Punter Sam Martin has been named the NFC special teams player of the week for Week 7, according to an announcement made Wednesday. Martin’s performance contributed to the Carolina Panthers’ 13-6 victory over the New York Jets on Sunday.
During the game, Martin punted six times for a total of 276 yards, including a long punt of 68 yards. Four of his punts landed inside the 20-yard line. The remaining two punts were placed at the 21-yard and 28-yard lines. Of those punts, one was downed, one went out of bounds, two were fair-caught, and two were returned for a combined total of 14 yards.
So far this season, Martin has made 23 punts with an average distance of 47 yards per punt. He is currently tied for fifth in the NFC for most punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
Martin joined the Panthers as a free agent this offseason, bringing experience from previous seasons in various weather conditions. This marks his first player of the week honor since joining Carolina. Last week, rookie kicker Ryan Fitzgerald—whom Martin holds for—was also recognized as NFC special teams player of the week after Carolina’s win against Dallas.
Martin began his NFL career with Detroit in 2013 and has previously received similar honors early on. While playing for Buffalo between 2022 and 2024, he was named AFC special teams player of the month during Weeks 14-18 in the 2023 season.
This recognition makes Carolina only the second team in franchise history to have two different players win Special Teams Player of the Week honors in consecutive weeks; previously this occurred in 1997 with John Kasay (Week 2) and Ken Walter (Week 3). Across the league, it is also notable that this is the first time since Washington’s Dustin Hopkins and Tress Way achieved it in Weeks 14-15 of the 2020 season that a team’s kicker and punter have both earned these honors consecutively within one season.
Additionally, with Fitzgerald earning recognition in Week 6 and Rico Dowdle being honored in Week 5, this marks just the second time in Panthers history that players have won Player of the Week awards across three straight weeks (the previous instance was Cam Newton in Week 11, Luke Kuechly in Week 12, and Newton again in Week 13 during the 2015 season). It is also unprecedented for three different Panthers to earn these awards over three consecutive weeks.
Carolina is now distinguished as being the first NFL team this season to have Player of the Week winners over three straight weeks.
