My hope for an ending to the musical chairs at kicker is waning

[TD alt]

Nobody's exactly overjoyed with journeyman kicker Matthew Wright. Hell, he's played for six NFL teams during the regular season over five seasons. If he was the answer, why so many? He must be the kind of guy you take when you can't get anyone better. [Enter Ryan Fitzgerald]

I was hoping that our rookie UDFA Ryan Fitzgerald was going to be a hit, being that he missed less than a handful of FGs his last couple of seasons, but yet and still made five FGs over 50 yards last season on only one miss in 2024. But, he's been missing a few, like Matthew Wright, on the so-called skinny posts and he continued missing at Fan Fest, going one of three. I'm beginning to wonder if he's a miss.

Man, I didn't know that it would be such a problem to get a kicker with staying power after Jon Kasay retired. I am loathe to say this, because it's so easy to say in hindsight (and plenty of Huddlers do), but we should've just dumped Gano for Butker. Man, it would just be nice to sign a legit kicker who is here for at least a decade. Now, I'm afraid, it has become a thing. Sure, it's been a thing you say, but I'm surely disappointed because I thought that Fitzgerald would end it. Now? Who knows?

 

https://pantherswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/panthers/2025/08/02/panthers-training-camp-kicker-ryan-fitzgerald-fan-fest-dave-canales/85494382007/

Edited August 3 by TD alt

[lightsout]

Kickers are fickle beasts. It's easy to check out mentally as a specialist. Finding a consistent K, P, or LS is harder than it seems. That's at any level, and at the professional level it's harder because so much can be determined by a single special teams blunder (such as our first Superbowl). 

You ultimately have to take the best available option each year until you find the guy who gets his numbers in practice, tries to perfect his craft and doesn't shrink when the moments come in game. It's not like a QB or LB where you can develop him at this level. His leg strength is what it is, his mechanics can be tweaked to maximize his accuracy and drive, but he's not going to go from a 45 yard range to a 60 with accuracy suddenly. This is why you'll see teams randomly burn a draft pick on one.

 

Going back to 2000, only 49 kickers — now including Moody — have been drafted at all. And of those, only five were taken in the first three rounds of the NFL draft. However, because the NFL draft is also longer now than it used to be, Moody ranks only sixth in overall picks since 2000 — the Cardinals took Bill Gramatica in the fourth round, 98th overall in 2001

 

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/jake-moody-49ers-nfl-highest-drafted-kickers/hlxek3a3ggjwlvxaibq5bm64

 

 

[jfra78]

33 minutes ago, lightsout said:

Kickers are fickle beasts. It's easy to check out mentally as a specialist. Finding a consistent K, P, or LS is harder than it seems. That's at any level, and at the professional level it's harder because so much can be determined by a single special teams blunder (such as our first Superbowl). 

You ultimately have to take the best available option each year until you find the guy who gets his numbers in practice, tries to perfect his craft and doesn't shrink when the moments come in game. It's not like a QB or LB where you can develop him at this level. His leg strength is what it is, his mechanics can be tweaked to maximize his accuracy and drive, but he's not going to go from a 45 yard range to a 60 with accuracy suddenly. This is why you'll see teams randomly burn a draft pick on one.

 

Going back to 2000, only 49 kickers — now including Moody — have been drafted at all. And of those, only five were taken in the first three rounds of the NFL draft. However, because the NFL draft is also longer now than it used to be, Moody ranks only sixth in overall picks since 2000 — the Cardinals took Bill Gramatica in the fourth round, 98th overall in 2001

 

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/jake-moody-49ers-nfl-highest-drafted-kickers/hlxek3a3ggjwlvxaibq5bm64

 

 

We did draft a pretty good kicker just a few years ago

[Khyber53]

So, um, why did we let Eddie go?

I'm sorry, but somehow I just missed what was the actual reason.

[jfra78]

2 minutes ago, Khyber53 said:

So, um, why did we let Eddie go?

I'm sorry, but somehow I just missed what was the actual reason.

FG% 25th, XP% 29th, long t-31st, points 24th

[kungfoodude]

Well one problem seems to be that almost all our attempts to "upgrade" end up actually downgrading. 

Pinero was the exception in that he was leaps and bounds better than Slye and the randos in between.

Although, Eddy's FG% started exceptional and consistently went down each year.

I don't believe we will have an answer this offseason and may not for a long time, given our track record of evaluating that position.

[kungfoodude]

6 hours ago, TD alt said:

Nobody's exactly overjoyed with journeyman kicker Matthew Wright. Hell, he's played for six NFL teams during the regular season over five seasons. If he was the answer, why so many? He must be the kind of guy you take when you can't get anyone better. [Enter Ryan Fitzgerald]

I was hoping that our rookie UDFA Ryan Fitzgerald was going to be a hit, being that he missed less than a handful of FGs his last couple of seasons, but yet and still made five FGs over 50 yards last season on only one miss in 2024. But, he's been missing a few, like Matthew Wright, on the so-called skinny posts and he continued missing at Fan Fest, going one of three. I'm beginning to wonder if he's a miss.

Man, I didn't know that it would be such a problem to get a kicker with staying power after Jon Kasay retired. I am loathe to say this, because it's so easy to say in hindsight (and plenty of Huddlers do), but we should've just dumped Gano for Butker. Man, it would just be nice to sign a legit kicker who is here for at least a decade. Now, I'm afraid, it has become a thing. Sure, it's been a thing you say, but I'm surely disappointed because I thought that Fitzgerald would end it. Now? Who knows?

 

https://pantherswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/panthers/2025/08/02/panthers-training-camp-kicker-ryan-fitzgerald-fan-fest-dave-canales/85494382007/

Had we kept Gano or Butker, we wouldn't be in this situation. Literally either of the options available at that time have been far better than what we ended up with.

Such is the Tepper era Panthers for you, however. Nothing different.

[ChuckWag78]

5 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

Had we kept Gano or Butker, we wouldn't be in this situation. Literally either of the options available at that time have been far better than what we ended up with.

Such is the Tepper era Panthers for you, however. Nothing different.

Butler was a miss, no other way to say it. Gano was asked for a lot of money (relatively for a K). Letting him walk was the right move at the time. 

[NAS]

Not having a reliable kicker is often the difference between wins and losses. Definitely a growing concern

[Carolina Cajun]

39 minutes ago, Khyber53 said:

So, um, why did we let Eddie go?

I'm sorry, but somehow I just missed what was the actual reason.

My belief is he just doesnt have the leg.  Yea, hes accurate, but a lot of kickers could be accurate if never asked to kick 50+ yard field goals.  Because of that, it meant we had to move on.  If Wright and Fitzgerald struggle, I'd actually be ok bringing Zane Gonzalez back.  Hes not on a roster and when he was healthy, he was a pretty reliable kicker for us.

[Carolina Cajun]

8 minutes ago, NAS said:

Not having a reliable kicker is often the difference between wins and losses. Definitely a growing concern

For the past few years it hasnt been an issue but mostly because we were so bad as a team it didnt matter very much.  I do think itll be a bit different this year.  I dont know if we'll make the playoffs, but I do think/hope we'll be far more competitive.

[kungfoodude]

9 minutes ago, ChuckWag78 said:

Butler was a miss, no other way to say it. Gano was asked for a lot of money (relatively for a K). Letting him walk was the right move at the time. 

If the concern on Gano was his health, the move was correct. Not on the financial side. It has proven to be foolish.

As I said, both of those guys have had success post-Panthers while we have floundered at the position since them.

I said when we got rid of Gano that we would regret it and we definitely have.

Even with Butker and Gano declining in effectiveness over the years since, they are still far better than what we have had since.

If the FSU kid doesn't pan out, we will be right back here next offseason.

[jfra78]

5 minutes ago, Carolina Cajun said:

My belief is he just doesnt have the leg.  Yea, hes accurate, but a lot of kickers could be accurate if never asked to kick 50+ yard field goals.  Because of that, it meant we had to move on.  If Wright and Fitzgerald struggle, I'd actually be ok bringing Zane Gonzalez back.  Hes not on a roster and when he was healthy, he was a pretty reliable kicker for us.

He wasn't even accurate.  I was always nervous when he kicked xps

Edited August 3 by jfra78

[jfra78]

3 minutes ago, Carolina Cajun said:

For the past few years it hasnt been an issue but mostly because we were so bad as a team it didnt matter very much.  I do think itll be a bit different this year.  I dont know if we'll make the playoffs, but I do think/hope we'll be far more competitive.

There were games we could have won if we had a morereliable kicker