awalt
04-29-2009, 09:03 AM
I am very intrigued by this kicking competition! It will be so nice not carrying 2 kickers on the roster, that's room for another football player! It will also be nice not pooch-punting from the opponents' 29 yard line in the playoffs because we can't kick a 46 yard field goal!
I went back to my last year Mel Kiper draft report book, and Steve Hauschka from NC State was the number 3 kicker listed, but tied in rating with the #2 kicker. Interestingly, the #2 kicker was Piotr Czech, a guy the Ravens signed last year to tryout in camp, and who btw I was real excited about last summer but he didn't make the team. The Ravens obviously liked Hauschka more, I remember Czech didn't do very well in camp and the first exhibition game (it could have been experience/pressure, Czech went to Wagner, Hauschka to NC State).
Last year the #1 rated kicker was Brandon Coutu is with Seattle but looks like he just kicked off for 3 games, no FGAs -- not sure if he was injured or iced at the end of their roster.
Hauschka was rated 7.5 by Kiper. 7.0 means potential to start eventually, 8.0 is potential to start 1st year. 9.0 is will start his first year. (Michael Oher was a 9.1 this year, Ladarius Webb was an 8.5, ILB Jason Phillips is actually our second highest rated draftee at 8.6!, Kruger 8.5, Peerman 8.1, Davon Drew 7.9. So that's pretty cool Kiper thinks it's not a stretch that ANY of our draft picks are capable of starting in year 1, which backs up what Eric Decosta said, that from the 16th to the 60th player there is no difference in value. That's why everyone wanted to trade down for more picks.)
Anyway - Graham Gano is a 7.9 this year, and the #1 kicker but tied in rating with the #2 kicker. The only kickers selected in this year's draft were USC K David Buehler by Dallas in round 5, Pat McAfee WVa in round 7 by the Colts, and Ryan Succop South Carolina round 7 by KC.
Kiper ranks:
#1 Gano 7.9
#2 Buehler 7.9
#6 McAfee 6.8 (6.0 is "can make a club and contribute", so sounds like this guy is borderline that he can win the regular PK job)
#12 Succop 5.5 (5.0 is "has some talent" - which means has little chance of making a team, maybe they carry him on the practice squad a couple years as a backup in case of injury.)
Gano and Buehler were clearly the class of the draft, as the #3 rated kicker drops from 7.9 to 7.1.
Dallas probably drafted Buehler for competition for Nick Folk, who appears to have good FG accuracy but was 15th in both kickoff average and average opponent start on kickoffs in the NFC, which is pretty bad.
If stats mean anything, which of course they don't, I think Gano has a small edge on paper but Hauschka does have some pretty good experience being around a team that went pretty deep in the playoffs, even though he didn't do much FG kicking (2 kicks) but did do a lot of kickoffs. (Gano got some good pressure experience playing at FSU though.) Should be a very tight competition!
I think Ozzie has done a great job putting some good PKers on the team so that competition will elevate performance and we will have someone very good for the years ahead.
I went back to my last year Mel Kiper draft report book, and Steve Hauschka from NC State was the number 3 kicker listed, but tied in rating with the #2 kicker. Interestingly, the #2 kicker was Piotr Czech, a guy the Ravens signed last year to tryout in camp, and who btw I was real excited about last summer but he didn't make the team. The Ravens obviously liked Hauschka more, I remember Czech didn't do very well in camp and the first exhibition game (it could have been experience/pressure, Czech went to Wagner, Hauschka to NC State).
Last year the #1 rated kicker was Brandon Coutu is with Seattle but looks like he just kicked off for 3 games, no FGAs -- not sure if he was injured or iced at the end of their roster.
Hauschka was rated 7.5 by Kiper. 7.0 means potential to start eventually, 8.0 is potential to start 1st year. 9.0 is will start his first year. (Michael Oher was a 9.1 this year, Ladarius Webb was an 8.5, ILB Jason Phillips is actually our second highest rated draftee at 8.6!, Kruger 8.5, Peerman 8.1, Davon Drew 7.9. So that's pretty cool Kiper thinks it's not a stretch that ANY of our draft picks are capable of starting in year 1, which backs up what Eric Decosta said, that from the 16th to the 60th player there is no difference in value. That's why everyone wanted to trade down for more picks.)
Anyway - Graham Gano is a 7.9 this year, and the #1 kicker but tied in rating with the #2 kicker. The only kickers selected in this year's draft were USC K David Buehler by Dallas in round 5, Pat McAfee WVa in round 7 by the Colts, and Ryan Succop South Carolina round 7 by KC.
Kiper ranks:
#1 Gano 7.9
#2 Buehler 7.9
#6 McAfee 6.8 (6.0 is "can make a club and contribute", so sounds like this guy is borderline that he can win the regular PK job)
#12 Succop 5.5 (5.0 is "has some talent" - which means has little chance of making a team, maybe they carry him on the practice squad a couple years as a backup in case of injury.)
Gano and Buehler were clearly the class of the draft, as the #3 rated kicker drops from 7.9 to 7.1.
Dallas probably drafted Buehler for competition for Nick Folk, who appears to have good FG accuracy but was 15th in both kickoff average and average opponent start on kickoffs in the NFC, which is pretty bad.
If stats mean anything, which of course they don't, I think Gano has a small edge on paper but Hauschka does have some pretty good experience being around a team that went pretty deep in the playoffs, even though he didn't do much FG kicking (2 kicks) but did do a lot of kickoffs. (Gano got some good pressure experience playing at FSU though.) Should be a very tight competition!
I think Ozzie has done a great job putting some good PKers on the team so that competition will elevate performance and we will have someone very good for the years ahead.