Dickson out to become NFL’s best punter after stunning debut season

Dickson placed a check mark against the goal in advance, to put himself in the mindset for success, and looked at it each day.

By week one of his first NFL season, he had been selected to play. “Once I looked in the mirror and it had actually come true, it was a pretty crazy moment,” he said.

“You get butterflies. It was just me in my apartment when I found out. I called my family and facetimed them, it was a crazy good feeling.”

The 22-year-old from Kirrawee, in Sydney’s South, began his sporting career in Australian rules. After he missed out on being drafted to the Sydney Swans he moved to the University of Texas to test his skills in the NFL.

Since then, Dickson’s success has been fast-paced: he was named the country’s most outstanding college punter in 2017, drafted to the Seattle Seahawks in 2018, and made the Pro Bowl in the same year.

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“It still feels really surreal,” he said. “Me and mum were laughing about my year when I got back. She was like, ‘You made the Pro Bowl in your first year, that hasn’t been done for thirty-something years’.”

“When you’re doing it, you don’t even realise it,” he said. “Looking back at the stadium, even in college, and seeing that you’re playing in front of 100,000 people every other week is insane.

“But it still doesn’t really feel like I’m the person who’s doing it. I’ve got so many more goals that I want to reach, I don’t feel like I really can absorb everything yet.”

His list of goals includes making the Pro Bowl again next year, and for as many years as he can after that.

“I want to set a new standard for myself each year,” he said.

He also hopes to one day be considered the best punter in the league. But until then, his sights are set on helping his team make the illustrious Super Bowl next year.

“If we can get to a Super Bowl, that’s priority number one,” he said.