John Edward Fox (born September 1, 1996) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

punter for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

Early life and high school

Fox was born in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

and grew up in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. He attended

Ladue Horton Watkins High School Ladue Horton Watkins High School is a public high school in Ladue, Missouri, United States, that is administered by the Ladue School District. Its namesake, Horton Watkins, was vice president of the International Shoe Company and died in 1949. The ...

, where he played baseball and football. As a senior, he was named first-team All-State as a punter and to the second-team as a placekicker while also passing for 1,900 yards and 18 touchdowns at quarterback.

College career

Fox was both a kicker and punter for four seasons at Rice University. As a freshman he handled kickoffs and made 12 of 12 extra point attempts and one of two field goal attempts. He became the Owls punter going into his sophomore year and was named honorable mention All-

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

after punting 75 times for 3,051 yards (40.7 average) with two extra points and one field goal made. As a junior, Fox had 56 punts for 2,480 yards (44.3 average) with one extra point attempted and made and was named second-team All-Conference USA. He also became the primary kicker for Rice as a senior and was named first-team All-conference and the Conference Special Teams Player of the Year, as well as a finalist for the

Ray Guy Award The Ray Guy Award is presented annually to college football's most outstanding punter as adjudged by the Augusta Sports Council. The award is named after punter Ray Guy, an All-American for Southern Mississippi and an All-Pro in the National Foo ...

, after punting 80 times 3,636 yards (45.5 average) with 23 extra points attempted and making 5 of 12 field goal attempts.

Professional career

Kansas City Chiefs

Fox was signed by the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

as an undrafted free agent on May 4, 2019. He was waived during final roster cuts. Fox was re-signed by the Chiefs to their practice squad on October 30, 2019, after the team's punter, Dustin Colquitt, suffered a quad strain but was released one week later on November 6.

Detroit Lions

Fox was signed to the Detroit Lions practice squad on December 5, 2019, where he spent the rest of the season. He was signed to a futures contract at the end of the season. Fox was named the Lions opening day punter at the end of training camp, beating out Arryn Siposs. Fox made his NFL debut on September 13, 2020, in the season opener against the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

, punting 4 times for 197 yards (49.3 average) with two punts inside the 20-yard line. Fox was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Month for September. Fox finished his first season with 59 punts for an average of 49.1 yards and a net average of 44.8, both Lions records, and was named to the

2021 Pro Bowl The 2021 Pro Bowl was to be the National Football League all-star game for the 2020 NFL season, originally scheduled to be played on January 31, 2021, at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada. On October 14, 2020, the NFL announced that it had c ...

and second-team

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list th ...

. He was given an

exclusive-rights free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

tender by the Lions on March 4, 2021. He signed the one-year contract on April 23. On October 22, 2022, Fox signed a three-year, $11.325 million contract extension with the Lions, making him the highest-paid punter in the league.

Personal life

In the 2021 off-season, Fox organized a young specialist camp where he invited youth kickers and punters from the Detroit area.

References

External links

Rice Owls bioDetroit Lions bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Jack Living people American football punters Rice Owls football players Players of American football from Missouri Detroit Lions players 1996 births National Conference Pro Bowl players