The Bills Mafia was largely unhappy after the news that long-time punter Brian Moorman had been released on Tuesday. Tweets from Fred Jackson and Nick Barnett suggested that the players were both shocked and a little displeased as well.

Replacing Moorman’s powerful leg is simply a powerful man: 6’4, 250 pound undrafted free agent Shawn Powell, a former Seminole whom the Bills were considering in the late rounds of the 2012 NFL Draft. Even though Rochester Democrat and Chronicle Bills reporter Sal Maiorana wasn’t too impressed with Powell’s ability in training camp, but the FSU alum led the nation in punting average (47.0 yard per attempt) last season.

We can’t get over Powell’s sheer size. When 6’2, 250 pound kicker Sebastian Janikowski was drafted in 2000, he quickly earned nicknames like “Polish Powderkeg,” “Sea Bass” and “The Polish Porkchop” due to his girth, mischievous off-the-field habits and powerful leg. Given Powell’s post-Moorman comments, he seems very humble and thankful for his opportunity.

Powell is almost identical in size to Buffalo’s starting defensive end Mark Anderson. Think about that for a second: your punter is the same height and weight as a defensive linemen. I’m not sure how useful Powell’s size will be for his punting role—we doubt he’s fast enough to lay the lumber on punt returners who scoot away from the rest of the Bills’ coverage team, but at least he’ll look intimidating.

Plus, as former Buffalo Bills General Manager Bill Polian said to CBS Sports, kickers play more of a pivotal role than you’d think for NFL teams.

“Those guys win games,” said Bill Polian, who now covers football for ESPN. “You’d better have a good one anymore, or it can cost you. They’re difference-makers.”

Here are some quick Powell facts:

# of players on Bills’ active roster he’s taller than: 36 of the 53 players.

# of players on Bills’ active roster he is heavier than: 33 of the 53 players.

He’s roughly the same weight as:

One young black bear
A baby elephant
810,000 average-sized centipedes
55 bricks (if you consider 4.5 pounds to be the average U.S. brick.)
275 NFL footballs
334 12 oz. steaks

Remember, this is an NFL punter we’re talking about. They’re supposed to be little guys!

(Header photo courtesy of the Orlando Sentinel blogs, Getty images. Image can be found here).