Ranking the NFC North Special Teams Units: Pre-NFL Draft Edition

We come to the end of the pre-draft team rankings with the special teams units who are really far more important than we like to give them credit for.

Who gives the offense a good starting position? Who prevents the opposing teams from getting the same good position?

The answer to both is special teams play.

Punters, kickers, gunners and streaking cement heads—they're not just bench warmers. Even with the new kickoff rules, special team players are a vital part of a team.

Once again these are fairly close, except for the Bears who, despite changing kick returners part of last year due to injury, are still the unquestioned best.

Chicago Bears

It's not just Devin Hester, although the effect he has on returns is significant.

Few other return guys get the special treatment Hester does. Potentially taking him off kickoffs is a mistake but until we see it, I'm not assuming it really does happen.

Just because Hester isn't returning kicks does not mean disaster, just less opportunity for touchdowns.

The Bears do a good job covering kicks as well, limiting opponents to short returns most of the time. They do give up the odd long return, but for the most part this is a unit that makes few mistakes.

Robbie Gould and Adam Podlesh handle the kick and punt duties reliably in a fickle Soldier Field.

Green Bay Packers

I'm a pretty big fan of Randall Cobb on kick and punt returns and the second-year player is only going to get better.

The Packers did a good job both returning kicks/punts and keeping the opposition from doing the same.

While Cobb is no Hester, he does a good job, although, on occasion, he took some risks running the ball out of the end zone which a veteran wouldn't.

Mason Crosby has had an up and down time in Green Bay but is a good kicker and Tim Masthay is a good punter most of the time.

Detroit Lions

The Lions lack a player who can really churn up return yards.

Stefan Logan is fine, but he's never going to be someone the team can't replace easily. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to upgrade the role in the NFL draft.

Detroit does a fair job containing kick and punt returns, and for the most part with tweaking, that's the sort of thing you can always improve anyway.

Jason Hanson is a good kicker, but the team went through several punters last year, settling on the recently-extended Ben Graham.

Hopefully that should provide stability for Detroit.

Minnesota Vikings

Last year, the Vikings' special teams struggled in part due to injuries and kick return duties this year are currently split for Percy Harvin and journeyman Bryan Walters.

Punt return duties will be handled (as of now) by cornerback Marcus Sherels.

This could all change in a week, so it's obviously a work in progress.

Ryan Longwell is a solid kicker and Chris Kluwe is a good punter, in addition to being a great follow on Twitter.