Week 15 NFL Thread: Come to Minnesota and shovel snow!

The history of placekickers suggests that no accurate appraisal can be done of their work until they get to training camp. So their draft position is irrelevant, the issue is knowing you have a good one when you see one.

 

Keep basing your argument on the draft. I'll base mine on the games.

 

Bubbler, if you think a guy making one or two kicks a game and not a QB throwing TDs or not throwing INTs, a LB making an open field tackle or a running back making 10 superior runs a game is what determines who wins a game, then we can just disagree.

 

Kickers are like closers in baseball. They seldom seem important, until they screw up with the game on the line.

 

Why, if you're a decent team and already spending upwards of a hundred million dollars in payroll would you not spring an extra mill or 2 to ensure you have a reliable kicker? I'm not saying spend a draft pick on one but if I'm a top team, I think I don't mind spending a little extra on a reliable kicker. Ask the Patriots about having one.

 

Because there's no such thing as a reliable kicker. At the NFL level, they have their good years and bad, but they all end up around 80%.

 

Same as previous response. There's a huge difference between the best closer and an average one. NFL kickers are a dime a dozen, for the most part.

If you could find the Rivera of NFL kickers, you'd pay him. But he's not out there.

 

but you can minimize the risk.

 

I'd argue that Vinatieri was the Rivera of kickers, for a few years at least until injuries and age caught up to him. And the Colts did pay him, after he fired his first agent, who had told the Patriots that he was willing to accept a lower offer to stay with the team.