For The Award Committee's Consideration,
It's not every season you see an all-time league record fall, but I am happy to say that it is the case for this season. And I'm even happier to say that there is no possible asterisk, footnote, or additional consideration to take into account for this record. No rule change or strategy exploitation has affected players' likelihood of setting this record since the very start. In fact, the biggest change this season was the expansion of the season to 16 games, but since this is not a cumulative stat, maintaining it through more games makes it all that more impressive. Without further ado...
Louisiana Purchase has set the single season record for kick return average!
With an average kick return of 34.4 yards, Purchase breaks the record previously held by Danny Grithead (33.8 KR Avg) set in S15. Here are the annual leaders in average throughout league history (I only listed full time returners, but noted part time returners where I thought it warranted mention. 34.4 is the record for a minimum of 3 returns):
S23 Purchase 34.4
S22 Gump 29.2
S21 Lattimer 31.5
S20 Lavelle Jr. 29.1 (Dream 32.6 over 5 returns)
S19 Gaines 29.2
S18 Hornbacher 29.2
S17 Schneider 29.4
S16 Garnett 29.6
S15 Grithead 33.8
S14 Fyodorovich 30.4
S13 Miller 29.7
S12 Miller 30.6
S11 Broxton 27.9
S10 Miller 30.6
S9 Lavelle 28.8 (Grau 33.1 over 7 returns)
S8 Jackson 29.2
S7 Cook 32.7
S6 Willie 32.0
S5 Oles 32.0
S4 Oles 29.0
S3 Willie 28.7 (Flock 31.8 over 4 returns)
S2 Phelps 27.3
S1 Smith 20.6
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Purchase for Returner of the Year
It's not every season you see an all-time league record fall, but I am happy to say that it is the case for this season. And I'm even happier to say that there is no possible asterisk, footnote, or additional consideration to take into account for this record. No rule change or strategy exploitation has affected players' likelihood of setting this record since the very start. In fact, the biggest change this season was the expansion of the season to 16 games, but since this is not a cumulative stat, maintaining it through more games makes it all that more impressive. Without further ado...
Louisiana Purchase has set the single season record for kick return average!
With an average kick return of 34.4 yards, Purchase breaks the record previously held by Danny Grithead (33.8 KR Avg) set in S15. Here are the annual leaders in average throughout league history (I only listed full time returners, but noted part time returners where I thought it warranted mention. 34.4 is the record for a minimum of 3 returns):
S23 Purchase 34.4
S22 Gump 29.2
S21 Lattimer 31.5
S20 Lavelle Jr. 29.1 (Dream 32.6 over 5 returns)
S19 Gaines 29.2
S18 Hornbacher 29.2
S17 Schneider 29.4
S16 Garnett 29.6
S15 Grithead 33.8
S14 Fyodorovich 30.4
S13 Miller 29.7
S12 Miller 30.6
S11 Broxton 27.9
S10 Miller 30.6
S9 Lavelle 28.8 (Grau 33.1 over 7 returns)
S8 Jackson 29.2
S7 Cook 32.7
S6 Willie 32.0
S5 Oles 32.0
S4 Oles 29.0
S3 Willie 28.7 (Flock 31.8 over 4 returns)
S2 Phelps 27.3
S1 Smith 20.6
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Purchase for Returner of the Year