Caleb Sturgis And The Bucs
February 11th, 2018
General manager Jason Licht should be chasing a kicker
One of the very dumbest things the Buccaneers could do this year is to gift the kicking job to incumbent Patrick Murray.
There’s no reason to do it. Murray is not a special kicker.
Yes, Murray stabilized the position for Tampa Bay after the Nick Folk debacle, which came after the Roberto Aguayo insanity. Murray felt like a godsend, but he was not good from 50+ yards — in a league that’s getting better and better from 50+ yards.
He finished last season 19-of-23 on field goals (82.6 percent) with a longest of 50 yards.
So Joe believes the Bucs should invest in a free agent kicker; try to finally end the kicking circus that dates back to before Jason Licht took over as general manager in 2014.
Eagless kicker Caleb Sturgis is expected to be a free agent. He’s been a good kicker and was one until he injured his hip in September. The rest is history. His Week 2 replacement, fifth-round rookie Jake Elliott, had a strong season and was a perfect 7-for-7 on field goals through the Super Bowl. So Sturgis will hit the market.
Sturgis, 28, was off to a great start last season (3-for-3) and was coming off a strong 2016 campaign.
Joe really can’t think of a reason why the Bucs wouldn’t seriously consider Sturgis to compete with Murray.
February 11th, 2018 at 10:34 pm
Folk was the debacle, not Foles.
Of course, if you lose your starting QB, your season is over because backup QBs never win anything.
tickrdr
February 11th, 2018 at 10:49 pm
all things considered, the kicker should be kicking extra point try’s and kick offs
relying on a kicker for wins is not smart
February 11th, 2018 at 10:59 pm
Please make this happen. We lost a lot of games last year because we couldn’t rely on a solid kicking game.
February 11th, 2018 at 11:08 pm
They really need these 3 points, since it’s so difficult for them to score touchdowns. Then all they need is a defense that can hold their opposition to field goals.
February 11th, 2018 at 11:26 pm
Firing the DL coach in an attempt to asses the blame of a lost 2017 seaso…… oh, wait.
February 11th, 2018 at 11:51 pm
Lol why did we ever let go of Matt Ryan?
February 12th, 2018 at 12:17 am
Do wish Nick Foles had a chance to be a debacle here. I think Joe made a Freudean slip
February 12th, 2018 at 12:18 am
Matt Bryant lol
February 12th, 2018 at 6:47 am
Is everybody still drunk this morning?
February 12th, 2018 at 7:41 am
LOL tickrdr
I see what you did there 🙂
February 12th, 2018 at 8:14 am
I’d love to see Sturgis wear the ugly brown orange gray and red of the Buccaneers. BTW – can we bring the super bowl uniforms back?
February 12th, 2018 at 10:31 am
Someone always seems to say it and today I am going to be that guy. Anyone know why we cutt Matt Bryant?
February 12th, 2018 at 2:03 pm
K are like RP in baseball…Not sure what you’ll get, yr-to-yr ….But IMO shuffling through retreads & cast-offs is not a sure fire way to find a good one! Don’t get me wrong…I’m all for getting a K or 2 into camp to compete for the job with Murray…But I’m thinking a late 6th rd draft swing on Daniel Carlson/AUB & prioritizing (likely) UDFA Austin Macginnis/UK. Both have the leg/stones to win a starting job in the league.
February 12th, 2018 at 4:13 pm
Murray lost the Carolina and Falcons game – not sure why anyone wouldn’t want him to have some serious competition. Personally if Baker sticks around I’ve had him taunting every guy they pickup until they find one that can perform while he verbally assaults him, might as well get something out of Baker.
February 12th, 2018 at 4:18 pm
doolnutts – here’s what was said at the time…
“Bryant was released even though his 83.1 field goal rate in four seasons is the best in franchise history. He injured his right hamstring in practice last month and did not kick in the preseason.”
If you look at the numbers Murray % is almost the same as Bryant. So you had a fairly average kicker, with good range, that was injured and they needed someone to kick. I guess they thought no one would pick him up.
With that said Bryant, even with as good as he’s been with the Falcons, before the Bucs he was a bit of a journeyman and from a stat standpoint has benefited from kicking indoors. If he had stayed with the Bucs or the Giants, I wonder if he would have had the career he had.
February 12th, 2018 at 8:04 pm
Could have a pretty solid camp competition. Bring back Murray, bring in Sturgis, and Cairo Santos. Let them battle it out.