Should we draft a kicker ?

[darkwing99]

The kicker from Memphis looks good, and I would for once like to get a young kicker who will be with us for a long time. Our pick in the 6th round = Gostkowski, Stephen

Comon , I think he will be perfect. A young kicker with a very strong leg and good size, and has depth on kickoffs for us. What do you guys think?

[spudstr04]

i agree, we need to get rid of hall, and i watched this guy on the skills kicking game thing on espn, he is good.

[darkwing99]

I mean the kid has some strong legs and is a big guy, 6'2 200lbs. He has no character issues that I know off and is young. The reason why I brought this up was because it looks highly likely that John Hall will be cut, for salary cap reasons, and always pulling a quad muscle or something else.
Gostkowski is not only young, but looks good kicking and we will lock up a good kicker for years to come. This should also hopefully settle our kicking issue once and for all. well, at least for a couple of years. Next problem is a good punter we can draft as well.

[ii7-V7]

Even my wife...who knows nothing about football...said that we need a better kicker. In fact she actually said that the Skins should hire her grandmother show would probably do better.

Its funny that I don't usually see this as a team need but I definetly feel that its a need. I don't know however if GIbbs will draft a kicker. He seems to like to get vets at that position.

Will Tupa be comng back next year?

Chad

[darkwing99]

Aghh... what do I know? I am just a Redskin fan. I just hope we do good in this draft that's all. But I do trust Joe Gibbs in making good decisions in this draft, and that's all I got to say.

[The Hogster]

I got berated for saying Hall sucked last year. Drafting a kicker might be an option.

[hkHog]

Remember, kicker may be the strongest and deepest position in FA this year. I wouldn't be surprised if we went that route to pick up a PK. I think that's more likely than getting one through the draft.

[EA7649]

Remember, kicker may be the strongest and deepest position in FA this year. I wouldn't be surprised if we went that route to pick up a PK. I think that's more likely than getting one through the draft.

Vinetari is a FA. I wish we signed him he is great!

[air_hog]

I don't think we should Draft a Kicker, but I do think we should draft a Punter... aka Tom Malone.

Malone has a royal boot and accuraccy, and the only reason he didn't win best Punter was because he played on USC and they only punted like 20 times the whole seaason.

Frost will be gone, and this will be like Tupa's 20th year. But with Malone, we will have a dominant Punter for a good 10 years.

[rick301]

We need to replace Hall and Frost - both are unreliable - either injury prone or inconsistent.

[skinsRin]

The kicker from Memphis looks good, and I would for once like to get a young kicker who will be with us for a long time. Our pick in the 6th round = Gostkowski, Stephen

Comon , I think he will be perfect. A young kicker with a very strong leg and good size, and has depth on kickoffs for us. What do you guys think?

Yeah he looked good, I saw the skills challange also. I would not draft a kicker before the 6th round. So, I do agree with you.

[JonC56]

I dont understand why some think kicker is an issue. This is the same guy who made a 48 yd FG at Tampa in the playoffs, right. If he can stay healthy I think he is in the upper echelon of kickers in the league. His health is definetly an issue though.

[1niksder]

Remember, kicker may be the strongest and deepest position in FA this year. I wouldn't be surprised if we went that route to pick up a PK. I think that's more likely than getting one through the draft.

Place-kicker
Last season New England placed its franchise tag on Adam Vinatieri, a 10-year veteran who remains a model of consistency. Vinatieri gets the ball up quickly and with authority, handles poor weather extremely well and arguably is the best high-pressure kicker in the history of the league. Expect the Patriots to franchise him again if they aren't able to come to terms on a long-term deal.
Mike Vanderjagt probably is headed out of Indianapolis, especially in the wake of his badly shanked attempt (which would have tied the game) in the Colts' playoff loss to Pittsburgh. He missed only two field goals last season and accounted for 121 points, but Vanderjagt has caused some friction in the locker room in the past. He still is an excellent kicker and, far more often than not, has been effective in pressure situations.

Though his home field is indoors, Vanderjagt has performed well in the elements. One glaring weakness: his poor performance on kickoffs. Worse, Vanderjagt openly dislikes those duties and doesn't want to work to get better at them. That said, there will be a strong market for his services.
Matt Bryant, Todd Peterson and Joe Nedney were solid last season, and their respective teams would love to bring each of them back.

Minnesota's Paul Edinger was inconsistent in 2005, but he has loads of talent. Potential suitors might be somewhat turned off by his slow, awkward approach on place-kicks. But with teams such as Dallas having had so many issues at the position, Edinger will be in demand.

Though he represented only one of many areas in which Green Bay came up short in '05, Ryan Longwell struggled more than the Packers could have expected. A steady veteran until last season, he will get another shot, probably with a new team. But his stock has dropped quite a bit in the last year.
Restricted free agent Josh Brown is a talent who made a number of clutch kicks for Seattle last season. The Seahawks have bigger priorities -- RB Shaun Alexander and LG Steve Hutchinson are key free agents -- but shouldn't forget about Brown, who should be an upper-echelon kicker for years to come. Expect Seattle to get Brown signed to a long-term deal before others can get to him.

Overall, this is an excellent group of free-agent kickers.


Punter

After averaging 43.5 yards per punt in just his fourth NFL season, Baltimore's Dave Zastudil could be the most sought-after punter in this free-agent class. His directional punting still needs a lot of work, but the lefty has a big leg and should continue to improve.
Carolina's Jason Baker, a five-year veteran, is coming of a fine season. He dropped 23 punts inside the 20-yard-line (compared to just four touchbacks). He also can kick off in a pinch and is one of the league's top directional punters.

Cleveland's Kyle Richardson struggled for much of last season, and the Browns likely will try to upgrade. Though Richardson gets decent hang time, he ranked near the bottom of the league in punting average and has had durability issues over his career.

Bryan Barker didn't make many mistakes with St. Louis, but after 16 years in the league and an unspectacular '05 season (his 42.7-yard average ranked 19th in the league) he appears to be slowing down. Barker initially won't get many looks in free agency, but he could be a down-the-line fallback option for a needy team.

A team or two could make a run at restricted free agent Dirk Johnson, who has a lot of upside. But Philadelphia would have the potential to match any offer he receives.

This year's group of free-agent punters is an ordinary one.

ESPN Insider

[Redskin in Canada]

Competition is good. :-"

[SCSkinsFan]

Should we draft one? No. Do we need an upgrade at both positions? Yes!

[JonC56]

This is what I think are more pressing needs then kicker in order:
1. WR
2 DT, DE
3. gaurd
4. cb
5. punter
6. then kicker.


Corner and punter I think are interchangeable. We have proven we need to depth at CB. I'm all for competition but not at the expense of filling other needs first.

[darkwing99]

This is what I think are more pressing needs then kicker in order:
1. WR
2 DT, DE
3. gaurd
4. cb
5. punter
6. then kicker.

Comon that does not make any sense. How in this world would any sane person want to draft a punter in the 5th round? Makes no sense at all, punters you can get in free agency. Comon that does not make any sense. However it is hard to find a good kicker in free agency that I feel we won't over pay. I would rather draft a kicker in the 6th round, where other positions start to drop in thier level of talent but kickers are still good. Nobody drafts a punter in the 5th round period.That is reserved for depth at other positions, prefferably o-line or d-line.

[1niksder]

This is what I think are more pressing needs then kicker in order:
1. WR
2 DT, DE
3. gaurd
4. cb
5. punter
6. then kicker.

Comon that does not make any sense. How in this world would any sane person want to draft a punter in the 5th round? Makes no sense at all, punters you can get in free agency. However it is hard to find a good kicker in free agency that I feel we won't over pay. I would rather draft a kicker in the 6th round, where other positions start to drop in thier level of talent but kickers are still good. Nobody drafts a punter in the 5th round period.That is reserved for depth at other positions, prefferably o-line or d-line.

That's his order of NEED not the order he would draft them or he'd have to wait a year to get a WR

[darkwing99]

oh ok, that makes a lot more sense. But we need a kicker before a punter in my opinion.

[JonC56]

This is what I think are more pressing needs then kicker in order:
1. WR
2 DT, DE
3. gaurd
4. cb
5. punter
6. then kicker.

Comon that does not make any sense. How in this world would any sane person want to draft a punter in the 5th round? Makes no sense at all, punters you can get in free agency.

I would rather draft a kicker in the 6th round, where other positions start to drop in thier level of talent but kickers are still good. Nobody drafts a punter in the 5th round period.That is reserved for depth at other positions, prefferably o-line or d-line.

First off those were team needs in order, not how we should use our draft picks. Considering we dont have a first round pick it might be tough to draft a WR there . The picks we have our a second, third, fifth, 2 sixth, and a seventh. So as you can see I wasnt basing it on draft picks.

[HEROHAMO]

I say we dont waste any picks on a kicker. We should use all our picks on recievers and D-lineman.

[The Hogster]

We don't need a punter, we have one he was just on IR last year.