Jaguars Kicking Circus
Well, another season, another head coach and yet another kicker. Sound familiar? If it does, you have followed the Jacksonville Jaguars long enough. While this year’s training camp under new head coach Doug Pederson is almost nothing compared to the Camp Meyer fiasco, the Jags still have their problems filling important positions including kicker this training camp.
Kick the ball through the big yellow uprights, please.
New Jaguars special teams coordinator Heath Farwell has his work cut out for him this training camp. First, undrafted free agent kicker Andrew Mevis had to be cut early in camp for being, well, a danger to the public. Mevis wildly shanked his kicking attempts so many times that he actually hit bystanders covering the Jags training camp. Wildly missing the uprights is a rite of passage for any budding middle school kicker but this is the National Football League and aimlessly missing field goal tries that badly is a sure one-way ticket home from training camp.
Enter the kicking competition.
Once the Jaguars training camp got into full swing in preparation for the Hall of Fame game against the Las Vegas Raiders, the Jags kicking competition heated up between the remaining kicker on the roster – Ryan Santoso and newly signed free agent Elliot Fry. Both kickers auditioned via the Raiders game with Santoso trying to push in a 60-yard FG which missed and kicking two additional kickoffs to show his leg strength. Elliot Fry made his one FG attempt from 46 yards out and had one touchback on a kickoff.
Both kickers are journeymen who’ve been on multiple NFL rosters and looking to make Jacksonville their new football home. However, Fry injured his kicking leg against the Cleveland Browns and the Jaguars cut him in the first round of roster cuts.
Santoso may be the next Jaguars kicker . . .or maybe not.
Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson already states that he ‘wants to see more” out of the kickers as training camp moves into the second week of the preseason and while Ryan Santoso currently is the Jaguars kicker, the Jags front office certainly can find a plethora of kickers cut from other rosters and bring them in for tryouts. With so many NFL games decided in the last seconds this past season, the Jags need to find the “right” kicker they can rely on in clutch situations and Ryan Santoso no doubt faces additional competition in the days and weeks ahead before the start of the regular season.
