It's Hard Out There For A Punter

I don't know what it is about punters, but in recent years it seems like they haven't been able to stay out of trouble.

Todd Sauerbrun had his problems related to steroids. Mitch Cozad, a backup punter on the Northern Colorado football team, stabbed the starting punter, Rafael Mendoza, in his kicking leg last year.

And now, former NFL punter, Rick Tuten, has been arrested and charged with reselling stolen goods. Apparently, he bought various items, including two stolen ATV's and two stolen flat-screen televisions(he was told on the phone with the police listening that they were stolen), with the intent of reselling them in Georgia. Police said that Tuten had received about $30,000 worth of stolen goods.

I was curious to see exactly how much Tuten had made during his 11 years in the NFL. I wanted to know if he was more destitute or lazy. However, it's pretty damn difficult to come up with any solid salary information for a punter in the NFL. Though, in 1996 he did make $300k. I'm guessing that in the years surrounding '96 he was probably paid similar amounts.

I was able to look up his house information thanks to the news including his address in the story. Apparently he owns the house with another man by the name of Will Petenbrink. It's 3 bedrooms/2 baths, close to 2400sqft and was recently appraised at $241k. Nothing too interesting unless it turns out that Tuten is the punter and Petenbrink is the receiver. Though, if asked about that Tuten will probably have the same response as he did when asked about the stolen property, "I don't know anything about anything."