Are there any solid kickers available this off-season?

[Dale]

IF we do fire Hoffman, who is one of the few true kicking coaches in the league from what I understand, is that a possible sign we'll start taking a more serious approach in obtaining quality kickers?

We have a good punter, but I think Cundiff has proven time and again that he can be replaced.

Are there any good alternatives out there, other than the usual cast of characters?

[Yeagermeister]

There is this one guy named Chad Peters who I have been told is one hell of a kicker :D

[TX_Yid]

IF we do fire Hoffman, who is one of the few true kicking coaches in the league from what I understand, is that a possible sign we'll start taking a more serious approach in obtaining quality kickers?

We have a good punter, but I think Cundiff has proven time and again that he can be replaced.

Are there any good alternatives out there, other than the usual cast of characters?
Kicking looks like a piece of piss.. for a couple of hundred grand i'd be more than willing to do it.

[Eddie]

Kicking looks like a piece of piss.. for a couple of hundred grand i'd be more than willing to do it.

If you learned to long snap, you could make a mil from JJ and work until you're 50.

[junk]

Adam Vinateri
Wade Richey
Gary Anderson
Morten Anderson
Todd Peterson
Steve Christie


At least that is what is listed here, it is a good starting resource for 2005 free agents. I am sure there will the usual spate of other FA kickers hanging about as well. I can't keep track of them, they seem to hop around a bit.

http://www.profootball************/free_agents.htm

BTW, the stars are central. Don't know why it is filtered. Mods don't seem to know either.

[Displaced Cowboy]

Mike Nugent.

Use an early pick on him and the kicker spot is settled for years to come.

[big dog cowboy]

Mike Nugent.

Use an early pick on him and the kicker spot is settled for years to come.

That is my answer. I've been pimping him a long time. Spend the draft pick. End the endless search which seems to happen every other year. If we are going to waste a 7th rounder on a special teams player which won't help our special teams again this year, lets go with Nugent. At least he will have a impact.

[Nerm]

[QUOTE=junk]Adam Vinateri
Wade Richey
Gary Anderson
Morten Anderson
Todd Peterson
Steve Christie
QUOTE]

I wonder what Vinateri will get. I thought he was just extended 2 years ago.

He is the best big game kicker I have ever seen, and by far the best in the NFL right now.

47 yards... in the snow... with the game on the line... = Automatic 3 points.

The question is, how much $

[BoysFanInAustin]

I wouldn't mind the Boys going after the most clutch kicker in the game, Adam Vinatieri. And he has ties to Parcells when BP coached in NE. He was the kicker for the Pats while BP was coaching the Pats in Superbowl XXXI when the Pats lost to the Packers.

[billyrags]

That is my answer. I've been pimping him a long time. Spend the draft pick. End the endless search which seems to happen every other year. If we are going to waste a 7th rounder on a special teams player which won't help our special teams again this year, lets go with Nugent. At least he will have a impact.

I would take Nugent in a heartbeat and I hate Ohio State. However, don't be foolish and think that you could get him in the 7th. We would have to use our 4th or maybe even trade back into the 3rd (and it wouldn't suprise me if someone pulled the trigger in the 2nd). He is that good! His kickoffs are unbelievable and he is clutch on kicks from 40-55. He could be the Cowboy's next 41 year old player because he will play that long.

[Nabon]

Todd Peterson the 9ers kicker! Todds is up to be URFA

Tods a vet just on my team the 9ers and I dont no if the new coach will resign him or draft Nugent out of Osu, anyway hes 18 for 22 in FGA for FGM, and made all 23 xp, and hes got a long of 51...

Billy has 20 for 26, and made 31 out of 31xp, and a long of 49...

[big dog cowboy]

I would take Nugent in a heartbeat and I hate Ohio State. However, don't be foolish and think that you could get him in the 7th. We would have to use our 4th or maybe even trade back into the 3rd (and it wouldn't suprise me if someone pulled the trigger in the 2nd). He is that good! His kickoffs are unbelievable and he is clutch on kicks from 40-55. He could be the Cowboy's next 41 year old player because he will play that long.

Exactly correct.

He MUST be a Cowboy.

[zagnut]

I agree with the earlier poster on Todd Peterson. He'd be a solid addition. His only bad year appears to have been in Pittsburgh. Otherwise he's been very accurate inside the 50.

The PK for Pittsburgh, Jeff Reed, is a RFA as far as I know. He was undrafted, so compensation would only happen if they tendered him at 1st round money -- $1.4 million, I think.

For the conditions he kicks in, he's reads as pretty accurate and has a strong leg. Stats from NFL.com:

2002
10 of 10 inside the 40
6 of 7 40-49
1 of 2 50+ (Long of 50)

2003
15 of 19 inside the 40
7 of 12 40-49
1 of 1 50+ (Long of 51)

2004
21 of 23 inside the 40
5 of 8 40-49
2 of 2 50+ (Long of 51)

Kickoffs
62 yard avg; 7 touchbacks; 21.6 return avg

[jterrell]

Mike Nugent.

Use an early pick on him and the kicker spot is settled for years to come.
So you want to draft him in round 2?
He probably wont be there in 4 and we dont have a 3rd.

[silverbear]

There are no FA kickers out there that I'd pursue, simply because none of them is particularly good at kicking off... I agree with Parcells about how important field position is, and I'm SICK of watching Cundiff's kickoffs come down at the 10... even with the best kick coverage unit in the NFL last year, the opponents were generally starting out near their 30...

But there are several quality kickers in this draft with what appears to be strong legs... Nugent is probably the best, and he seems to have some clutch in him... however, you'd have to spend a first day pick on him, and I don't know if a team in the Cowboys' position can afford to do that...

Better alternatives with strong legs include:

Jonathon Nichols, Ole Miss
Rhys Lloyd, Minnesota
Tyler Jones, Boise State
Dave Rayner, Mississippi State

Nichols will likely be a 4th or 5th round pick, the others late round/free agent types... as I noted in another thread, I particularly like Jones, who had 54 of his 103 kickoffs go for touchbacks in 2002 (when he was Boise State's kickoff/long FG specialist)...

[Eskimo]

I think vet kickers can usually be had for fairly cheap, whereas 2nd round draft picks are the lifeline of a moribund franchise such as ours - forget about Nugent unless he is there in the 4th round which is unlikely.

We can recoup most of the extra cost from signing a vet kicker by cutting Jeff Robinson's overpaid arse. We're paying the LS $1.6M/yr but only paying the min salary to the kicker - does that make any sense? JJ defended the move at the time by saying he could play TE - only thing was he got injured in his first TC and then they decided he was too valuable to risk losing to injury by having him play regularly in the offense.

I remember the season when Grau was our LS when Robinson was injured and he probably did as good a job as Robinson. When Robinson came back they release Grau even though he was nearly as good and cost much, much less. Just further proof that we need a new GM who makes sound personnel decisions.

On the point about keeping Cundiff for short kickoffs and bringing in a long FG kicker/KO man the only problem is that you waste an active spot on the gameday roster by doing that. Perhaps McBriar can become the KO man with an offseason working with Hoffman (if he isn't fired).

[silverbear]

On the point about keeping Cundiff for short kickoffs and bringing in a long FG kicker/KO man the only problem is that you waste an active spot on the gameday roster by doing that. Perhaps McBriar can become the KO man with an offseason working with Hoffman (if he isn't fired).

I hear ya, but I think with a 53 man roster, you can afford the luxury of carrying a second kicker... OTOH, if Tyler outkicked Cundiff in training camp, I'd have no problem with cutting Billy...

I just think that Cundiff is serviceable on kicks from about 45 in...

[Eskimo]

I hear ya, but I think with a 53 man roster, you can afford the luxury of carrying a second kicker... OTOH, if Tyler outkicked Cundiff in training camp, I'd have no problem with cutting Billy...

I just think that Cundiff is serviceable on kicks from about 45 in...

The issue really isn't the 53-man roster. It is the 45-man active gameday roster that makes things tight when it comes to these things.

If this guy Jones has the leg for the kickoffs and is just as good as Cundiff on the short stuff then it would be well worth a 6th or 7th rounder to acquire him in the draft. AdamJT13 thinks we should get a couple of 6th round compensatory picks this year for Edwards and Ekuban.

[silverbear]

The issue really isn't the 53-man roster. It is the 45-man active gameday roster that makes things tight when it comes to these things.

If this guy Jones has the leg for the kickoffs and is just as good as Cundiff on the short stuff then it would be well worth a 6th or 7th rounder to acquire him in the draft. AdamJT13 thinks we should get a couple of 6th round compensatory picks this year for Edwards and Ekuban.

Wow, I didn't know that... that would be kewl...

And Adam's almost always right about that kind of thing... I trust him completely...

[KINGBRICE_28]

I'm 50/50 on xp'S and can punt 30 yards consistently......think I should call? :cool:

Nm...I'll stick to my semi pro league.....LMAO