The Tampa Bay Buccaneers find themselves in a familiar (if unwelcome) situation: needing a kicker. After cutting Ryan Succop, the Bucs are back on the hunt, and knowing general manager Jason Licht, it may well lead them to the NFL Draft.
While Succop was a reliable kicker within 50 yards of the uprights, he was all but useless beyond it, making just two of seven field goal attempts beyond 50 yards in 2022. This was less of a problem when the Bucs had Tom Brady leading the best scoring offense in the league, but that is no longer a luxury they enjoy.
The Bucs saved $3.75 million against the cap by cutting Succop. Their current financial woes make it unlikely that they will be able to pay a top-end free-agent kicker to replace him.
That leaves the draft or signing an undrafted free agent, which may not be ideal. Jason Licht has not been very successful drafting kickers, trading up to the second round for Roberto Aguayo in 2016 and taking Matt Gay in the fifth round in 2019.
Aguayo flamed out almost immediately. He struggled mightily his rookie season, making just 71% of his field goals. The Bucs cut him in 2017 and he never kicked in the NFL again.
Gay also struggled his rookie year and was also cut by the Bucs after just one season. However, he managed to turn things around with the Los Angeles Rams, becoming one of the league’s most accurate kickers and signing the biggest free agent contract for a kicker ever with the Indianapolis Colts.
Despite the lack of success in the draft, it is the cheapest option for the Bucs, who have five picks between rounds five and six. Ideally, the Bucs would simply sign a kicker as an undrafted free agent, freeing up their draft capital for more valuable positions, but that has not warded Licht off in the past.
Here are rookie kickers the Bucs could target in the draft and in free agency afterward: