Tag: trey wolff

Titans sign K Michael Badgley, waive both young kickers

The Titans have parted ways with both Caleb Shudak and Trey Wolff in favor of veteran Michael Badgley.

After an entire offseason of wondering who was going to win the competition between kickers Caleb Shudak and Trey Wolff, the answer resoundingly ended up being neither of them.

Tennessee parted ways with both Shudak and Wolff on Tuesday afternoon, and have now chosen to go with veteran kicker Michael Badgley.

Badgley had a brief and unsuccessful stint with the Titans in 2021 before revitalizing his career with the Colts and Lions, making 85.7 and 83.3 percent of his kicks, respectively, the last two years.

As for Shudak and Wolff, the two of them appeared to have strong training camps, but Wolff ended up missing 1-of-2 field goals in the preseason, and Shudak barely made his lone attempt.

The Titans entered the offseason looking for a kicker with a bigger leg, and while both young kickers seemed to have that trait, clearly it wasn’t enough for Tennessee to move forward with either.

Badgley is now the only kicker on the Titans’ roster and it appears as if it’s his job to lose. However, the “Money Badger” is already having a rough go of it at his first practice.

This situation is still fluid, but Badgley did end his rough day on a high note by nailing a 49-yard field goal to end practice.

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Update on Titans’ kicker competition going into 3rd week of training camp

An updated look at the Titans’ kicker competition ahead of the third week of camp and first preseason game.

The Tennessee Titans’ kicking competition between Trey Wolff and Caleb Shudak continues to be a toss-up two weeks into training camp.

It seems as if the Titans are choosing to alternate between the two kickers each practice, allowing them to operate as if they are the team’s primary kicker every other practice.

According to Jim Wyatt of TennesseeTitans.com, Wolff was 6-of-7 in a field goal period during Friday’s practice, with makes from 33, 40, 47, 52, 33, and 43 yards out, and a miss from 46,

Wolff had another miss on top of the 46-yarder, with the Texas Tech product failing to hit a 55-yard attempt to end a mock two-minute drill. In total, Wolff has now made 32 of his 36 kicks in camp (88.9 percent).

As for Shudak, he didn’t kick in Friday’s team period, but was 9-for-9 during Thursday’s practice, per Wyatt. He’s more than holding his own whenever it’s his turn to trot out there, making 93.1 percent of his kicks since training camp began (27-of-29), per Wyatt.

After another week of practices, the next step in the competition will come in preseason Week 1, when the Titans take on the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on Saturday at noon CT.

We currently do not know how the Titans are planning to split the kicks in that game, but it’s a safe bet that we’ll probably get to see both Shudak and Wolff at some point.

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Titans’ kicker competition neck-and-neck entering 2nd week of camp

The Titans’ kicker competition appears to be neck-and-neck as we enter the second week of training camp.

The Tennessee Titans’ kicker competition is fully underway, with both Caleb Shudak and Trey Wolff vying for the lone kicking job on the roster in training camp.

And as we now enter the second week, the battle between both guys is about as close as you could possibly get. Tennessee’s two kickers have only missed two field goals each since the start of training camp, according to the numbers collected by Jim Wyatt of Titans Online.

Kicker Trey Wolff was 7-of-8 in practice, with makes from 42, 34, 38, 33, 52, 33 and 54, and a miss from 46. He’s now 26-of-28 in camp. Kicker Caleb Shudak did not kick in the team period, and he’s 18-of-20 in camp.

Wolff has made 26 of his 28 kicks (92 percent), while Shudak has gone 18-of-20 (90 percent). In the last two days, Wolff didn’t kick on Monday and Shudak didn’t kick on Tuesday.

Here’s what Wyatt wrote about Shudak on Monday:

Kicker Caleb Shudak was 7-of-8 in today’s practice, and he’s now 18-of-20 in camp. Shudak was good from 42, 34, 46, 33, 52, 33 and 54 yards, with a miss from 38 yards.

While both kickers have displayed leg strength early on with makes over 50 yards, John Glennon of Nashville Post made it a point to mention Wolff’s powerful leg on Tuesday.

During his time at Texas Tech, Wolff only attempted two field goals of 50-plus yards (2-for-2), but his leg strength consistently showed on kickoffs, producing a touchback on approximately 54 percent of his kicks in 2022, subsequently leading to a kickoff grade of 73.7, per Pro Football Focus.

As for Shudak, he may not have the powerful leg that crushes the ball on contact, but the former Big-10 kicker consistently proved throughout his college career that he’s capable of performing in whatever elements are thrown his way.

The second-year kicker currently holds the Iowa record for career field-goal percentage (minimum 25 attempts) at 82.8 percent (24-29).

Regardless of how well these guys are doing right now, this position battle will ultimately be settled in the preseason. It’s nice to see these kickers do well in practice, but if they fold when the pressure is really on in a game situation, then the team will have to go in another direction.

Obviously, the preseason attempts don’t matter much in the grand scheme of things, but the reality is, they’re kicking for their job at that point. So even if the final score doesn’t really matter, you can bet the pressure will be on them whenever they trot on that field.

Nevertheless, keep your eyes peeled on how these practices are playing out because something like that could end up being the tiebreaker should both kickers perform well in the team’s upcoming three preseason games.

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Titans specialists training camp preview: Locks, competition, prediction

A look at the Titans’ specialists, a group that has just one job up for grabs ahead of training camp.

As we continue to make our way through previewing each position group ahead of Tennessee Titans training camp, we now move to the specialists.

Truth be told, this is one of the easier ones to discuss considering two of the jobs are already locks — and so much so, that two of the positions, punter and long snapper, don’t even have backups listed on the roster.

As for the remaining third, kicker, there are two players vying for the role, leaving it up in the air going into training camp.

This article is going to discuss which specialists are locks to make the team, as well as who is battling for the opportunity of a lifetime. Without further ado, let’s take a deeper dive into Tennessee’s special teams unit.

Ryan Stonehouse’s ‘Madden NFL 24’ ratings reflect the absolute unit his leg is

Titans punter Ryan Stonehouse didn’t score the highest overall rating at his position in “Madden NFL 24” but his kick power was accurately rated.

If you’re reading this article, chances are you’re a Tennessee Titans fan and will be using the team in “Madden NFL 24” when it gets released next month. If that’s the case, you’re in good hands at punter.

That’s because Titans punter Ryan Stonehouse, who was arguably the best at his position during a historic rookie season, has been properly rated by the game to reflect just how damn powerful he is.

When it comes to his overall mark, Stonehouse scored an 82, which could be higher but is still the third-highest mark among punters in the game.

The only two rated higher are the two punters who were named first-team All-Pro and to the Pro Bowl over Stonehouse, the Kansas City Chiefs’ Tommy Townsend and the Las Vegas Raiders’ A.J. Cole, respectively.

Where Stonehouse was absolutely properly rated was in kick power (KPW), where he was given a perfect 99, the highest mark of any punter in the game.

Via EA.com

Stonehouse routinely showed off his monster leg last season, blasting punts that flipped the field on a regular basis for Tennessee’s inept offense. And the result was him smashing an 84-year-old record for gross yards per punt with 53.1.

The only knock on Stonehouse was his inability to consistently angle punts to pin opponents deep, which was the reason (and a weak one) he didn’t get the accolades Cole and Townsend received (he did get second-team All-Pro, though). Even still, Stonehouse ranked fourth in net yards per punt.

Knowing that, it doesn’t come as a huge surprise that his kick accuracy rating came in tied for the fifth-highest in the game at 88.

On that front, Stonehouse, who is following one of the greatest directional punters these eyes have ever seen, Brett Kern, has been improving in that area this offseason, at least according to special teams coordinator, Craig Aukerman.

If he can nail down that part of his game, the 24-year-old will dominate the title of the league’s best punter for years to come, and he may finish as the greatest to ever do it. He’s that good.

But that’s enough punter love for now. Here’s a look at how other Tennessee specialists were rated ahead of the release of “Madden NFL 24” in August.

Titans’ biggest winners from the offseason program

Titans QB Malik Willis needed at least a small victory ahead of training camp, and he got it during the offseason program.

While things certainly haven’t been quiet for the Tennessee Titans in the last few days, we are in what I call the dog days of the NFL offseason, when teams are on break in between the offseason program and training camp.

The Titans completed their offseason program on June 15, when the team held its final practices of OTAs. Prior to that, Tennessee held mandatory minicamp, which was the first time this year we saw several players, including veteran safety Kevin Byard.

Various players on both sides of the ball made standout plays in practice, but for the purpose of picking winners from the offseason program, we’re mainly looking at guys who routinely stood out, while also factoring in other things.

Without further ado, a look at the biggest winners from the Titans’ offseason program, a group that is carrying a little extra momentum ahead of training camp, which begins on July 25.

Update on Titans’ kicker competition following minicamp

A look at what we know about the Titans’ kicker competition following mandatory minicamp.

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As we slowly inch closer to Tennessee Titans training camp in late July, there will be a lot of position battles to keep an eye on.

While most people will focus on the competitions on offense and defense, Tennessee’s special teams unit has a significant position battle of its own.

Right now, the Titans have two kickers on their roster who only have a combined one game of NFL experience between the two of them.

Caleb Shudak has one contest under his belt, going two-of-three in his only professional outing last season. Meanwhile, while Trey Wolff is a 2023 UDFA who is trying to steal the job away from a 2022 UDFA.

In a recent mailbag article, Jim Wyatt of Titans Online stated that Wolff was getting the majority of the work for a “stretch,” but the Iowa product did get back to kicking throughout minicamp.

Here is what Wyatt had to say about the kicking competition, including his count for makes and misses:

Caleb is back and kicking again. It was interesting to see kicker Trey Wolff get most of the work for a stretch there, but Caleb kicked on Wednesday and Thursday of this week’s minicamp. I’ve been charting the field goals in the open periods, and Shudak is 14-of-15, while Wolff, who signed as an undrafted free agent from Texas Tech earlier this offseason, is 29-of-32 during the open periods. Both of those guys have kicked well so far.

Judging by those numbers, this battle is practically as even as can be. Shudak may have a smaller sample size, but he has made approximately 93 percent of his kicks. Meanwhile, Wolff has a larger sample size but a slightly lower field goal percentage (approximately 90 percent).

Longtime beat writer, Paul Kuharsky, provided this nugget in terms of what he’s seen so far from both kickers:

This battle likely won’t be settled until the preseason, but as of right now, this could go either way.

What Titans are getting in UDFA K Trey Wolff

Shaun Calderon provides a brief scouting report on Titans UDFA kicker, Trey Wolff.

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Last season, the Tennessee Titans found a special teams star in the making in punter Ryan Stonehouse, who had a record-setting season as a rookie despite going undrafted.

This year, the Titans are hoping to have luck on their side once again as they opted not to select a kicker in the later rounds and instead took their chances on the talented and productive kicker out of Texas Tech, Trey Wolff, who is competing with 2022 UDFA Caleb Shudak for the starting job.

This was a rather interesting choice for the team since they just parted ways with a kicker in Randy Bullock, whose biggest issue was his average leg strength, which often prevented the team from attempting longer field goals.

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Wolff only attempted two field goals of that distance during his entire college career. His average leg strength also showed up on kickoffs, where Wolff produced a touchback on approximately 54 percent of his kicks in 2022, which led to an average kickoff grade of 73.7, per Pro Football Focus.

The Texas Tech product has also struggled with his accuracy at times. For the most part, Wolff’s career numbers progressively get worse the further he goes from the goalposts.

Since the start of 2019, Wolff was perfect a 19-of-19 on kicks that ranged between 20-29 yards, while also making a respectable 78.6 percent (11-of-14) of his kicks on attempts that range between 30-39 yards.

However, the former Red Raider only made about 63 percent of his career attempts that were beyond 40 yards (12-of-19), which includes a rather concerning percentage of 58.8 between 40-49 yards.

Surprisingly, he was a perfect two-for-two on his field goal attempts that were from 50-plus yards out, both of which occurred in 2022, a season in which he set a career-high field goal grade of 89.0, per PFF.

In total, Wolff connected on 42-of-52 career attempts, and 107-of-110 PATs, totaling 233 points over 45 career games as a Red Raider.

Wolff ended his collegiate career as one of eight kickers in program history to make 40 or more field goals in a career, which subsequently led to him finishing ninth in program history for most points scored (233).

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Titans’ Craig Aukerman talks returner options, kicker competition, more

Titans special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman touched on a number of topics on Tuesday, including returner options, the kicker competition, and more.

The Tennessee Titans made coaches available on Day 2 of organized team activities and special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman was among them.

On the subject of kick returners, Aukerman revealed that rookie running back Tyjae Spears will be among those in competition for that specific job.

“It’s early on, obviously this is what the offseason is for,” Aukerman said, per Titans beat writer Paul Kuharsky. “We’re going to try a lot of guys out there. We obviously liked [Spears’] skill set coming out of college. It’s a little bit too early but we’re going to try him out there and see how that works.”

Aukerman also named Spears as someone who will be in contention for punt return duties, along with second-year wide receiver Kyle Philips.

Aukerman spoke about the new kickoff rules, the kicker competition and much more during his presser on Tuesday. Here’s a look at all of it.

Oklahoma Sooners fall 51-48 in OT to Texas Tech Red Raiders

The Oklahoma Sooners lost to the Texas Tech Red Raiders in overtime on a field goal from Trey Wolff. From @bendackiw

The long, neverending nightmare that is the 2022 season for the Oklahoma Sooners got a little worse in the final game of the regular season. The Sooners lost to the Texas Tech Red Raiders 51-48 after leading 14-0 in the first quarter and 24-6 in the second.

In the final seconds of regulation, Texas Tech lined up for the game-tying field goal. Brent Venables decided to ice the Texas Tech kicker. Venables called his timeout, but Texas Tech snapped the ball. The play proceeded as normal. OU blocked the kick.

No matter.

Since Venables called timeout, the play didn’t count. Trey Wolff did not miss his second attempt. After Oklahoma kicker Zach Schmitt missed his field goal on the opening possession of overtime and Wolff hit his attempt to give the Red Raiders their first win against OU in a decade.

There were over 1200 yards of total offense in this game. Jeff Lebby, for the most part, called an excellent game, and Dillon Gabriel looked phenomenal. The southpaw had a career-high six touchdowns on the night. Gabriel threw for 449 yards and six touchdowns.

Texas Tech’s secondary could not defend the deep ball, and Marvin Mims, Theo Wease, and Jalil Farooq all took advantage. The Sooners’ talented trio of pass-catchers each burned the Red Raiders downfield. Mims finished a yard shy of setting a new career-high in yards with his five-catch, 162-yard first-half outburst. After a dominant performance in the first 30 minutes, Mims didn’t have a reception in the second half. Wease stepped up to set a new career-high in yards with 123 yards and a touchdown on three receptions. Brayden Willis got in on the action as well, with seven receptions for 74 yards and a touchdown.

But the strong offensive performance was let down by another poor performance from the Oklahoma Sooners defense.

After last week’s phenomenal effort against Oklahoma State, the defense looked dreadful. There always seemed to be one Texas Tech receiver open downfield. Down the stretch in the fourth quarter, the pass rush got no push. Another quarterback that started the season as a backup sliced and diced the OU defense.

This time, it was Tyler Shough’s turn. Shough threw for 436 yards and two touchdowns and added 44 yards rushing, taking advantage of wide-open space in the scramble drill to kill Oklahoma’s defense. Texas Tech gained 599 total yards and converted 7 of 17 third downs and both of their fourth down attempts.

It was just an incredibly frustrating and, quite frankly, deserved loss. The Sooners did not deserve to win this game. They had their chance to bury Tech, much like they could have buried Oklahoma State, and they couldn’t.

OU will finish the season 6-6 and 8th in the Big 12.

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