The 2008 K thread (1 Viewer)

[Mike Herman]

CAROLINA

Rhys Lloyd was booming -- I mean SERIOUSLY booming -- his kickoffs. Most of them went well into the end zone. That'll be his role if he makes the team. John Kasay is still very reliable on field goals and PATs, but his kickoffs aren't consistently long enough anymore. Lloyd also was 2-for-2 on field goal attempts between about 40 and 45 yards.

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New place-kicker Brandon Coutu stretched out his leg in the far fields and it stretched a long way. Coutu, a seventh-round choice out of Georgia who was considered the best kicker in the country, showed his range in the morning practice session. He hit a field goal from 57 yards out and the balls was still 10 feet or so above the crossbar. He tried a couple more kicks from 63 yards. One fell about 4 yards short and the other at least 10 yards short. What's interesting about Coutu, who is in competition with veteran Olindo Mare for the spot, is that he uses a two-step approach to kick the ball instead of three steps, without sacrificing distance. What that means is he can get the kick off quicker, before the line can close in, and perhaps the spot can be a bit closer to the line of scrimmage.

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Coutu has already put together a pretty impressive camp of veteran teachers. Former Chicago Bear Kevin Butler and longtime NFL kicker Morten Andersen have been working with Coutu for the past four months. When it comes to the competition to replace Josh Brown, Coutu has some pretty good trainers working in his corner. "I've changed my technique," Coutu said of the effect that the legendary duo has had on him. "I actually have technique now." Coutu, a rookie seventh-round pick from Georgia, and Mare are battling for the right to replace Brown as Seattle's place-kicker. The competition still has a long way to go, but during three days of minicamp battles, both candidates have been trying to make an early impression. "We haven't even started the competition yet," special teams coach Bruce DeHaven said after the Seahawks' new kickers took turns kicking field goals at Sunday morning's practice. "We're just out there kicking around and getting used to the new snapper (rookie Tyler Schmitt). The competition (will take place) on down the line."

Coutu might have an inside track on the job in that the Seahawks used a seventh-round draft pick on him, but by no means is he being handed anything. Olindo Mare is more experienced and has made his share of big kicks over the years. "The bottom line is, they're going to go with whoever they feel is better," said Mare, who spent 10 of his 12 NFL seasons with the Miami Dolphins before moving to New Orleans last year. "Obviously, experience is a plus in this game. Now that I'm healthy, I think I can help this special teams unit. I've done it before (and) been in the playoffs." Mare hit 10 of 17 field goals with the New Orleans Saints during an injury-plagued season last year. He hurt his groin in camp and, in December, he suffered a hip injury that eventually landed him on injured reserve. Mare was released by the Saints in late February. Mare said the hip is back to 100 percent, and he's ready to try to earn a job in a new town. "I'm not looking at it as a last chance," said Mare, who turns 35 in June. "I'm looking at it as an opportunity to play for a team that can go to the playoffs."

Brandon Coutu's career at Georgia saw him rank fifth in school history in field goals, with 51. He's ahead of future NFL kickers like Todd Peterson and John Kasay, both of whom went on to kick for the Seahawks. He also set a Southeastern Conference record by booting a 58-yard field goal. While at UGA, Coutu (pronounced Cuh-TOO) forged a working relationship with former Bulldogs kicker Butler. The 45-year-old Butler intensified his mentorship in January, working with Coutu's mechanics on field goals. Andersen, who uses the same trainer that Coutu does, has helped the Seahawks rookie with his kickoffs. "I'm a lot more consistent now," Coutu said. Like Mare, Coutu has a recent history with injuries. Hamstring problems limited him in 2006 and 2007, particularly on kickoffs. But Coutu said those injuries are a thing of the past.

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[Mike Herman]

TAMPA BAY

Kickers always seem to have a lonely life, which Art Carmody (Louisville) and Chris Gould (Virginia) can attest to. Both were invited to try out for the team and spent the majority of their practice time on a separate field away from team activities. On Saturday, they shared their field with children who were playing catch nearby, but on most days they were solo. "We know there are two of us, so they try to get us to compete to see who can take the pressure when it does come in a game," said Gould, younger brother of Chicago kicker Robbie Gould. "They kind of look at the small things, too." It is unlikely either will be signed by Tampa Bay in the immediate future because of incumbent K Matt Bryant, but both understand their NFL opportunity can arise at any moment. "It's all about perseverance," Carmody said. "You have to stick with it. Special teams Coach Richard Bisaccia was telling us to stay physically ready and mentally ready. You never know when you might get that phone call. Now I'm going to go back home, continue working out, get ready and maybe get a small job."

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[Mike Herman]

SEATTLE

The "competition" getting all the early press...

I spoke with Olindo Mare and special teams coach Bruce DeHaven this afternoon about the competition for the rights to replace Josh Brown as this year's kicker. I asked DeHaven if the decision is made in a vacuum, where all things are equal, or whether [brandon] Coutu's future and potential are taken into account. Bruce said for him, he likes to do it in a vacuum. Who hits the most kicks. Who has the best leg on kickoffs. Who handles the pressure the best. He said of course it doesn't always work that way, and front-office concerns (salary) are taken into account. But that is not his department. He tries to see who had the best camp, and he gives his input there. Bruce said during the preseason, it is sometimes tough to manufacture field goal opportunities, especially when the third-team offense gets on the field. Optimally, you'd like to have both guys get the same chances but realistically that is not always going to happen. With that said, you have to take the entire picture into account, including what each player does during camp.

Bruce said that competition the other day that was observed by Ruskell and Ruston Webster was not really a competition, though it looked like it because everybody was watching. He said he mostly wanted the guys to get timing down with Tyler Schmitt, who none of them have worked with, and Ryan Plackemeier as holder. He said that even when it became apparent that everybody was watching, he was not counting makes and misses because he had already promised them it wasn't a competition.

Mare was funny. When I brought up the fact that Coutu had missed those 60-yarders yesterday, he said that kicking the balls out here are "like kicking pumpkins." He said Coutu obviously kicks a very good ball and has a strong leg. Mare said he health is fine. He rehabbed from his injuries in New Orleans last year, has not had to do stuff for five months and so is feeling fine now. He said he actually thinks he has a better leg now than when he did when he was younger because he has a better diet, workout regime and everything else that goes with being a professional.

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The Seahawks haven't had a kicking competition since training camp 2002, when Rian Lindell kept the job after a battle with Aaron Elling and Shayne Graham. The principals this time are Olindo Mare, a longtime Miami Dolphins kicker and one-time All-Pro selection, and rookie Brandon Coutu, a seventh-round pick from Georgia. They gave a quick preview of the upcoming duel in the team's minicamp for veterans and rookies last weekend. Coutu had to leave Sunday with the other rookies, and Mare is the only kicker with the team this week. The last Seahawks kicker drafted — there have been only four — was one who will be a tough act to follow, Josh Brown. In 2003, Brown was chosen in the seventh round and went on to a highlight-filled career with the Seahawks before leaving for St. Louis as a free agent.

Coutu has a swagger, Seahawks president Tim Ruskell said after the kicker was drafted. "He is very, very confident. Extremely so, which is what you want out of your kicker," Ruskell said on April 27. "I came into Georgia as a walk-on the same year a scholarship player came in and I had to compete all four years I was there," Coutu said. "There's going to be competition at every level and it's only going to get a little more tough, but I'm just excited about the opportunity they've given me so far." Mare became the Dolphins' all-time scoring, field goals made and field-goal accuracy leader in 10 seasons before going to New Orleans in 2007, where he struggled. He signed with Seattle in March. "I want to go to the playoffs. I want to be part of a great organization. I want to continue to play football," Mare said. "I've got a family to feed. I've got a lot of things I'm playing for, and it's nice to be a part of an organization that's been to the playoffs for so many years."

The coaches will start charting Mare's and Coutu's attempts in June when both are expected to attend the team's minicamp, special-teams coach Bruce DeHaven said.

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[Mike Herman]

CHICAGO

Kicker Robbie Gould has been at Halas Hall this week after missing the first month of the voluntary workout program. The franchise's all-time leader in field-goal accuracy is aiming for a contract extension entering the final year of his deal, and his arrival is a signal things may be close.

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[Mike Herman]

KANSAS CITY

The Chiefs’ strategy for solving their kicking troubles was a simple one. Too simple, as it turned out. Their solution was to sign the best available free-agent kicker, Seattle’s Josh Brown. They had no backup plan. So when Brown instead signed with the Rams in the opening days of free agency, the Chiefs were left at kicker with journeymen Nick Novak and Billy Cundiff, an undrafted rookie in North Carolina’s Connor Barth and plenty of continuing unease over the situation. “We’ll have to decide at the end of the day if one of these three guys is the guy or do we have to go out and get one of those old guys who doesn’t want to come to training camp?” coach Herm Edwards said. “Hopefully we don’t have to do that, but if we have to, we’ll do it.” The “old guys” Edwards referred to include John Carney, who kicked for the Chiefs toward the end of last season, and former Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt, who worked out for them early in the spring. Both are free agents.

Whatever the Chiefs do, they can only hope that their decision-making when it comes to kickers is better than it was last season, when they made one wrong choice after another. They erred in drafting Justin Medlock instead of Mason Crosby, in keeping Medlock instead of Lawrence Tynes, and in signing Dave Rayner instead of several other candidates, Novak included. Novak and Cundiff are already kicking during informal workouts. Barth will join them when offseason practice begins in two weeks. The Chiefs are encouraged with the early results, but there’s plenty of time for that to change. “I called them both when we first signed them and told them that from the day they get here, there’s going to be competition,” special-teams coach Mike Priefer said. “I think they’ve each had one poor day. Other than that, they’ve both kicked very well. We’ve been kicking outside most of the time. It’s been cold, wet, windy. It’s Kansas City. If you can kick here, you can kick anywhere.”

Cundiff kicked for five seasons with Dallas and New Orleans, Novak for parts of two with Washington and Arizona. Each has been released numerous times, but that’s not unusual for a young kicker trying to establish himself. “I’m not discouraged at all,” Novak said. “I feel like I’m getting better every year, especially on kickoffs. I’d say it’s been very close between us so far. Both of us should play in the league next year. The Chiefs either way will have a good kicker.” The Chiefs came close to signing Novak early last year when they dumped Medlock. They opted instead for Rayner, who got off to a strong start but proved to be erratic as a field-goal kicker. “We just felt (Rayner) had better potential,” Edwards said. “He had a strong leg, could kick off into the end zone. He came out of the chute firing. He was the special-teams player of the week. We thought we were going down the right road.”

Barth’s credentials at North Carolina, where he made 76 percent of his field-goal tries, were impressive enough for the Chiefs to sign him after the draft. It’s difficult to take seriously the roster chances of any rookie kicker in Kansas City because of last year’s experience with Medlock. “I thought he should have been drafted,” Priefer said. “He was good enough to get drafted. He’s got some mental toughness to him. He had an excellent career at North Carolina. They didn’t score a lot of points down there, so most of his kicks were huge kicks for his team.”

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[Mike Herman]

TENNESSEE

Titans kicker Rob Bironas has signed a one-year deal with the team worth $1.47 million. The Titans made Bironas a one-year tender offer in February, but the team remains interested in signing him to a long-term contract.

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The recent spate of rain showers in the St. Louis area has made kicker Josh Brown wonder if he's still in Seattle. "I'm sick of rain," said Brown, who grew up in Oklahoma and played college football at Nebraska. "That's what happens in the Midwest in April and May. I'm just glad no tornadoes are coming by the motel right now." The Rams lured Brown away from the Seahawks with a five-year, $14.2 million contract that makes him the highest paid kicker in the NFL. Brown replaces kicker Jeff Wilkins, who announced his retirement this winter after 15 seasons in the NFL, including the last 11 seasons with the Rams.

Brown said his No. 1 goal in the Rams' minicamp this weekend is establishing camaraderie with his new teammates. "More than anything, it's just getting to know my teammates and getting a good rhythm built up with my snapper and my holders," Brown said. "You want to build some kind of friendships and camaraderie between your players. You want people to learn to trust you. You want them to feel like they are buddies out there next to you." Brown said he was looking forward to kicking in the Edward Jones Dome. "That probably puts the biggest smile on my face out of this whole thing," Brown said. "It is going to be great being able to concentrate on kicking inside and not having to worry about Mother Nature that much. I can focus in on what I have to do rather than contend with her at the same time."

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[Mike Herman]

NEW ORLEANS

Coach Sean Payton said Saturday the last thing the Saints did before the NFL draft was work out Taylor Mehlhaff and Georgia's Brandon Coutu, because they wanted to get someone in the later rounds or free agency to compete with Martin Gramatica. Special teams coordinator Greg McMahon and assistant special teams coach Mike Mallory conducted the workouts. "We worked out the two guys we thought were the best kickers in this draft," Payton said. "When they came back, they felt there was a gap and a clear separation. (Mehlhaff) has a good technique, a strong leg. He's doing well. He did well (Friday), and he'll get some P.M. work (Saturday) inside." That will be a switch for Mehlhaff, who grew up in wintry Aberdeen, S.D., before moving to Madison. "I've played in some cold and windy games, even going back to high school," Mehlhaff said. "Any time you can take the wind element out of it, it's exciting. I'd love the opportunity to kick in those games indoors."

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[bcr8f]

NEW ORLEANS

Coach Sean Payton said Saturday the last thing the Saints did before the NFL draft was work out Taylor Mehlhaff and Georgia's Brandon Coutu, because they wanted to get someone in the later rounds or free agency to compete with Martin Gramatica. Special teams coordinator Greg McMahon and assistant special teams coach Mike Mallory conducted the workouts. "We worked out the two guys we thought were the best kickers in this draft," Payton said. "When they came back, they felt there was a gap and a clear separation. (Mehlhaff) has a good technique, a strong leg. He's doing well. He did well (Friday), and he'll get some P.M. work (Saturday) inside." That will be a switch for Mehlhaff, who grew up in wintry Aberdeen, S.D., before moving to Madison. "I've played in some cold and windy games, even going back to high school," Mehlhaff said. "Any time you can take the wind element out of it, it's exciting. I'd love the opportunity to kick in those games indoors."

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Picked him up in FA to go with Mason Crosby in a dynasty. Like the fact he's kicking in the dome, but cold weather shouldn't bother him anyway.

 

[AB in DC]

Thank you for sharing.

 

[Slinger]

Thank you for sharing.

Says the 2005 SSL2: Points leader.Mehlhaff is looking to be a sleeper at the K position, especially in dynasty play.

 

[Mike Herman]

CHICAGO

Robbie Gould figured his big payday was coming. It was just a matter of when. The Bears made Gould the highest-paid kicker in the NFL Monday by signing him to a five-year, $15.5 million extension through 2013. Gould's agent, Brian Mackler, said that it's the "richest deal for a kicker in NFL history." The $15.5 million includes performance incentives and a $4.25 million signing bonus. "It's pretty awesome. I'm excited," Gould said while dining Monday afternoon with Mackler. "Today is a good day." Gould's absence during voluntary workouts stirred talk that he was upset with his contract situation. True, he might not have totally pleased, but Gould's frustration wasn't going to escalate into an ugly battle. Gould will be with the team when organized team activities begin May 19. "I wasn't going to hold out by any means," he said. "The workouts, they were voluntary. I'm just glad to get the deal done and to stay in Chicago. I love the fans. I love the city. I'm just really exciting about staying here for the next six years."

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[Mike Herman]

DENVER

The draft is done, free agency has little left to offer and Matt Prater is still the top candidate to be the Broncos kicker. Denver did sign undrafted rookie Garrett Hartley of Oklahoma and, if he and Prater falter, the Broncos could revisit the few veteran options in free agency. But Prater will have the chance to replace Jason Elam, the franchise's all-time leading scorer who signed with Atlanta this offseason. Prater's career path isn't familiar to most. He wasn't drafted after finishing his career at Central Florida. Detroit signed him but cut him before the season. After not playing in 2006, Prater began 2007 with Atlanta. He missed 3 of 4 field goal attempts, including two in a 13-7 loss to Jacksonville that led to his release. Miami signed Prater to its practice squad last November before Denver signed him to its active roster Dec. 19 - his fourth team in about 16 months. Prater didn't assume he would be replacing Elam. He said "they told me it was a possibility," even though coach Mike Shanahan angrily denied at the time that Prater was a backup plan if Elam left. Denver looked at some kickers in free agency but didn't sign one. The Broncos had nine draft picks but didn't use one on a kicker.

Prater's resume is short, but he has a strong leg. He said he once made a 72-yard field goal at a camp. "It was windy," said Prater, trying to downplay the kick. He is raw, so the Broncos figure he can improve. Prater said he never had a kicking coach until he reached the NFL so he was unsure of many details of the craft. For example, Prater said until arriving at his first NFL training camp in Detroit, he used to watch the ball being snapped. Kickers are supposed to watch the holder's hand. He also was surprised when his holder asked him how he liked the ball. He said he had no idea; he just kicked it.

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[Mike Herman]

CLEVELAND

Among the night's honorees were quarterback Derek Anderson and kicker Phil Dawson, named Player of the Year and Good Guy, respectively, by the Cleveland chapter of the Pro Football Writers. Perhaps Dawson's best compliment came from former kicker Don Cockroft, the 2007 Legends choice for the 1970s. ''Those were two of the greatest kicks ever made in Cleveland Stadium against Buffalo,'' Cockroft said of Dawson's two field goals in an 8-0 victory played in a blizzard, including a 49-yarder that hit the curved support bar. Dawson hit the same bar at Baltimore on a 51-yard double-bouncer originally ruled no good. Asked which required more skill, Dawson said: ''Physical skill, the Buffalo kick, because I was aiming at a target about the size of a stop sign. That was an educated guess. But emotionally, the Baltimore kick because that was coming off Pittsburgh week and here I was seven days later right in the same boat. ''To have it come up short one week and have almost the identical situation the very next week and have the referee say no good, that was pretty rough. But it all worked out. That's why you don't ever give up.''

linkCHICAGO

We tried to analyze the numbers for Robbie Gould’s new contract vs. Josh Brown earlier, and we’ll take one more shot at presenting them. The figures from the deal Gould pulled down last week have come in and we can match them up with the contract Brown signed with the St. Louis Rams at the start of free agency.

Gould received a five-year extension from the Bears that provides him with $13.5 million in new money, keeping him in place through 2013. The deal tops out at $15.5 million in new money with performance-based escalators totaling $2 million in 2012 and 2013. Gould’s average on the extension with the escalators is $3.1 million. Without, it’s $2.7 million.

Brown signed a $14.2 million, five-year contract to leave Seattle ($2.84 million average). Gould makes more money per year on his extension if he hits one or both of his escalators. The 2012 escalator is for $900,000 and the 2013 escalator is worth $1.1 million.

Gould collects $8.9 million in the first three years of his extension (2009 through 2011) when you count the bonus money he collects this year.

Brown receives $8.8 million in the first three years of his contract (2008 through 2010).

That’s where it turns into an apples vs. oranges comparison when you look at a straight five-year contract vs. a five-year extension. During 2008-2010, Gould will collect roughly $7.27 million. For the purpose of comparison, NFLPA records show Gould’s three-year average as $2.967 million. Brown’s is $2.933 million. Brown received a $4 million signing bonus. Gould picked up a $2 million roster bonus this year and has $2 million of a roster bonus guaranteed for 2009. With other bonuses, he can collect another $254,800 in the first two years.

The Bears don’t believe in ripping up the final year of contracts when they go to players for extensions (imagine the how Tommie Harris and Devin Hester feel about that right now). In Gould’s case, they’ve maintained the integrity of the previous contract by keeping the base salary of $520,000 for 2008. That’s what makes the straight comparison to Brown’s contract tricky. Gould is under contract for the next six seasons at $16.02 million if you include the escalators.

Inside the Bears apologizes for any confusion. A breakdown of the numbers:

Robbie Gould

2008

$2 million roster bonus

$520,000 base salary

$100,000 workout bonus

$4,800 workout bonus

Total: $2,624,800

Cap number: $2,624,800

2009

$2.15 million roster bonus

$750,000 base salary

Total: $2,900,000

Cap number: $2,900,000

2010

$150,000 roster bonus

$1.6 million base salary

Total: $1,750,000

Cap number: $1,750,000

2011

$500,000 roster bonus

$1.65 million base salary

Total: $2,150,000

Cap number: $2,150,000

2012

$500,000 roster bonus

$1.8 million base salary

($900,000 escalator)

Total: $2,300,000

Cap number: $2,300,000

2013

$500,000 roster bonus

$1.8 million base salary

($1.1 million escalator)

Total: $2,300,000

Cap number: $2,300,000

Josh Brown

2008: $4 million signing bonus, $1 million base salary

2009: $1.8 million base salary

2010: $2 million base salary

2011: $2.7 million base salary

2012: $2.7 million base salary

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[Mike Herman]

DENVER

If Matt Prater is to be held to Jason Elam's standards, then he'll kick a 63-yard field goal some day, just as Elam did in 1998. A 63-yarder? During a game? With real, live defensive linemen in his face? Shouldn't be a problem, Prater says. Unless, of course, the ball doesn't go through the uprights. "I can kick the long ball," said Prater. "Sixty-three yards? I guarantee you it will go 60-plus. I don't know if it will go straight or not, but I'd definitely get it there." Prater always gets it there. At 5-feet-10 and 180 pounds, he has a right leg that won't quit. The issue was, is and, until he proves otherwise, always will be accuracy. He has attempted four field goals in his NFL career and converted one, prompting the Atlanta Falcons to show him the door two weeks into the 2007 season.

Before that, during his days as Brandon Marshall's teammate at Central Florida, he missed 12 out of 27 attempts from 30 to 39 yards. Strange as it seems, he was better from long distance, nailing 20 out of 30 attempts from 40 yards and beyond, including one from 53. "I don't know what it is," Prater said. "I had a better percentage from 40 and out than 40 and in. I've got to get that straightened out. I've got to be more consistent."

None of this is going to be easy and Prater knows it. Aside from Jay Cutler, he could be the most scrutinized Broncos player in 2008. And that's assuming he wins the job vacated when Elam signed with the Falcons. The Broncos also signed undrafted rookie Garrett Hartley out of Oklahoma. Not that Hartley figures to get the gig. The plan is for Prater to handle field goals and kickoffs, the kind of multi-tasking that Elam wasn't up to in his latter years. His forte was field goals, the more pressure-packed the better.

But then, Prater has had time to prepare himself for the moment. He was in Detroit's camp in 2006, not so much to win the job, but keep his name on the NFL radar screen. Then he signed with the Miami Dolphins, only to have Nick Saban jump ship for Alabama a few weeks later. Enter veteran kicker Jay Feely, exit Prater. His cameo appearance with the Falcons produced one field goal in four attempts, but know this about Prater: The guy can kick off. He had three touchbacks in four attempts with Atlanta, and two out of seven with the Broncos. But about his field-goal kicking ... "Coming out of college, I was considered a kickoff specialist," Prater said. "Personally, I think I'm one of the best kickoff guys around, but I've got to balance it out. I'm working on the field goals. I've got the leg strength. Now I've got to get them straightened out."

So now Elam, Shanahan's security blanket for all those years, is gone. In his place is a 23-year-old kid with a cannon for a leg and, at the moment, a lot of question marks for a legacy. "He did a great job with kickoffs," Shanahan said. "Now the question is, can he kick field goals and be consistent in that area? Until he does it, you don't know for sure. With all kickers, you never know until they get put under the gun." The answer, Shanahan says, is simple. "We don't plan on kicking field goals," he said. "We're going to score touchdowns. I hate kicking field goals anyhow. Maybe we got a little too secure with Jason around. If we score touchdowns, we won't have to worry about it."

linkSummary: Matt Prater doesn't know if he can handle placekicking, and HC Mike Shanahan doesn't know if Prater can handle placekicking.

 

[Mike Herman]

KANSAS CITY

Chiefs undrafted rookie kicker Connor Barth understands that Chiefs fans are probably a bit squeamish when they hear the words “rookie” and “kicker” in the same sentence. He knows the tale of last year’s drafted rookie, Justin Medlock, who was so bad he lost his job in September. “Yes, I did hear about it,” Barth said after one of the Chiefs’ OTA workouts last week. “I guess he was kicking really great in the OTAs and in training camp and then came the games, and I guess he wasn’t mentally prepared for it.” Barth, from North Carolina, vows he’ll be different. Not that he’s trying to sound cocky, but … “I think my strength is staying positive under pressure,” he said. “It comes down to just relying on the same leg swing for every kick. That’s my strength, I think.” Barth said he may not have had a lot of game-winning kicks for the Tar Heels, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t under pressure. “Well, we weren’t a great team when I was there,” he said. “And we didn’t score a ton of points. It’s not like we were Louisville and we’d score 70 a game. “Every field goal mattered to us, so it was pressure. We had to have those three points.”

Barth nailed 54 of 71 field goals during his career as a Tar Heel, with a long of 54. Leg strength, he said, isn’t a problem. “I feel confident that I should hit anything from 55 and in,” he said. “I’ve hit from 60 in practice, but you don’t get asked to do it that much during games. “The big thing is you really want to be consistent from 40 to 49. That separates the good kickers from the average ones.”

Barth will have his work cut out for him at the OTAs going up against veterans Nick Novak and Billy Cundiff. “I’ve got to show something because they’re only going to take two out of three to training camp,” Barth said. And though Barth knows it’s a long shot to become the Chiefs’ kicker, he also understands that becoming a kicker in the NFL takes patience and determination. “There’s only 32 jobs out there,” he said. “People don’t have backups. But the league is full of guys who were cut early on and caught on with someone else. You just hope to hang long enough to get yourself on film and then keep plugging away until you stick somewhere.”

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[Mike Herman]

KANSAS CITY

Connor Barth - He was the best kicker on the field today. The former Tar Heel is a rookie, which bodes problems for Herm Edwards who experienced plenty of headaches last year with Justin Medlock. The Chiefs have John Carney sitting at home in San Diego ready to fly east to KC if need be, so the kicking battle might not be finalized until the Chiefs reach New England in September. But Barth has a much stronger leg than Billy Cundiff or Nick Novak. That may be the determining factor in the end.

linkDENVER

They are baby boomers, these five punters and kickers who are competing for two open spots on the Broncos' roster. None is older than 24. None has more than three games of NFL experience. Each is under the microscope. Only a year ago, Jason Elam and Todd Sauerbrun were unquestionably the Broncos' kicker and punter. And they had a combined six Pro Bowl selections. But as the calendar turned, so did events. Off-field issues sent Sauerbrun to the career coffin corner. Contract structure led to Elam's departure from Denver in free agency and into an Atlanta Falcons uniform. So off came the training wheels. The kiddie corps has arrived. There are punters Brett Kern (age 22), Paulescu (24) and Danny Baugher (24) and kickers Matt Prater (23) and Garrett Hartley (22). "I've got one year of experience and I'm considered the veteran," Prater, the front-runner to replace Elam, said sheepishly. "But it's a good situation for all of us."

It's primarily the job of special- teams coordinator Scott O'Brien to sort out everything. "Somebody's going to come to the front," he said. O'Brien is the same assistant who, last year, after one of many late-game close calls, opined his profession was the reason whiskey was invented. His biggest task might be guiding all five specialists through the psychological land mines they'll face and ensuring they have the mental wherewithal to handle them, given all the assembled inexperience instead of any physical shortcomings. "We feel we have a pretty good blend," O'Brien said. "We're young overall, no question about it. But they have to start somewhere, and so far, physically, they've all shown the ability to be able to do it at this level."

Hartley and Prater are on a twice-weekly kicking regimen, which will be increased to three, then four sessions by summer camp in late July. They'll kick live field goals for the first time this week. The shared approach will continue for the next eight weeks, when a pecking order will be established and, quite possibly, one of the combatants will be lopped off the roster given the new, stricter 80-man roster limits. For now, Paulescu and Prater are the front-runners.

And while there's always a chance a veteran can be plucked off waivers deep into camp, the Broncos' thinking at this juncture is at least two of the baby boomers are here to stay. "Time moves on. It really does," O'Brien said of the makeover at the two spots. "I can look at every situation that I've coached in, starting with Cleveland (in 1991) and picking out a kicker in Matt Stover, who's still with that organization, or picking up a punter off the street that people said was washed up in Brian Hansen, who punted another seven years after that, something like that, or moving on to Tom Tupa, who really didn't punt in this league (after initially playing quarterback and holding). . . . "There's always options. You're always looking for the best one. And in the long run, it's, hopefully, a young guy who has the ability physically to do it and . . . he's your guy for a long time."

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[Mike Herman]

NY JETS

Mike Nugent missed a 53-yard field goal and two from 44 yards. He stayed after practice to work on his kicks. Nugent’s day wasn’t great but he did absolutely hammer a 55-yarder through the uprights that would have been good from 65 or 70.

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[Mike Herman]

KANSAS CITY

Rookie kicker Connor Barth proved he was human on Thursday. He was wide right by inches on a 48-yard attempt. It was the first missed field goal he’s had during the team practices over the last two weeks. That makes him the preliminary favorite to be the team’s kicker. However, the Chiefs are not going to be making that decision this month or in June. Veterans Billy Cundiff and Nick Novak were both three-for-three on Thursday, but they’ve missed some kicks in the other practices. The Chiefs will take two kickers to training camp in River Falls. Right now, it looks like Barth has one spot.

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[Mike Herman]

TORONTO

Intriguing development up north... The Argonauts have re-signed Mike Vanderjagt.

The Toronto Argonauts have traded veteran kicker-punter Noel Prefontaine to the Edmonton Eskimos, the club confirmed Saturday. Toronto receives the Eskimos' first-round draft pick in the 2009 CFL Canadian Draft and a conditional pick in the 2010 draft. The move is designed to clear room on Toronto's roster for Mike Vanderjagt, who reportedly re-signed with the Argos. Vanderjagt, of Oakville, Ont., earned two Grey Cup rings with Toronto before heading to the NFL after the '97 season. Prefontaine played 10 seasons and 171 regular season games for the Argonauts. He leaves as the club's second-leading scorer all-time (935 points), second-leading punter (57,246 yards), and the team's all-time kickoff yards leader (36,265 yards).

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Vanderjagt, who is an Ontario native, helped the Argonauts to consecutive Grey Cup titles in 1996 and '97. He was named the Grey Cup game's Most Outstanding Canadian in 1996. He was named an East Division and CFL All-Star in 1997, when he scored 190 points.

linkCHICAGO

Rookie kicker Shane Longest beat incumbent former Pro Bowl kicker Robbie Gould in a spirited field goal contest with a 49-yard kick into a strong crosswind.

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[Mike Herman]

TORONTO

Mike Vanderjagt saw himself simply as Mike from Oakville. So he didn't think anything he said would be, as he puts it, "worth anything." But what he had to say about coach Tony Dungy and star quarterback Peyton Manning after the Indianapolis Colts were thrashed 41-0 by the New York Jets in a 2002 season playoff game was worth a lot of newsprint and air time. That outburst resulted in Manning labelling him as "our idiot kicker" and it was the beginning of the end of a superb career with the Colts. Two years later, he was released by Indianapolis. He was signed by the Dallas Cowboys in 2006 but cut 10 games into the season. While he's showcased himself with several NFL teams since then, nothing led to a contract. So yesterday, Vanderjagt was back on a football field two days after signing with the Argonauts, the team he left after the 1997 CFL season and back-to-back Grey Cup victories. His return resulted in the Argos trading popular kicker/punter Noel Prefontaine to the Edmonton Eskimos.

Vanderjagt, who worked out recently with Denver, doesn't feel his outspokenness had hurt his chances to land with a NFL team. "I don't know what reason I'd be blackballed in the NFL," he said. "If they're going to blackball someone for being outspoken, then we've got some issues in society. I've never been arrested, never done DUI's, never hit my wife, so I think there'd be more guys ready to be blackballed than me. I just think it's my age, the amount of money I would have to make and the fact that I don't kick off that well. The fact that I've had workouts means `Don't touch Vanderjagt' is necessarily the situation."

Vanderjagt isn't so sure that outspoken is the correct way to describe him. "I don't know if I'm outspoken or not," he said. "My mom raised me to be honest. So if I was asked a question I answered it honestly. Back then, I thought I was just Mike from Oakville. I never realized what I said was worth anything. I don't think I'm outspoken. I just think I'm honest. Sometimes I just say what people want to hear."

Vanderjagt, who had retired to the bar/restaurant that he co-owns with former Colts and current Arizona Cardinals running back Edgerrin James, said the urge to return hit him about six months ago. "When you fish and golf enough and you're only 38 years old and you feel like you can still do it ..." he said. "I was born and raised in Toronto and I missed my friends and family. It became a good opportunity, presuming Toronto wanted me, to come back and kick for a few more years." The Argos, perhaps concerned about the effects of a concussion Prefontaine suffered last year and the dropoff in his production, decided to go with Vanderjagt.

"I still have goals on the field that I want to achieve and Toronto can help me do that," he said. "In the last couple of years it was never about the money. I made enough of that. It was about getting back on the field and doing the things you like to do before it got too late. Just this past couple of months it got to me that I wasn't doing anything. I wanted to get back on the field." Vanderjagt, who kicked for more than 1,000 points in the NFL, said he'd like to kick long enough in the CFL to reach that total here. He enters the season with 388 career regular-season points. "I believe I would then be the only guy to have 1,000 NFL and 1,000 CFL points. That would be important," he said. "I don't know how achievable it is, but I'd love to be the CFL's most accurate kicker (percentage wise) to go along with the NFL's most accurate kicker title (which he currently holds at 86.4 per cent). So if I do those things I wouldn't mind being in Canton (the Pro Football Hall of Fame) someday. Those are lofty goals, but if you don't set goals you're going to be out there running around doing nothing. I'm not here just to collect a paycheque."

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[Mike Herman]

SEATTLE

Both kickers got some kicks in front of the team. Without detailing specific numbers, I'd say that Olindo Mare looks more sharp than rookie Brandon Coutu. However, Holmgren also said they would not have drafted Coutu if they did not think he had a future in the league. He also told the story of Ryan Longwell, and how his first two kicks in practice in Green Bay as a rookie went off the tackle's head and the tight end's rear end. Guys have bad days when they are nervous, Holmgren was pointing out, and Longwell has had a very long, successful career.

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[Mike Herman]

SEATTLE

"If you draft one, you’re going to make a financial commitment right away. You should never draft a kicker, unless you think he’s pretty good. I’ve told you guys this story about Ryan Longwell. In Green Bay, we drafted a kicker very, very high. He got hurt, so we brought in this guy. I didn’t even know his name. He stood in front of me and the first kick he kicked, he hit our left tackle right in the head with the ball, and the second one hit our tight end right in the butt. It didn’t get more than 3 feet off the ground. I turned around and no one would look at me. It was Ryan Longwell and he has been one of the great kickers of the league forever. He just had a rough day. It was his first day, he was nervous, and he was a great kicker. I’ve learned patience over the years. I’m a little more patient than I used to be.”

- HC Mike Holmgren on rookie Brandon Coutu

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[Mike Herman]

SEATTLE

Apparently we saw the first bad snap by Tyler Schmitt in the history of his life. Schmitt said the day he was drafted that he has never had a bad snap. But during special teams drills, he rolled one back to Ryan Plackemeier, causing rookie Brandon Coutu to miss a field goal attempt. His next snap was high, though I believe Coutu converted that from distance. Olindo Mare missed one long attempt very far to the right.

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Kickers Olindo Mare and Brandon Coutu got to kick with the field goal units, and each made kicks of 32, 37 and 42 yards before missing from 47 yards.

linkCHICAGO RUSH (AFL)

The Chicago Rush made a change in its kicking game Tuesday, releasing kicker Dan Frantz and signing former Chicago Bears kicker Paul Edinger to a three-year contract. Edinger will wear No. 22 and make his AFL debut when the Rush plays at Cleveland Saturday night. "This is one of the tougher decisions I've had to make in the last couple years, but I felt we needed to make a change," said Rush head coach Mike Hohensee. "I appreciate everything Dan has done for this organization - and for me personally - over the past three years, including helping us win an ArenaBowl title in 2006." Edinger (5-foot-8, 175 pounds) spent time in Rush training camp earlier this season after kicking for Rush coaches in a private workout. While impressive during training camp, the Rush staff opted to begin the season with the veteran Frantz. Originally drafted by the Bears in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft, Edinger spent five seasons (2000-2004) in a Bears uniform. With Chicago he converted all 133 of his career PAT attempts and 110 of 146 field goal attempts - including 13 of 19 from beyond 50 yards. In 2005, Edinger signed with the Minnesota Vikings and connected on 31 of 31 extra points and 25 of 34 field goals - including a career high 56-yarder to beat the Packers. He has not kicked in a pro game since 2005. Frantz was in his third season with the Rush, having joined during the 2006 ArenaBowl championship season. This season Frantz had converted 93 of 102 PAT attempts, but hit only 5 of 12 field-goal attempts, including missing three of his six attempts from less than 30 yards.

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[Mike Herman]

SEATTLE

Wet. As in, it was. Really wet. From start to finish. Sideline to sideline. End zone to end zone. The players practiced for 90 rain-soaked minutes in conditions that would have sent a duck looking for cover. The weather didn't bother veteran kicker Olindo Mare or rookie Brandon Coutu. Each was successful on 12 field goal attempts – three each during the special teams segment of practice and nine more when they were kicking on the side field.

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[Mike Herman]

MIAMI

The Dolphins alleviated a bit of logjam at kicker by releasing Dave Rayner between two-a-days on Day 1 of mini-camp. That leaves eight-year pro Jay Feely, who made 21 of 23 field goals last season, and undrafted rookie Dan Carpenter on the roster. Rayner was signed to a one-year deal during the off-season because of his abilities on kickoffs. He has averaged 64.2 yards during his three-year NFL career and averaged 68.3 yards in 10 games last season for Kansas City. Rayner, 25, also has kicked for the Indianapolis Colts and Green Bay Packers. Feely averaged a career-low 57.8 yards on kickoffs in '07. Kicking into a headwind during Friday morning's session, Rayner did nothing to distinguish himself against Feely. Following practice, coach Tony Sparano said he would be reluctant to keep two kickers - one for field goals and extra points, one for kickoffs. "When you start talking about numbers it probably doesn't make great sense ... when you are putting your 53 (-man roster) together," Sparano said.

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"I know Jay (Feely) has worked at his kickoffs in this offseason and I know that we brought some guys in that can kick the ball off," Sparano said. Carpenter, a four-year starter at Montana, converted 75 of 103 field goals (72.8%) and 182 of 188 PATs in his collegiate career. He also punted 71 times for a 41.8 yard average and has been sporadically punting in Dolphins camp. Punter Brandon Fields is also getting work on kickoffs, which Feely, who missed only two of his 23 field goals last season, struggled with in 2007.

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DENVER

One Bronco that saw more field time than usual on Friday was kicker Garrett Hartley. Hartley a college free agent signing out the University of Oklahoma took all the special team field goal reps during practice. Hartley, who is one of the two kickers on the roster vying field goal duties with the departure of long-time Broncos' kicker Jason Elam. He said the pressure is there regardless of how many kicks you get a practice. "There’s always pressure everyday, regardless if I only have four kicks or today, 24," Hartley said. "We just have to build on it, and I have to roll with it." Matt Prater, the only other kicker on the Broncos' roster, saw time with the club late last season as a kickoff specialist. Prater netted over a 67 yard average on his kickoffs. "Prater has the strongest leg I have ever contended with, and he’s very accurate," Hartley said. "It’s definitely going to be great competition." Hartley, who was connecting on field goals of 50 yards and beyond during practice, said Elam set a high standard for kickers in Denver. "The guy is a legacy," he said. "If anything, it’s definitely big shoes to fill. Hopefully I’ll have the opportunity to do so."

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[Mike Herman]

NEW ENGLAND

The biggest offseason commitment Stephen Gostkowski made didn't come in the weight room at Gillette Stadium. It came in April at the altar. Judging by the smile on his face when he volunteered news of his nuptials, married life suits the 24-year-old Gostkowski. But after the way last season ended for him, are the Patriots still married to him as their placekicker? The defining kick of Gostkowski's Patriots career is one he never got to attempt. More than four months later, it is still one of the nagging questions from the Patriots' 17-14 loss to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII. With his team leading, 7-3, in the third quarter and facing fourth and 13 at the Giants' 31, why did coach Bill Belichick eschew a 49-yard field goal attempt and decide to go for the first down?

Surely, like everybody else, Gostkowski had to be thinking, "Why aren't I out there?"... "I didn't think of anything," said Gostkowski yesterday, the first day of a three-day mandatory minicamp. "I get ready to go, and if my name is called, I go out there. If not, I go back to the sidelines. I'm not a coach. I don't know much about football. I know about kicking. When they send me out there and call my name, I try to do the best I can. Other than that, I keep my mouth shut and do my job." That's perfect Patriotspeak from a placekicker who knows his place, but Gostkowski, who is entering his third season, was a baseball pitcher and a pretty good soccer player. He's an athlete and a competitive one. He would have loved the opportunity to kick that field goal. So, Gostkowski bristled at the notion that Belichick's decision meant an offseason of wondering whether his employer had faith in him. "No, I felt like I had a good year," said Gostkowski, who connected on 21 of 24 field goals during the regular season and set an NFL record with 74 extra points (in 74 attempts). "I work on being consistent. I gave them a consistent product. I have to go out there and keep putting up results. There were plenty of times during the year that we went for it. Why not? Our offense was great, so I never thought twice about it. There is nothing I could do about it. I just do my job, and when they call on me, I go out there."

Gostkowski wouldn't directly answer whether the kick was in his range, a determination made prior to the game when special teams coach Brad Seely, who observes Gostkowski in warm-ups, consults with Belichick. In warm-ups, Gostkowski connected from as far as 53 yards, but his long for the season was 45, which he hit twice, and his long attempt was 48. "I'm not going to be one of those guys who runs out there before the coach calls the field goal team because it's not my decision. It's our coaches," said Gostkowski. "I trust everything that they do. They'd been there, done that. Coach Belichick has been coaching more years than I've been alive. There is no way I could ever argue with something he did."

If the Super Bowl snub was a vote of no confidence for Gostkowski, the fact the Patriots have elected not to bring in another kicker is perhaps proof they are still committed to him, although the team is somewhat hamstrung by the NFL's 80-man roster limit. As for the fateful kick-that-never-was, Gostkowski admitted that he ruminated about it for a few weeks, but then let it go. "I spent my time souring over that a couple of weeks afterwards. I'm moving on to next year," he said. "Whatever I did or didn't do last year isn't going to affect me this year. I just want to have a good season this year."

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[Warhogs]

Nice work on the kicker thread. It is tough being so dedicated to a thread that gets few responses but I do think this has some helpful information.

 

[Mike Herman]

KANSAS CITY

Chiefs coach Herm Edwards reiterated Saturday that the three kickers who have practiced the last three weeks are auditioning for two spots. All three — Connor Barth, Billy Cundiff and Nick Novak — appeared Saturday to understand the pressure. All three made field goals of 50 yards or longer at Arrowhead Stadium during the Chiefs’ second day of minicamp.

linkNEW ORLEANS

Rookie kicker Taylor Mehlhaff has an exceptionally strong leg. He seemed to be holding back on some 40-yard-plus attempts that were sailing through the uprights with plenty of room. It'll be interesting to see the full extent of his range.

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[Mike Herman]

MIAMI

he connected on 21 of 23 field goals last year, which put Jay Feely in the company of the NFL's most dependable kickers and in the conversation for Most Valuable Player on a Dolphins team that admittedly lacked good players. so the assumption is that Jay Feely pretty much has it made now. The assumption is that on a team needing so much help, Bill Parcells and Co. would turn their attention to those blighted areas of the roster and think about refurbishing the posh penthouse of consistent players much later. But that won't be the case for Feely in the coming training camp. Feely is on notice that his job is on the line despite the impressive field-goal percentages. And the intriguing thing is one reason Feely can't feel secure now has nothing to do with football.

Feely, you see, is a friendly, outspoken guy. And Bill Parcells and general manager Jeff Ireland don't want their kicker being quite so friendly and definitely not outspoken. Basically the men who make up the new Dolphins administration believe kickers should be seen and not heard. And that hasn't been the way Feely has conducted his career so far. He has been on The Learning Channel with his wife. He has worked on ESPN's First Take. Last year he had a regional radio show. He has been something of a media darling and also the object of national attention as Saturday Night Live did a skit about him a few years ago. Feely also fancies himself a team leader, a go-to guy when younger players need advice and reporters need perspective.

But none of that fits into the ''be seen and not heard,'' philosophy the team's brain trust now covets. So has Jay Feely been told, basically, to shut up? ''Yes,'' Feely says succinctly. How does he feel about that? ''I am,'' Feely said, biting his tongue, ``going to do the things I need to do to make the people I work for happy, even if I don't always agree with it.''

The irony here is that Parcells pretty much put a spotlight on Feely last week when he spoke publicly about the team for the first time. In discussing much of the roster, Miami's football czar was effusive about punter Brandon Fields but curt when talking about Feely. ''There will be competition there,'' Parcells said of the kicker's job. It was a curious answer then. But it makes sense now. The Dolphins have rookie Dan Carpenter in camp to provide that competition for Feely. And while the matchup against an incumbent veteran who made 91 percent of his kicks makes Carpenter the underdog, there is one thing this rookie does that definitely impresses: His kickoffs explode off his leg and typically land in the end zone. And that is where Feely has another problem that factors in this yarn. Last year Feely averaged 57.8 yards per kickoff, which ranked 44th out of 49 NFL kickers. In fairness, Feely was working under a disadvantage because former coach Cam Cameron inexplicably ordered him to pooch-kick and directional-kick in nearly half the games Miami played. The strategy was meant to protect Miami's atrocious coverage teams, but it significantly sacrificed Feely's kickoff average. ''You look at all the other games, my kickoffs averaged 74.5, almost 75 yards,'' Feely said.

So the table is set for a kicking competition that will be about more than just field-goal kicking. ''I am going to be the best kicker in the NFL this year,'' Feely said confidently. ``I don't know any guy on this team that worked harder than me this offseason. I think ultimately the best kicker will win the competition.'' But will the man with the booming leg control his booming mouth? Can Feely simply stop being himself? The Dolphins on Sunday brought former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer to camp to talk to players about how to deal with the media. When Fleischer's 45-minute presentation was over, he asked if there were any questions. Feely was the only player with a question. According to Fleischer, Feely asked for advice on how to handle speaking about a team stance or policy he doesn't agree with.

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[Mike Herman]

NEW ORLEANS

Per HC Sean Payton...

What do think of what you’ve seen from Taylor Mehlhaff so far?

“I haven’t seen enough, really. Hopefully once we get into training camp and get into some live situations we’ll see a lot more. I think that really defines itself. He has a strong leg and you see that. I’m anxious to get started because we’ll have a good competition there, which is a positive. Once we start playing and he’s able to kick live in games – we’ve kind of created that scenario a little bit, but it’s harder to do right now.”

Is there room for two kickers on the roster?

“It all depends on how the rest of your roster is shaping up. You’d prefer to have one guy doing both (field goals and kickoffs), but with that being said, if we feel like it will help us then there is.”

How much did Martín Gramatica impress you with what he did at the end of last season?

“He’s pretty consistent and he had some attempts that weren’t necessarily gimmes. He’s been very accurate out here at practice and that’s encouraging.”

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[Mike Herman]

DENVER

For the second straight practice, rookie Garrett Hartley took all the field goal reps. Matt Prater dressed for practice but did not kick. Shanahan said on Friday that Prater was tending to a sore groin.

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[Mike Herman]

GREEN BAY

The Green Bay Packers gave up a security blanket on special teams this offseason when they bumped 39-year-old Rob Davis to a front-office position as director of player development. Davis had been their dependable long snapper on punts and place kicks for 10½ seasons, dating to their last Super Bowl appearance in January 1998. But General Manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy decided Davis had grown too old, and have placed that unnoticed but crucial job in the hands of Thomas Gafford or J.J. Jansen, neither of whom has long-snapped in an NFL game. “(Davis) was pretty deadly accurate, really good, one of the better snappers in the league,” incumbent punter Jon Ryan said. “So, switching over, it’s going to take a little time to get used to the new guys.” Gafford and Jansen finished the preliminary round of their battle today with the end of four weeks of organized team activities. They split the work in OTAs and probably will continue through next week’s minicamp and into training camp, until Thompson and McCarthy decide the winner.

The Packers signed Gafford in February based off the time he spent with them in training camp in 2006, when as an undrafted rookie he had little chance of beating out Davis. Last year, Gafford signed with Seattle, but the Seahawks had an incumbent in Derek Rackley, so they cut Gafford in the summer before training camp began. Gafford, though, decided to continue shooting for the NFL. Last summer, he got a job in construction in Houston, and four days a week arose between 5 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. to work out at the University of Houston, where he played in college, before going to work. “Especially three-quarters of the way through the season when I hadn’t gotten a phone call, it was tough,” Gafford said of being out of football for a second straight regular season. “But I had a lot of encouragement from my dad to stick with it.”

The Packers looked to this year’s draft class for his competition. The top long snapper in college probably was San Diego State’s Tyler Schmitt, whom Seattle drafted in the sixth round. The Packers and Seahawks were the only teams without an incumbent long snapper — the Seahawks cut Rackley after last season — and about five minutes after Seattle drafted Rackley, the Packers called Jansen to sign him after the draft. The former Notre Dame player accepted their $2,500 bonus because it was his best chance at landing a job as a rookie. “I feel I’ve got a really good chance to make the team,” Jansen said. “There’s a lot of competition left to be had. Thomas and I are going to battle it out for as long as we can.”

Now much separates the two. Both are listed at 6-foot-2, with Gafford at 252 pounds and Jansen 254. Both have more than enough speed on their punt snaps — teams look for long snappers who can get the ball to the punter in 0.80 seconds, and Gafford and Jansen are in the 0.7-second range. At today’s final OTA practice, the Packers did a short field-goal period, with Jansen taking two of the snaps and Gafford one on 40-yard field goals. Both of Jansen’s snaps to regular holder Ryan were accurate and led to made field goals by Mason Crosby, whereas Gafford’s appeared to be slightly inside to rookie punter-holder Ken DeBauche, and Crosby pushed the kick wide right. Jansen had a good snap on Crosby’s 32-yard field goal that capped a two-minute drill later in practice. But the specialists did most of their work in the 45 minutes before the OTA practices, when they took turns snapping to Ryan and DeBauche on punts and place kicks. “I’ve been impressed with both of them,” Ryan said. “I knew Tom was a good snapper from when he was here in ’06 in training camp, and J.J. has come in and done a really good job. Right now, I feel good on both the punting and holding with both of them.”

linkDoes a new quarterback AND and a new longsnapper mean trouble for Crosby this year?

 

[DawnBTVS]

I have a question for ya, Herman...

I was looking at the statistics from last season and was startled at the overall accuracy from all of the kickers. Maybe I don't pay enough attention to kickers but was last year an aberration for accuracy?

There were 24 kickers who were successful 80%+ of the time (23 if you exclude Martin Gramatica's 3 games). That seems high, especially for a group and so I was curious if last year was indeed an aberration or am I just not paying attention?

 

[Mike Herman]

I have a question for ya, Herman...I was looking at the statistics from last season and was startled at the overall accuracy from all of the kickers. Maybe I don't pay enough attention to kickers but was last year an aberration for accuracy?There were 24 kickers who were successful 80%+ of the time (23 if you exclude Martin Gramatica's 3 games). That seems high, especially for a group and so I was curious if last year was indeed an aberration or am I just not paying attention?

Yes, field goal accuracy was unusually high around the league last year (although Olindo Mare apparently didn't get the memo in advance). I'm assuming it was simply an aberration. They did tweak the K-ball rules prior to the 2007 season (actually during the playoffs the year before), but I highly doubt it resulted in most of the kickers suddenly becoming more accurate.

 

[Mike Herman]

DALLAS

Kicker Nick Folk worked on his kickoffs off to the side with the rest of the specialists. Folk had only four touchbacks out of 94 attempts during the regular season. Going into his second year, you'd like to see him knock a few more into the end zone.

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[Mike Herman]

MIAMI

he connected on 21 of 23 field goals last year, which put Jay Feely in the company of the NFL's most dependable kickers and in the conversation for Most Valuable Player on a Dolphins team that admittedly lacked good players. so the assumption is that Jay Feely pretty much has it made now. The assumption is that on a team needing so much help, Bill Parcells and Co. would turn their attention to those blighted areas of the roster and think about refurbishing the posh penthouse of consistent players much later. But that won't be the case for Feely in the coming training camp. Feely is on notice that his job is on the line despite the impressive field-goal percentages. And the intriguing thing is one reason Feely can't feel secure now has nothing to do with football.

Feely, you see, is a friendly, outspoken guy. And Bill Parcells and general manager Jeff Ireland don't want their kicker being quite so friendly and definitely not outspoken. Basically the men who make up the new Dolphins administration believe kickers should be seen and not heard. And that hasn't been the way Feely has conducted his career so far. He has been on The Learning Channel with his wife. He has worked on ESPN's First Take. Last year he had a regional radio show. He has been something of a media darling and also the object of national attention as Saturday Night Live did a skit about him a few years ago. Feely also fancies himself a team leader, a go-to guy when younger players need advice and reporters need perspective.

But none of that fits into the ''be seen and not heard,'' philosophy the team's brain trust now covets. So has Jay Feely been told, basically, to shut up? ''Yes,'' Feely says succinctly. How does he feel about that? ''I am,'' Feely said, biting his tongue, ``going to do the things I need to do to make the people I work for happy, even if I don't always agree with it.''

The irony here is that Parcells pretty much put a spotlight on Feely last week when he spoke publicly about the team for the first time. In discussing much of the roster, Miami's football czar was effusive about punter Brandon Fields but curt when talking about Feely. ''There will be competition there,'' Parcells said of the kicker's job. It was a curious answer then. But it makes sense now. The Dolphins have rookie Dan Carpenter in camp to provide that competition for Feely. And while the matchup against an incumbent veteran who made 91 percent of his kicks makes Carpenter the underdog, there is one thing this rookie does that definitely impresses: His kickoffs explode off his leg and typically land in the end zone. And that is where Feely has another problem that factors in this yarn. Last year Feely averaged 57.8 yards per kickoff, which ranked 44th out of 49 NFL kickers. In fairness, Feely was working under a disadvantage because former coach Cam Cameron inexplicably ordered him to pooch-kick and directional-kick in nearly half the games Miami played. The strategy was meant to protect Miami's atrocious coverage teams, but it significantly sacrificed Feely's kickoff average. ''You look at all the other games, my kickoffs averaged 74.5, almost 75 yards,'' Feely said.

So the table is set for a kicking competition that will be about more than just field-goal kicking. ''I am going to be the best kicker in the NFL this year,'' Feely said confidently. ``I don't know any guy on this team that worked harder than me this offseason. I think ultimately the best kicker will win the competition.'' But will the man with the booming leg control his booming mouth? Can Feely simply stop being himself? The Dolphins on Sunday brought former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer to camp to talk to players about how to deal with the media. When Fleischer's 45-minute presentation was over, he asked if there were any questions. Feely was the only player with a question. According to Fleischer, Feely asked for advice on how to handle speaking about a team stance or policy he doesn't agree with.

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Feely posted the following rebuttal on the site's blog:"armando, This is jay feely. I wanted to offer you a little clarification on the Ari fleischer presentation. I was asked before the meeting by our media relations director Harvey Greene to ask a question when Mr. Fleischer finished his presentations and asked for questions. I have always wondered what it was like to be President Bush's press secretary amidst the constant criticism and certain misteps. As far as the organization not liking my question I can only say I had a coach come up to me afterward and tell me 'great question'.

I think you presented a much more controversial view of the situation than I did when you interviewed me. Never did I say they told me to 'shut up' as you wrote in your article. You asked me if they asked me to not do as much media work and I said 'yes, and I was willing to do that." I also told you my approach has been to work as hard as I could, to be the best kicker I could be, and that I believed the best kicker would win the job. I have confidence that I can be the best kicker in the NFL next year, but I also know that there are young guys every year trying to take your job...I was one of those young guys when I won my first job in Atlanta. A coach and a management have the right to determine the best course for their team and it is your obligation as an employee to proceed accordingly.

On a side note, as far as my Ricky Williams comments last year I never should have said anything. I was being honest but I had never been a teammate and I should have left those comments to the players who played with him before. When he was activated onto the team I went up to him, told him what I said and why, and said your my teammate now and I will treat you with the same respect and love I do all my teammates."

Posted by: jay feely | June 09, 2008 at 08:40 PM

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[gheemony]

Mike:

Why do you have Kaeding #1 in your rankings?

Gheemony

 

[Mike Herman]

Mike:

Why do you have Kaeding #1 in your rankings?

Gheemony

see write-up here

 

[Mike Herman]

KANSAS CITY

Connor Barth hasn't made an NFL roster, but he has survived the first cut. Barth, a former Hoggard and University of North Carolina kicker, is on the training camp roster for the Kansas City Chiefs, who recently let go of one kicker. Barth and Nick Novak made the cut; Billy Cundiff was cut loose. "My goal was to take it stage by stage," Barth said by phone Friday. "I'm hoping to get to the next stage and be the last guy standing." That next stage begins in about a month, at training camp in River Falls, Wis. Barth will remain in Kansas City for about a week, lifting weights and conditioning with other rookies. He'll take a few days in Wilmington, maybe take some golf lessons, then continue training in Chapel Hill, where he has easy access to NFL-style uprights and smooth grass or artificial turf.

Barth had a comfort level as the kicker for the Tar Heels; His job as the starter was never in question in four seasons. Now, each kick, even in practice, means something. "It's been a learning experience," he said. "I'm new to the whole game. You have to come ready to compete every day. You can't have a bad day in the NFL, especially at my position. ... If you miss anything inside of 50 yards, they're not going to like that. I'm learning how to be a professional." Barth said he and Novak are friends and that the former Maryland kicker has come on strong. Barth made his first 14 kicks in team settings during minicamp, then missed a few. Of the ongoing, dueling job interview with Novak, Barth said: "It's a fun little rivalry, but I'm going to work my butt off to win the job. There's no rest."

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[Mike Herman]

TENNESSEE

The Titans continue to have positive discussions with right tackle David Stewart about a long-term contract, General Manager Mike Reinfeldt said. Stewart and kicker Rob Bironas are headed into their final year under contract. Discussions with Bironas are at a standstill, Reinfeldt said.

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[Mike Herman]

SEATTLE

The Seattle Seahawks on Wednesday secured both ends of their rookie field goal combination, signing both long snapper Tyler Schmitt and kicker Brandon Coutu to multiyear deals. While Schmitt, a sixth-round pick, is expected to be a part of the franchise for the foreseeable future, Coutu must still make the team in order for his contract to become good. Coutu, from Georgia, will compete with veteran Olindo Mare in training camp to determine who will replace Josh Brown, who departed for St. Louis via free agency. During the team’s minicamps, Mare has appeared to be the more accurate kicker with the stronger leg, but the team used a seventh-round draft pick on Coutu because they thought he was the most talented kicker in the draft. The Seahawks were criticized for using a sixth-round draft pick on Schmitt, but after last season’s difficulties, which included three different snappers, the Seahawks’ front office wanted to secure the position. Schmitt was taken with the 189th pick overall out of San Diego State.

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[Tau837]

I'm curious about your ranking of Gould and Bryant.

Gould has been a starter for 2 years and finished #1 and #7. He did that while the Bears finished #15 and #24 in offensive yards, respectively, so he showed last year he can be productive when the offense isn't. You are ranking him at #15 now, well below his past 2 seasons. Is this simply because of a lack of faith in Chicago's offense (can't say I blame you for that) and a resulting projected lack of opportunities? Seems like a bit of an excessive drop.

Meanwhile, you are projecting career highs across the board for Bryant, ranking him #8 when he has never finished higher than #12 in his 6 year career.

I read your outlooks on both guys. Just wondering if you had anything to add...

 

[Mike Herman]

I'm curious about your ranking of Gould and Bryant.Gould has been a starter for 2 years and finished #1 and #7. He did that while the Bears finished #15 and #24 in offensive yards, respectively, so he showed last year he can be productive when the offense isn't. You are ranking him at #15 now, well below his past 2 seasons. Is this simply because of a lack of faith in Chicago's offense (can't say I blame you for that) and a resulting projected lack of opportunities? Seems like a bit of an excessive drop.Meanwhile, you are projecting career highs across the board for Bryant, ranking him #8 when he has never finished higher than #12 in his 6 year career.I read your outlooks on both guys. Just wondering if you had anything to add...

Expanding on the Outlook writeups...GOULD: the key factor for any kicker is FG opportunities. Gould has had two consecutive years with a high number of FGA. Historically, teams do not sustain those types of numbers over multiple years. Over the past decade, the Ravens have really been the only exception to that "rule". The Bears could be the next exception, but I went with the odds that they will not be.BRYANT: I wouldn't worry about or factor in most of Bryant's past totals. His two years with the NYG have nothing to do with his present situation. Nor did his year subbing in Indy and Miami. Of his three years with Tampa, last year is not surprisingly most relevant to what kind of scoring opportunities he might be provided this year. The Bucs were a playoff team last year. They have stability in the coaching staff. The OL returns 4 of 5 starters, adding only Faine at center. I consider Garcia the one question mark for carrying over from last year's offensive production. My numbers show TB was 10th in kicker scoring last year. I anticipate Bryant should be in the same ballpark this year, rather than the bottom third where many have him ranked.

 

[Mike Herman]

DENVER

In 2006, Stefan Fatsis persuaded the Denver Broncos to allow him to join the team at its summer training camp as a placekicker, becoming the first writer to suit up for a National Football League camp since George Plimpton in 1963. In this excerpt from his new book, "A Few Seconds of Panic: A 5-Foot-8, 170-Pound, 43-Year-Old Sportswriter Plays in the NFL," he's called on to kick in front of the full team for the first time...

The fifth day of training camp is the first to include field-goal practice. Which means one thing: I might have to kick. I've been preparing for this moment for more than a year. I've gained a dozen pounds and got into the best shape of my life. I've trained with a kicking coach. Three months earlier, I received the call I'd been hoping for: Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen agreeing to let me, a middle-aged former soccer player with no football experience, train with the team all summer and write about it. Now, at Denver's plush facilities in suburban Englewood, Colo., I have a locker and a uniform number (9). I lift weights and attend meetings. I bunk at a Holiday Inn with the other rookies. And now I want to prove that I belong.

In the training room, I rub Flexall, a mentholated aloe vera gel, on my quadriceps, hamstrings and groin, and I slather my neck and face with sunscreen. A trainer stretches my legs. I close my eyes and visualize the full assemblage of 90 players, dozens of coaches and staffers, and the more than 1,000 fans who attend practice daily. I visualize perfect technique. On the field, I ask veteran starting placekicker Jason Elam the plan. "The idea is to kick the ball between the tall, yellow things," he jokes. Jason will kick 10 balls, two apiece with the ball on the 10-, 15-, 20-, 25-, and 30-yard lines, or field goals of 28, 33, 38, 43, and 48 yards. Maybe I'll kick afterward.

With 20 minutes to go until our turn in the spotlight, from inside a Port-O-Let I hear fans talking about me. "He hit four in a row the other day," one says. "But they were 10 yards out and didn't get 10 feet off the ground," another cracks. Everyone's a critic. I take a dozen practice kicks. When I connect from 35 yards, special-teams coach Ronnie Bradford says that if head coach Mike Shanahan summons me to kick in front of the team, "that's going to be your distance." Ronnie's tone is different from the stand-around-and-schmooze banter that characterizes our usual languid kicking routine. He's dead serious.

"One kick?" I ask him.

"One kick," he says.

I move back to 40 yards for one more practice ball before it's time for the field-goal drill. I strike it with my right foot sideways, skip through directly toward the goalposts and land with my toe pointing straight ahead. Flawless form. "Way to go, dog!" a fan screams. But I'm growing visibly nervous. Sweat gathers beneath my helmet. I run to the bathroom again.

The airhorn sounds and Elam trots onto the field with the special-teams unit. Each of his 10 kicks is a tracer bullet that soars through the goalposts and smacks into or passes through the hydraulic video-tower scaffolding beyond the end zone. His perfection is intimidating. On the sideline, still unsure whether I'll get to kick, I shake out my right leg and breathe deeply, the way a sports psychologist had recommended to quell nerves. A few days earlier, Jason had described the kicker's job as "hours and hours of boredom surrounded by a few seconds of panic." These few seconds feel like a lifetime. Then the horn blows again to signal the end of the drill: I'm not kicking. I'm deflated -- this is why I've come to Denver -- but also relieved. My mind had been invaded by an army of tiny, hectoring kickers. Smooth steps back! Be aggressive! Good plant! Head down! Foot perpendicular to ball! Solid hit! Follow through! I couldn't have made a 35-yarder if you had spotted me the first 25. Phew.

Then Shanahan motions the team to the middle of the field. "In this business," he says, "there's a lot of pressure, and a lot of pressure put on kickers. We're going to put some pressure on our kicker, Stefan. He's going to kick. If he makes it, meetings will end at 9:00 instead of 9:30." A war whoop rises from the team. As I record Shanahan's words, safety Nick Ferguson snatches my notebook. "Quit writing!" he shouts. The special teams line up on the 12-yard line -- a 30-yard field goal -- and applause builds as fans realize what's happening. "Come on, nine!" someone calls.

In sports, few things compare with the split second before execution. There's anticipation, of course, but also beauty in the pause: the moment of nothingness before the explosion of everythingness. But instead of appreciating the most unlikely moment of nothingness in my life, I am totally freaking out. I can't see anything around me -- but I can't shut out the fact that I'm surrounded, either. It's as if I'm standing a few inches from an Impressionist painting, the players, the coaches, the fans all dissolving in a pointillistic blur. Suddenly, the offensive line is bending over. I tap the ground with my right foot and take three erratic steps back and two over. My body is shaking, my fingers twitching. Then the ball is snapped and I'm racing forward. Left, right, left -- I feel my left, plant foot slip and my body falling backwards. I kick the grass first and then the ball. I hear shouts of "Get up, get up, get up!" and then "No, no, no!" And a crescendo and decrescendo wave of "Awwwwwwww!" as the ball shoots under the crossbar...

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[Mike Herman]

ST. LOUIS

Asked if he’d consider playing again should a team lose its kicker this fall and make a desperation plea, Jeff Wilkins said, “Not a chance. I started noticing a few years back [that I was] coming down the ladder, that my leg strength wasn’t there and some injuries crept up. I would never say never, but I highly doubt that I would ever [return],” Wilkins said. “It was a great run and I’ve been truly blessed, but it’s time to move on.” He’ll most miss is locker room camaraderie — “hanging out with the guys, the smack talk back and forth during practice.”

Wilkins and his wife, Tina, have daughters ages 16, 6 and 3. They are building a house in Canfield and will move There in early August. Wilkins said he hasn’t decided what he wants to do next in his career, but he has no interest in football coaching. “I give coaches a lot of credit — they put in so many hours,” Wilkins said. “I’m looking forward to enjoying going and watching [football games] and relax a little bit. I’m ready to step back and see what my kids are going to do.”

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[Mike Herman]

MINNESOTA

from the PFW rumor mill...

Rookie PK Steven Hauschka is definitely the underdog in the Vikings’ kicking race behind veteran Ryan Longwell, but don’t rule him out making the roster. Longwell improved his kickoff distance with a strength-training regimen before last season, but Hauschka has impressed the coaches with his power and could either beat Longwell out or vie for a role as a kickoff and long-FG specialist.

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[Mike Herman]

NEW ORLEANS

The New Orleans Saints and kicker Taylor Mehlhaff have agreed to a three-year contract, according to a league source. Mehlhaff was a sixth round pick out of Wisconsin and is expected to compete with Martin Gramatica for the placekicking duties. Mehlhaff finished his career as Wisconsin's second-leading scorer in school history with 295 points and tied for second all-time in field goals with 50. He also holds the Badgers' all-time record by making 145-of-148 extra point attempts. He was a semifinalist for the Lou Groza in 2007, given to the nation's premier place-kicker, and was first-team All-America. He was a three-year starter who handled all field goals and extra-point attempts. In handling kickoff chores, 123 of his attempts were touchbacks and 160 of those kicks were returned for a 19.75-yard average, none for touchdowns.

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[Mike Herman]

DENVER

Denver also cut kicker Garrett Hartley, a rookie free agent out of Oklahoma. That leaves Matt Prater as the only player at the position in wake of veteran Jason Elam’s departure in free agency.

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[Mike Herman]

SAN DIEGO

Nate Kaeding ended a horrible streak by being the only tangible measure of Chargers offense in the AFC Championship Game. He made all four field goals he tried that day, doing it in the cold and wind and with a broken leg. A few days later, he got on a plane feeling personally satisfied. He had done all he could. And then he spent the offseason doing more – investing considerable time and money in getting better. “I haven't performed as well in playoff games as I would have liked,” the Chargers kicker said this week. “I haven't performed as well in bad-weather games as I would have liked. I go back and look at some of my misses and do an evaluation. That's the beauty of sports, especially at this high level, you can always look at yourself objectively and find things that you're not doing as well as you know you can.”

Kaeding is the NFL's most accurate kicker over the past three regular seasons. He has made 88.8 percent of his kicks (71-of-80). He has missed just two of 49 kicks inside 40 yards in that span. And this past January he finally exorcised his playoff demons, which had seen him miss a field goal in each of his first four career playoff games over three postseasons. Status quo, it would seem, should be OK for a guy who two years ago signed a rich contract extension that ties him to the Chargers through 2012. “But you look at what Tiger Woods did four or five years ago,” Kaeding said. “He's the best golfer in the world, and he goes and hires a new swing coach and completely changes his game. Shoot, if he can do it, then why can't this little kicker like me? And that's the fun of it for me, the personal challenge and being competitive. I know as long as I play this game I can always get better.”

Kaeding spent a week in Indianapolis this spring getting a full evaluation of his body to see where he had deficiencies in strength so he could learn how to most effectively work out. And in the past month he began seeing a sports psychologist, so he “can approach the game mentally better.” He is mulling new breathing techniques, as well as “tricks in the mind” to improve in preparation and, ultimately, execution. “I'm hoping to do this a long time,” he said. “Training four days a week for 15 years might get a little repetitive or boring. You just try to keep it fresh and creative, keep the core things I've done right and then build on it.” Kaeding is trying to build up his left side, especially after the lower leg fracture suffered last Christmas Eve trying to make a tackle on a kickoff against Denver. “That's why I invested the time in my body is to get stronger,” he said. “I'm only 26 years old. I know there is a lot of improvement physically I can do. I mean, look at me. I'm about as skinny as it gets.”

One of Kaeding's goals is to boot kickoffs farther. He has never been the strongest kicker, more like middle of the pack among NFL legs. And despite the horrible conditions, he was disappointed in how he kicked off and cost the Chargers field position in the AFC title game. But the other thing that happened in that game had a profoundly positive impact. After missing field goals against Tennessee and Indianapolis the first two weeks, Kaeding acknowledged having doubts. The results – makes from 26, 23, 40 and 24 yards in a sometimes whipping wind, with a bum plant leg – changed him. “It tested me in a lot of different ways,” he said of last postseason. “I feel a lot better and tougher going into the season. If I can overcome that . . . I know I can get it done, if I can get it done in those circumstances.”

Yet he did not want to rest on that. “It's kind of both,” he said. “(The AFC Championship Game) is what is going to have an infinitely better effect on things than some guy helping me. But it's always something I've wanted to do is get a comprehensive evaluation of how an athlete should approach the game and, specifically, how a kicker can handle different psychological situations that I've never delved into before. “I'm doing myself and this team a disservice if I don't do every possible thing to make myself better.”

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[Mike Herman]

TENNESSEE

Titans Pro Bowl kicker Rob Bironas left special teams practice early on Monday morning after appearing to aggravate his groin while kicking off. Bironas left the field after consulting with assistant athletic trainer Don Moseley and punter Craig Hentrich finished handling kickoff duties in practice. The injury didn’t appear serious, and a team official said Bironas was experiencing “tightness.’’

“I’m going to get it checked out, see what it is,’’ Bironas said after practice. “Coach Fisher will let you know.’’ Asked if it was his groin, Bironas replied: “I don’t know what muscle.’’ He didn’t sound overly concerned. "We’re in training camp,’’ Bironas said.

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