Yeah, it’s weird and kind of frustrating. For coffin corner specifically, I think there are several factors:

1. It’s hard. Harder than it seems, I’m told.

2. It’s a lost art. Punters haven’t been coached to do this for years, so no one’s any good at it.

3. It works against the personal interests of a smart punter. Most fans, media, and even coaches blame long returns on the coverage team rather than the punter. But if you try to angle it out of bounds and get a short kick, that’s blamed on you. Also, gross average is still the most common stat to judge punters, and a long punt down the middle raises your gross, while a short punt with no return harms your gross average. I call this type of self-interested behavior by punters Lechlery.

I know this seems absurd, to the point of being hard to believe, but I think there are only a handful of coaches who devote any real attention to special teams. When teams have multiple punters on the roster during preseason, they almost always keep the guy whose gross average is better, even if he’s far behind in other, more meaningful stats. I truly believe that a majority of NFL head coaches don’t understand what skills are valuable in punters. All they look for is a strong leg.