That's my point. Even last season the staff just sat on their hands.
I don't think they'll do that this year. They had some level of trust in Zuerlein, blind to an extent since they didn't bring in any competition despite him coming off his second back surgery. I know some of us wanted competition based on Zuerlein's previous season, but even though he only made 82.9 percent of his kicks that year (just like in 2021), he was 31 of 32 inside the 50 and he still was pretty clutch with the game on the line.
I wanted us to bring in Jose Borregales last year. Instead, we decided to let the punter kick to not overwork Greg the Leg and ended up paying for it. I'm glad we brought in both Garibay and Hallelujah this year and am OK with letting it play out a little longer. In fact, Borregales may be one of those kickers who eventually comes available because he's competing with Ryan Succop in Tampa.
Here's an article on how that competition is going:
Buccaneers may be forced to cut a key Super Bowl contributor soon
By
Evan Winter
-
August 5, 2022
The
Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ kicking competition is essentially
in a dead heat as they continue through training camp.
Which is kind of strange territory for both the Buccaneers and their fans.
It’s not a dead heat due to inefficiency, either. Both Ryan Succop and Jose Borregales have been very, very good – rarely missing kicks from all areas of the field.
Borregales reportedly killed it during the Buccaneers’ latest practice on Friday, making all six kicks, with a long of “50ish”, per
The Athletic‘s Greg Auman.
This is obviously a great situation to be in if you’re the Buccaneers. It’s exactly how training camp is supposed to go. You want every player to be on point enough to where final cuts are near-impossible decisions to make.
