The Kicker?!?

Totally_Red

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To me this is a critical need going forward which I have not seen discussed on the board. I really don't want to go into the 2021 season relying on Zane the Not So Great. I don't trust him in critical situations and I doubt if Kliff does either.

What is the answer? Draft one? Bring in some free agents and/or undrafted free agents? Or both?

Poor clutch field goal kicking arguably cost the Cardinals at least one game and possibly two.
 

TJ

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I’m in the “never burn a pick for a kicker” camp. There always seems to be good kickers available as UDFAs or good, reliable ones on the free market. I’d be fine bringing back Nugent. TBH, I’m more worried about the punter based on recent luck. The Drew Butlers of the world are a dime a dozen
 

Son of RedRage

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I’m in the “never burn a pick for a kicker” camp. There always seems to be good kickers available as UDFAs or good, reliable ones on the free market. I’d be fine bringing back Nugent. TBH, I’m more worried about the punter based on recent luck. The Drew Butlers of the world are a dime a dozen
No way. Absolutely should not bring back Nugent. He was fine in the short term, but he's old as hell, and I don't trust him. We need someone who is reliable. If the Falcons fail to resign Younghoe Koo, we need to back up the Brinks for him. Dude is automatic.
 

TJ

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No way. Absolutely should not bring back Nugent. He was fine in the short term, but he's old as hell, and I don't trust him. We need someone who is reliable. If the Falcons fail to resign Younghoe Koo, we need to back up the Brinks for him. Dude is automatic.
Nugent made 88% of his kicks. Granted he doesn’t have a big leg, I’m fine with that production and he won’t break the bank.

This is not the year to “back up the brinks” for a kicker. too many other needs where we’ll need cap flexibility
 

Solar7

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I'm not against replacing Zane, but I'd do it in a situation where there's a competition, most likely.
 

Krangodnzr

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No way. Absolutely should not bring back Nugent. He was fine in the short term, but he's old as hell, and I don't trust him. We need someone who is reliable. If the Falcons fail to resign Younghoe Koo, we need to back up the Brinks for him. Dude is automatic.

I'm always jealous of teams who have that kicker for a decade.
 

Russ Smith

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No way. Absolutely should not bring back Nugent. He was fine in the short term, but he's old as hell, and I don't trust him. We need someone who is reliable. If the Falcons fail to resign Younghoe Koo, we need to back up the Brinks for him. Dude is automatic.


Yeah if there's one kicker out there I'd be tempted to spend money on it's him. Got cut as a rookie, seemed to do him some good he fought through it.

Has made 60 of 65 since then! 9 for 9 from 50 plus in his career. Oddly he missed 3 XP's this year and only 2 FG's, in more attempts, and he's also really good at onside kicks.

I would argue they won't let him go but if they did I'd definitely see what sort of money is involved

23 and appears to be legit
 

SissyBoyFloyd

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I could appreciate spending our R7 pick on one of the 1 or 2 kids in the draft that can put it through the uprights from 60-70 yards. Makes a huge difference when at end of game your team only has to get to the 45 rather than the 35 to kick a winning FG. That probably gets you 1 extra win per season.
 

cardpa

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Yeah if there's one kicker out there I'd be tempted to spend money on it's him. Got cut as a rookie, seemed to do him some good he fought through it.

Has made 60 of 65 since then! 9 for 9 from 50 plus in his career. Oddly he missed 3 XP's this year and only 2 FG's, in more attempts, and he's also really good at onside kicks.

I would argue they won't let him go but if they did I'd definitely see what sort of money is involved

23 and appears to be legit

Since the Falcons are in cap hell, (about $10 million over) they may not be able to afford Hoo. If I could resolve the kicking position for the next decade, I would certainly offer him $3 million a year to kick.
 

BritCard

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Zane isn't going nowhere. Certainly not for Nugent who can't kick touchbacks or anything over 40 yards.

Zane is a fine kicker, yes he didn't have a great year but I have faith he will come good. Most likely scenario is that they bring in a UDFA to compete in camp.
 

Stout

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Zane isn't going nowhere. Certainly not for Nugent who can't kick touchbacks or anything over 40 yards.

Zane is a fine kicker, yes he didn't have a great year but I have faith he will come good. Most likely scenario is that they bring in a UDFA to compete in camp.

LOL no. Fine kickers don't lose you multiple games.
 

juza76

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I'm not against replacing Zane, but I'd do it in a situation where there's a competition, most likely.

In practice i m pretty sure Zane makes all the kicks, the difference is in the regular season, and u can't keep 2 kickers for competition, the good ones are already signed
So u sign one veteran and u go with him or u just have to gamble with Zane and a rookie or in the worst case if u don't trust them u sign a washed up veteran who can kick just inside the 40yards
 

Russ Smith

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Zane isn't going nowhere. Certainly not for Nugent who can't kick touchbacks or anything over 40 yards.

Zane is a fine kicker, yes he didn't have a great year but I have faith he will come good. Most likely scenario is that they bring in a UDFA to compete in camp.


The thing is this is the 2nd time in his young career where he's effectively been replaced because he keeps choking kicks. I'm sure he had some injury but I don't for a minute believe he sat the last part of the season because of it. I think Kliff didn't trust him anymore and tried to help him by sitting him for injury when it was really performance related.

Nugent isn't the answer but there are young kickers all over, the trick is finding the right one. The absolute most important thing for a kicker is being able to make the clutch kicks. Zane has not done that consistently.
 

Solar7

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In practice i m pretty sure Zane makes all the kicks, the difference is in the regular season, and u can't keep 2 kickers for competition, the good ones are already signed
So u sign one veteran and u go with him or u just have to gamble with Zane and a rookie or in the worst case if u don't trust them u sign a washed up veteran who can kick just inside the 40yards
Outside of Younghoe Koo and Daniel Carlson I don't see many trustworthy free agent kickers. They're all pretty old.

We don't have a ton of money, so I don't know that we can afford to get into a bidding war with ATL or LV over those guys. That's why I say find a rookie UDFA or 7th round pick to come in and compete for the role. I'm not putting all of my eggs in Zane's basket, just skeptical about upgrades that are available.
 
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BritCard

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LOL no. Fine kickers don't lose you multiple games.

We will see as I'm confident he will still be the kicker next season. I don't care either way but I don't see them spending on a FA or rolling with a rookie.
 

Stout

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We will see as I'm confident he will still be the kicker next season. I don't care either way but I don't see them spending on a FA or rolling with a rookie.

Sadly I think he will be our kicker next season, and I agree they probably won't spend on a FA or roll with a rookie. Another reason Keim needs to go.
 

Son of RedRage

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Nugent made 88% of his kicks. Granted he doesn’t have a big leg, I’m fine with that production and he won’t break the bank.

This is not the year to “back up the brinks” for a kicker. too many other needs where we’ll need cap flexibility
The only reason Nugent was as successful as he was last year is that he didn't take any long range kicks. If we need a 50-55 yarder to win the game, we won't be able to rely on him. He's accurate, but he's got a noodle leg. We lost at least 2 games, maybe 3 because of how unreliable our kicking was. We need someone to depend on.
 

Stout

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The only reason Nugent was as successful as he was last year is that he didn't take any long range kicks. If we need a 50-55 yarder to win the game, we won't be able to rely on him. He's accurate, but he's got a noodle leg. We lost at least 2 games, maybe 3 because of how unreliable our kicking was. We need someone to depend on.

True, but that's not Zane either. And at minimum Nugent made those shorter kicks Zane proved he couldn't.
 

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