Minnesota Football: Ryan Santoso Signs a UDFA Contract with the Detroit Lions

Minnesota Golden Gophers punter Ryan Santoso signed a undrafted free agent contract with the Detroit Lions on Saturday after the completion of the NFL Draft. Santoso will get one of the 90 training camp roster spots and will get a chance to win the Lions punter job this summer.

Santoso will get a chance to compete for the Lion’s punting job with five year veteran Sam Martin. Martin was selected by the Lions in the fifth round of the 2013 NFL draft and has held the Lions punting and kickoff specialist job ever since. Martin started his career with a bang and holds the Lions single-game record for net punting average (55.5) and the Top-4 single season records for net punting average with a 40.4 in 2013, 40.1 in 2014, 42.0 in 2015 and 44.2 in 2016. He only played 10 games in 2017 however after missing the first six weeks of the season . The reason he missed the early portion of the season? He stepped on a conch shell in the Bahamas. Seriously. He struggled when he returned finishing the season with only a 37.6 net average.

So the signing of Santoso might just be a message being sent to Martin, or maybe Santoso really could win the job in camp. Either way we will be rooting for him to try and do what his mentor Peter Mortell could not do in Packers camp two season ago.