Anderson joins 2022 seventh-round pick Trenton Gill on the Bears’ offseason roster. Gill punted in all 17 Chicago games last season. After a record-setting career at Division III’s Olivet College (Mich.), Anderson set a Rutgers record with 44.4 yards per punt as a senior in 2017. Previous efforts to make an NFL roster did not pan out; Anderson, 27, has never played in a regular-season game.
3:52pm: The Giants, as expected, waived Anderson to return to a two-punter setup, Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com tweets.
3:30pm: For the time being, the Giants are set to carry three punters on their 90-man roster. That could soon change. Waived on Tuesday after losing the Raiders’ punting competition, Johnny Townsend is now a Giant after the team claimed him, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets.
The Giants sit sixth in the waiver order and used their position to change their punter competition. Townsend joins incumbent Riley Dixon and rookie UDFA Ryan Anderson as Giants punters. Anderson’s run as a Giant could be over soon after Wednesday afternoon’s transaction.
A 2018 fifth-round pick, Townsend lost his previous job to Raiders rookie UDFA A.J. Cole. The Giants obtained Dixon in a 2018 trade with the Broncos, and his 41.8 net yards per punt ranked seventh in the league last season. Anderson, a Rutgers alum, joined the Giants shortly after the draft.
Dixon’s 45.4 gross yards per punt was 12th in the league; Townsend’s 43.2-yard per-boot figure ranked 32nd. But the Giants will still give the former Florida Gator a look. Dixon has one season remaining on his rookie contract; Townsend has three.
