also the best in team history.)

Stout: I feel like it was a lot of things. I was in Year 4.  I feel like I was treated more as a veteran. We had a rookie come in, so a lot of the emphasis was put on him, not me anymore. So, that felt as if some of the pressure was taken away. We came up with a few punts that not many people were doing that work really well in the cold, rain, and wind. That really helped us get the the gross and net numbers up, and we had guys on punt team that loved it and wanted to perform well and if they had a bad rep, then they came back the next day and worked twice as hard.

Q: You mentioned the different punts. Can you talk a little more about that or are they trade secrets?

Stout: We got a punt called boomerang. A few guys hit that, not too many. So, boomerang goes up, it spins sideways, it comes down to the right, throws the returners off.

Q: You have a new unique perspective – literally and figuratively – on the kicker competition going on. You also have a young long snapper, too. Are you the steady force in the middle of that operation?

Stout: Yeah, and you know that's been the difference, too. All my other years, I had Justin Tucker and Nick Moore, who are both tenured vets, as well as Sam Koch who was around a lot of the time. So, I was the young guy for a while. It's kind of nice being the older guy, the one where they come to me to look for wisdom, and I feel like it's helping me as a football player and mentor to be able to talk to those guys through hardships.

Q: Obviously the kicker competition has gotten a lot of attention. But in front of you, long snapper is a big spot for an undrafted rookie like Ben Mann. What have you told him about the pressure of it all? Zak DeOssie used to say everyone wants that job until the game is on the line.

Stout: I haven't told him too much. He's got a good head on his shoulders. He's working his butt off. I feel like confidence comes from preparation, and the way he's preparing, nothing needs to be said. At any moment if he needs to come to me for advice, I'll be there to give it to him, but yeah, I don't think there's anything he needs to hear right now.

Q: Lastly, Harbaugh brought over the practice jersey patches from Baltimore and what each accolade means. Are you guys talking about in the locker room or anything like that?

Stout: There's been a few guys come up to me and be like, ooooohhhh Pro Bowl, nice. But that's about the extent of it. I guess a few guys have asked like, hey, did you guys do that in Baltimore? And I'm like, yeah, we did. It's a Harbaugh thing. Jim does it. John does it. Their father did it. It's a family thing.

Q: Obviously the kicker competition has gotten a lot of attention. But in front of you, long snapper is a big spot for an undrafted rookie like Ben Mann. What have you told him about the pressure of it all? Zak DeOssie used to say everyone wants that job until the game is on the line.

Stout: I haven't told him too much. He's got a good head on his shoulders. He's working his butt off. I feel like confidence comes from preparation, and the way he's preparing, nothing needs to be said. At any moment if he needs to come to me for advice, I'll be there to give it to him, but yeah, I don't think there's anything he needs to hear right now.

Q: Lastly, Harbaugh brought over the practice jersey patches from Baltimore and what each accolade means. Are you guys talking about in the locker room or anything like that?

Stout: There's been a few guys come up to me and be like, ooooohhhh Pro Bowl, nice. But that's about the extent of it. I guess a few guys have asked like, hey, did you guys do that in Baltimore? And I'm like, yeah, we did. It's a Harbaugh thing. Jim does it. John does it. Their father did it. It's a family thing.