GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Jacob Schum arrived hoping to put an end to his life as a punting nomad and find a football home. The Green Bay Packers' new punter will have to kick better than he did on Sunday night to make sure that hope becomes a reality.
The Packers cut incumbent punter Tim Masthay one day before their Sept. 1 preseason finale. While Schum punted well in that game at Kansas City, he's been inconsistent in the first two games that counted -- at Jacksonville in the Sept. 11 regular-season opener and in Sunday night's 17-14 loss at Minnesota.
Schum averaged 38.6 gross and net yards on five punts against the Vikings. Although none of them were returned, the Packers needed more from him in a game in which coach Mike McCarthy felt field position was crucial.
In fact, McCarthy said Monday that winning the field-position battle is critical to how he wants to play this season, meaning he'll need more from Schum, starting this upcoming Sunday against Detroit in Schum's first appearance at Lambeau Field.
"This is about being a well-rounded football team, playing better in [terms of] balance," McCarthy said Monday in response to a question that was actually about quarterback Aaron Rodgers' uneven performance against the Vikings. "We need to win the field position battle every week, we need to win the time of possession battle every week. So all of the variables [that] factor into that, that's what I'm looking for."
The Packers' best starting field position Sunday night was their own 48-yard line after wide receiver Ty Montgomery partially blocked a punt from Minnesota's Jeff Locke. Even with that 3-yard punt, Locke still had better averages (39.0 gross yards, 38.7 net) than Schum.
Schum's punts, in order, were a 38-yarder (3.68 seconds of hang time); a 42-yarder (4.85 seconds); a 35-yarder (3.65 seconds); a 34-yarder (4.35 seconds); and a 44-yarder (4.93 seconds).
"He hit two punts really well and two punts not as well," Packers special teams coordinator Ron Zook said Monday evening. "I think our job is net punt. In the National Football League, it's about field position. That's one thing we can use as a weapon. Jacob knows that. He'll be fine."
The Packers certainly hope so. The last time they dumped an incumbent punter late in camp was in 2008, when Jon Ryan was released after the final roster reduction in favor of Derrick Frost. Frost was a colossal disappointment while Ryan is still punting for the Seattle Seahawks.
Masthay struggled during the second half of the 2014 season but came back with a solid season last year, setting the franchise record for net punting average (40.2 yards) for the fifth time in six seasons with some help from the Packers' strong punt coverage unit.
Although Masthay did not punt well in the team's season-ending playoff loss at Arizona, he punted very well in the team's playoff victory at Washington the previous week and was very good in December and January when the weather turned.
Nevertheless, just one day after releasing undrafted rookie free agent and local product Peter Mortell, the Packers cut Masthay and claimed Schum on waivers from Tampa Bay. McCarthy suggested Monday that the decision came down to directional punting, something Masthay was inconsistent with and Schum struggled with on Sunday night.
"Ball placement is very important, and that's something that we came out of last season with a focus on," McCarthy said. "It's definitely a focus this year. We have good cover units, [but] we can be better."
Schum took a winding path to the Packers' job, punting for two seasons at the University of Buffalo (2010, 2011) but going undrafted and unsigned in the spring of 2012. He went to work selling gym memberships and doing personal training work before signing on briefly with the Cleveland Browns during the 2013 offseason. He then signed a futures deal with Tampa Bay in January 2014, had brief cameos on the practice squads of the Buccaneers and New York Jets in 2014, then re-joined the Buccaneers during training camp last year and won the job.
Schum averaged 41.9 gross and 38.0 net yards on 56 punts last season for the Bucs, who cut him this summer in favor of veteran Bryan Anger, who spent the past four seasons with Jacksonville.
"It's been not what I expected coming out of college, but it's what I wanted to do my whole life and I wasn't going to let anything stop me from making it happen," Schum said in an interview just before the regular-season opener. "I feel like this is where I need to be right now and I feel like I could have a long, successful career here."
The Packers figure to be patient with Schum and are unlikely to overreact to a few subpar punts. At the same time, his uneven performances in a warm-weather climate (Jacksonville's EverBank Field) and a climate-controlled setting (Minnesota's new U.S. Bank Stadium) aren't particularly encouraging.
And as Masthay, who remains unsigned, well knows, your competition doesn't have to be in the same locker room in order to beat you out.
"You want to earn your respect, and Tim's done an awesome job here over the years. I've never been able to meet him, but I've heard a lot of really good things about him," Schum said. "He stuck around here for a long time that says a lot about him. I've come in here to play my game the only way I know how to play, and I want to build on my own success and do my part to help this team win."
