(And even then, it was still just Tom Tupa.)
The reason this year is Zoltan Mesko, a 24-year-old Romanian who still seems dumbfounded by the fact that he is able to kick a ball for a living.
"When I was 10 years old, I barely knew American football existed," he told The Wall Street Journal, in an article dubbing him the NFL's most interesting man. "If you would've told me I'd get two degrees and a pro contract for kicking a ball in the air, I probably would have said, 'Oh yeah? Are you going to disappear into thin air for your next act?'"
The story chronicles Zoltan's life, from his childhood in Romania, where he had to duck for cover in his own living room to avoid gunfire, to his suburban life in Ohio. Mesko told the newspaper that choosing football over soccer was a "no-brainer" (thanks in part to the cheerleaders) and that he had no idea that he could earn a college scholarship for something so simple as punting.
Mesko then developed into a top punting prospect at Michigan before being drafted by the Patriots in April. Now that he's making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for kicking a ball, his outlook doesn't appear to have changed.
"I've got two degrees and no debt," he told the Journal. "Could be worse."
