It seems like I've seen a lot of members that is against drafting a kicker. Do you just don't want to waste even a late 7th round pick on special teams or are you not comfortable with a rookie kicker? I personally would like the team to draft one of the Florida school kickers, Sturgis or Hopkins.
Are you against drafting a kicker?
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Attyla the Hawk
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I guess I'm a bit ambivalent. I certainly don't want a day 1 or 2 pick on a kicker.
The position just seems to have flattened out to such a degree -- that really the difference between your UFA and drafted guy is virtually negligible.
Take last offseason. Plenty of fans were critical of letting Mare go. We picked up some guy off the UFA heap and he does well for us. That's not to say that is always the case. But it's enough of the case that I'm not losing sleep if we just get a UDFA guy or take one in round 7.
Hopkins isn't going to be the reason we don't have postseason success.
The position just seems to have flattened out to such a degree -- that really the difference between your UFA and drafted guy is virtually negligible.
Take last offseason. Plenty of fans were critical of letting Mare go. We picked up some guy off the UFA heap and he does well for us. That's not to say that is always the case. But it's enough of the case that I'm not losing sleep if we just get a UDFA guy or take one in round 7.
Hopkins isn't going to be the reason we don't have postseason success.
kearly
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I was back when it looked like we might need all 10 of those picks. But after all the moves in free agency, Seattle is likely to get a better return on a 7th rounder drafting a kicker than most other positions. I'd still prefer to keep Hauschka, but if a rookie comes in and goes Blair Walsh on us, then obviously that's a very good thing.
FlyingGreg
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We have four 7th round picks. Seems like a good time to use one on a kicker.
Happypuppy
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No. I agree use one of the 7th rd picks.
Largent80
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Draft a kicker. Why the hell not?
ivotuk
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4 - 7th round picks, I say draft two kickers! The kid from Florida state, and the one from Florida. I've been unable to make up my mind which one is better, although I'm leaning Fl. St. But heck with that! Draft 'em both and let them fight it out in camp. The one with the better kick off wins!
gmor
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Not at all. Dropping a pick on one usually means they are one of the better ones coming out. The kicker position can be undervalued.
Hasselbeck
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Kickers should not be taken for granted.. I hope we draft one and bring them in to compete with Hauschka
QuahHawk
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I'm up for drafting 1 kicker. Mabye even in the 6th if we can still get our guys in the 7th
mech.romance
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I wouldn't mind using a 7th on a kicker, but for the love of cybertron, please don't use a 3rd rounder on one like the Jaguars did.
Scouts Inc has the 2 florida kickers as a 5th and 6th round.
http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft/dr ... pe/defense
http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft/dr ... pe/defense
Hasselbeck
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Attyla the Hawk":1mqzw8m6 said:
No - but he, or any other kicker, could be the decisive factor in winning a playoff game.
Think the Falcons love Matt Bryant? That FG he hit was incredibly clutch back in January.
David Akers missed a huge FG in the Super Bowl.
Billy Cundiff's gaffe a year before kept the Ravens from forcing OT to possibly make a Super Bowl.
And the list goes on and on. You can be as 'ambivalent' towards kickers as you want, the fact is.. they are VERY important .. especially late in the season/playoffs when games are much much tighter.
Hasselbeck
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mech.romance":2gqgq3gk said:
Doubt anyone is vouching for this. But the 6th or 7th round would be a good place to look at one.
Attyla the Hawk
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Hasselbeck":bsx6k3ik said:
That's true. But it's a numbers thing. If every kicker is hitting 87%+ of their kicks or whatever, then it doesn't really matter. Drafting a guy doesn't have any impact on whether that postseason kick is one of the 17 of 20 that are good.
The difference is virtually impossible to quantify. Hauschka was let go (as was Mare) because they missed too many clutch kicks by their former teams. We picked them up and they played great. Did they just magically become great in the interlude between employers? No. They just kept kicking at their normal baseline.
I should make it clear. I'm not ambivalent against having a quality kicker. I am however ambivalent about the assertion that we need to draft one to have a quality kicker. Because there is clearly NO correlation between kicker quality and whether they were ever drafted. It's pretty easy to make that case using any 3 or 4 year period.
volsunghawk
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Hasselbeck":18eb66hs said:
Kickers are far less important than scoring TDs and preventing the other team from scoring TDs.
And the fact remains that the difference between a kicker you might draft early and a kicker available in UDFA is essentially nil.
I guess my point is that, yeah, don't just sign any scrub.... make someone earn it in camp against a vet. But don't spend draft capital on one, because that's just wasteful.
