Johnny Punts: Rams' Hekker is the life of the party in St. Louis
ST. LOUIS -- The best part of interviewing the St. Louis Rams' Johnny Hekker? You know he won't be boring.
Whether he thinks so or not, the four-year NFL veteran has developed a brand: positive, comedic and just plain entertaining. And he's done it not from a high-profile gig like quarterback, wide receiver or even defensive end, but one of the most invisible spots on a football roster: punter.
Hekker, not surprisingly, is good-natured about it.
"There comes a lot more responsibility learning the playbook and everything and that takes much more time," he jokes. "So we have nothing but free time, I guess, to build our brand, so that's also an advantage, in that sense."
Still, we all know it: Fairly or not, the punter is often cast as the stepchild of the NFL roster, woefully overlooked when it comes to outside attention. In an industry that has advertisers clamoring to monetize its stars, when's the last time you saw a punter peddling UGGs or hawking a Subway sandwich? Heck, forget advertisers. When was the last time you saw NFL draft experts devote an in-depth segment to the punters the same way they do quarterbacks, wide receivers and nearly every other position on the field (including offensive line)? They don't, because punters aren't supposed to be high commodities.
Yet Hekker has gone from being an undrafted free agent to one of the Rams' most recognizable voices in St. Louis. He's hosted a radio show, made it on TMZ.com for his dancing skills (or, more accurately, lack thereof), and publicly supported the "punters are people, too" movement. He was recently in a video on the Rams' website promoting the new professional soccer franchise in St. Louis and helped raise almost $15,000 for charity last year as part of a joint endeavor with employees at SSM hospitals.
Part of his platform is because he's dang good at what he does, and on a team that's struggled offensively the past few seasons, his role, naturally, is more visible. He was a Pro Bowler in 2013 after producing the highest single-season net average in punting yards in NFL history. But he's also put the "special" in special teams by using his skills as a former high school quarterback. Rams fans will recall Hekker against Seattle and San Diego last season successfully throwing out of punt formation to convert on fourth down. That December, he got a six-year contract extension worth upward of $18 million -- the $9 million guaranteed was rumored to set a league record for his position. That got people talking -- even nationally -- about a punter.
Another boon in Hekker's visibility has been social media. Fans may only see him for a handful of seconds on the field each game, but social media give them access to the personality behind the punter. Like when Hekker recently chirped his teammate:
And the award for the longest legs in America goes to... https://t.co/P5etmPhWCR
— Johnny Hekker (@JHekker) June 8, 2015
It's also, however, where actions on and off the field can be exposed -- which Hekker realizes can be sticky.
"Good or bad, you're much more accessible, so you've got to make sure that what you're doing is consistent and is in line with that brand you're trying to build," he says.
Lookin' good! Flip through our photo album of NFL cheerleaders.
The bigger emphasis, however, is that Hekker puts a priority on engaging fans, and not just on social media, but talking with people at community events, showing interest in what they have to say and what's happening in their lives. He feels the Rams do a good job of involving themselves in the community.
"I think our team has really grasped that idea," he says. "I think the amount of community service hours we put in kind of shows a lot of our hearts."
Still, there's one part of Hekker's brand that remains almost as unheralded as his position on the field: work ethic. In the short time Sean Mannion has been with the club since getting drafted in May, the quarterback, who briefly crossed paths with Hekker at Oregon State, has already witnessed Hekker's nonstop commitment to his craft and his team.
"What I've been blown away with really since I've been here is the effort that he puts into every aspect of his game," Mannion says. "The specialists typically as a group are on a different schedule than the rest of the team, but you always see him around here doing something. He's always the first guy in, it seems. You never get here and he's not here yet. And then when you're leaving, it seems like he's always still around. It kind of shows the kind of guy he is. He puts such effort into being such an important piece of our team, and he has been."
In the end, to Hekker, this all may be less about a "brand" and more about who he wants to be as a person.
"I think everyone has, to a certain extent, their own brand, and has a reputation," he says. "You always want to represent yourself in a good light and make sure the things that you're doing and the way you're treating people aligns with the way that you want to be perceived and want to be treated. I've been taught that if you want to gain respect, you've got to give respect. So that's just kind of how I like to treat all interactions with people."
You can follow Elisabeth Meinecke on Twitter at @lismeinecke or email her at ecmeinecke@gmail.com.
