Tag: Tucker McCann

Titans agree to terms with Stephen Gostkowski, waive Greg Joseph

The Titans have agreed to terms with kicker Stephen Gostkowski and waived Greg Joseph.

The Tennessee Titans are adding veteran kicker and former New England Patriot Stephen Gostkowski, the team announced on Thursday.

In a corresponding move, the Titans waived kicker Greg Joseph, which fully paves the way for Gostkowski to be the starter. Tucker McCann is the only other kicker on Tennessee’s roster.

The 36-year-old is a four-time Pro Bowler and two-time First-Team All-Pro. He has posted an impressive career field goal success rate of 87.4 percent and has notched a conversion rate of 90 percent or better five times.

Gostkowski’s 2019 season ended early due to a hip injury that required surgery. Clearly he’s now healthy and ready to try and help turn around a kicking unit that was the NFL’s worst last season.

The addition of a veteran kicker was inevitable. Both Joseph and McCann, the two kickers originally vying for the starting job, lacked experience and didn’t do much to instill confidence that they’d be a viable solution at the position for the 2020 season.

Gostkowski, who already owns a home in Tennessee and went to college at Memphis, also has connections to head coach Mike Vrabel, who was his former teammate, and general manager Jon Robinson, who spent time in New England’s scouting department.

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Titans’ Greg Joseph believes ‘the competition is between me and me’

The Titans’ kicker competition could get a lot more interesting real soon.

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Tennessee Titans kicker Greg Joseph is currently in the midst of a competition for the starting job with Tucker McCann — and it’s a competition that could get a lot more interesting real soon.

That’s because the Titans are working out a pair of veteran kickers in Stephen Gostkowski and Stephen Hauschka, and one of them could be added to the mix in due time.

However, no matter who is competing against him, Joseph feels he’s really just competing against himself, as he said on Sunday after practice.

Joseph and McCann have been “neck-and-neck” throughout camp, according to special teams coordinator, Craig Aukerman, and the numbers certainly bear that out.

According to an unofficial count through Sunday, Joseph has made 43-of-50 attempts, while McCann has nearly matched him, making 43-of-49 kicks.

Joseph feels like he’s having a good camp and is trying to do everything necessary “to make sure I’m here to stay.”

However, earning the starting job is more than just about making kicks in practice. There’s also an “eye test” element involved, and so far it doesn’t seem like McCann or Joseph are passing that test.

That could be one of the reasons why the Titans are giving the aforementioned veterans a look.

Not to mention, the lack of experience McCann and Joseph bring to the table is troubling for a team that finished with the worst field goal success rate in the NFL last season.

Should either Hauschka or Gostkowski get signed, they’d immediately be the favorites to win the job thanks to their extensive history of being reliable to elite kickers.

And that could also spell the end of Joseph’s short tenure in Nashville.

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Titans’ Craig Aukerman gives update on kicker competition

It appears the Titans have a close race for the starting kicker job.

After Monday’s practice, Tennessee Titans special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman gave an update on where things stand with the team’s kicker competition.

The Titans are trying to decide between Greg Joseph and 2020 UDFA Tucker McCann for the starting job after a 2019 campaign that saw Tennessee have the worst field goal unit in the NFL.

According to Aukerman, the two kickers are currently “neck and neck” for the starting job.

Based on the last count we saw on Friday from Jim Wyatt of Titans Online, Joseph was 24-for-26 on his attempts overall, while McCann was 22-for-25. Those numbers certainly spell out what Aukerman is saying.

Going into training camp, Joseph was considered the favorite over McCann after ending the 2019 season as the team’s kicker and having an advantage in the experience department, but clearly McCann is making it a close race.

There is still a possibility that the Titans bring in a veteran to add some experience to the competition, as Joseph only has 21 career field goal attempts and McCann is a rookie.

We’ll get an idea just how much confidence the Titans have in their current options in the weeks to come based on whether or not Tennessee brings in another kicker.

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Should the Titans kick the tires on Graham Gano?

The Titans have a new option to add to their kicker competition.

The Tennessee Titans head into training camp with two kickers on their roster. Incumbent starter, Greg Joseph, looks to ward off the undrafted free agent rookie out of Missouri, Tucker McCann.

And while the Titans’ brass has expressed faith in Joseph, the team needs more competition in the building. Another deep playoff run is highly unlikely if the team is handicapped by the kicker position once again in 2020.

In September 2019, former kicker Ryan Succop was placed on injured reserve after he didn’t feel he was ready following offseason knee surgery — and the kicker carousel began, leading to the Titans finishing with the worst field goal unit in the NFL.

He attempted a comeback in November, but by December was placed on IR once more after proving ineffective, ending his season. Joseph took the reins from there, but attempted just one field goal during his brief stint.

Uncertainty at a position capable of winning important games is not a something the Titans can afford, especially in a season where the team has Super Bowl aspirations.

As luck would have it, the Carolina Panthers released veteran and former Pro Bowler, kicker Graham Gano, on Thursday.

Gano has dealt with injury the past few years, but has been a mostly reliable kicker during his career, posting a career field goal success rate of 82.1 percent. He made a career-high 96.7 percent of kicks in 2017.

I’m not saying Gano is the answer, but he would add some much-needed experience to the kicker competition in Nashville.

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Jon Robinson says Titans would consider signing Stephen Gostkowski

Stephen Gostkowski is the best kicker available on the open market.

If the Tennessee Titans want to add a veteran to the kicker competition set to take place in training camp between Greg Joseph and Tucker McCann, Stephen Gostkowski is the best option still available.

And it’s an option that general manager Jon Robinson would consider, as he told Paul Kuharsky on Tuesday night.

“We certainly have confidence in Greg Joseph, I thought Greg did a great job for us, came in there at the end of last year and did a great job for us and helped us,” Robinson said. “It’d be his job to lose but we want as competitive a position there as possible. (Gostkowski) is another guy who’d we’d have to come in and check, but yeah, absolutely (we’d consider him.)”

Gostkowski underwent offseason hip surgery after his 2019 campaign was cut short.

The Titans would have to bring him in for a physical before even considering such a signing, though. Unfortunately, that isn’t possible at the moment due to the restrictions in place because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The problem with the Titans’ current competition is that both participants lack experience. McCann is a rookie and Joseph has only attempted 21 field goals during his career, including just one with the Titans in 2019.

One season after having the worst field goal unit in the NFL, the Titans need to make sure they have the right man for the job going into 2020. The best way to do that is to have as much competition as possible.

Adding Gostkowski is the most ideal way to go about it. The veteran has tons of experience making big kicks and has been one of the NFL’s premier kickers during his 14-year career with the New England Patriots.

Gostkowski isn’t the only kicker the Titans would consider. Robinson has also said the door isn’t closed on the team’s former kicker, Ryan Succop, returning at some point after he was cut by the team this offseason.

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Titans ‘not closing the door’ on reunion with K Ryan Succop

Could Ryan Succop return to the Titans?

The Tennessee Titans have made a lot of improvements over recent years, but one area they specifically struggled at in 2019 was placekicker.

The inconsistency and incompetence at the position put the Titans in some bad situations, sometimes changing the whole outcome of a contest.

Starter Ryan Succop began the season on Injured Reserve, and even when he came back, he wasn’t the same player who led the franchise in career field goal percentage before last season.

There were plenty of missed field goals (he was 1-of-6 and missed an extra point), and it wasn’t long before he ended up back on IR.

While the Titans released Succop back in March, that doesn’t mean he’s gone for good.

Titans general manager Jon Robinson spoke with reporters on the topic during a Zoom call last week and indicated Succop could eventually find his way back on the roster (H/T Michael Hogan, Sports Illustrated).

“Had a great meeting with him when we decided to release him there and just told him to get healthy,” Robinson said last Thursday. “Certainly, we were not closing the door on maybe potentially looking at him again.”

What isn’t clear is exactly when the Titans might consider bringing him back, if they do so at all.

As it stands now, Tennessee still have a big question mark at kicker going into 2020. Greg Joseph finished out last season in place of Succop, but he lacks experience having only attempted 21 field goals during his career (including playoffs), and only one of those was with the Titans.

Tennessee is set to have a competition between he and UDFA kicker Tucker McCann, who has zero NFL experience, in training camp.

It wouldn’t hurt for Robinson to add a veteran to the competition, and Succop could potentially be that guy. If not, the Titans will no doubt keep an eye on their former kicker if things go south at the position.

Only time will tell if we see Succop back in a Titans uniform, but the Titans certainly need to get themselves more solid at placekicker before things get underway for the upcoming season.

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Tennessee Titans’ current options for kicker competition aren’t enough

The Titans must add more competition for Greg Joseph in camp.

After posting putrid field goal numbers in 2019, the Tennessee Titans must add as many options as possible for their kicker competition set to happen in training camp. The competition options the team currently has simply aren’t enough.

Tennessee saw a revolving door at kicker last season and made just 8-of-18 field goal attempts, which was not only the worst mark in the NFL, it was historically bad.

Adding to that, Titans kickers had issues achieving touchbacks, which led to an infuriating and embarrassing failed experiment with a kickoff specialist that only wasted a spot on the roster.

The only reason the Titans weren’t impacted by their field goal unit during their second-half surge to the playoffs was because the offense was scoring touchdowns at a ridiculous and unsustainable pace.

Tennessee can’t depend on that kind of fortunate situation once again this season.

If nothing changes, the Titans are set to have a competition at kicker between Greg Joseph, who attempted one field goal for the team last season, and undrafted free agent kicker out of Missouri, Tucker McCann.

If we’re being honest here, this competition would really be Joseph against himself, which doesn’t make it much of a competition at all.

The lack of faith in McCann speaks for itself, as he has zero experience in the NFL and was signed off the scrap heap after the 2020 NFL Draft.

Despite general manager Jon Robinson and head coach Mike Vrabel recently expressing confidence in him, Joseph himself really doesn’t have much experience.

The Florida Atlantic product has attempted just 20 career regular season field goals since entering the league in 2018, making 17. He has just seven career attempts from 40-plus yards (made five) and two from 50-plus yards (made one).

Joseph’s 85-percent success rate overall is no doubt solid, but there’s no question the jury is still out on how good he truly is.

At the very least, the Titans need to add more to this competition, and ideally that would come in the form of a veteran with far more experience.

On the high end of those options is former New England Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski, who became a free agent this offseason.

Gostkowski is recovering from hip surgery and it might take some time for him to be signed with physicals being difficult to obtain, but he should be at the top of the list for Tennessee with his Super bowl experience.

On the lower and more realistic end, the Titans should consider other free agents like Nick Folk and, dare I say, Adam Vinatieri. Hell, at this point I wouldn’t even mind giving Ryan Succop a shot to compete.

Of course, all of those players — even Gostkowski — are incredibly flawed in their own ways and naming them is by no means an endorsement to give them the starting job by default.

It’s simply to suggest that there are still veterans out there who can make this a real competition in order to help the Titans find the absolute best man for the job.

If Joseph were to beat out McCann AND one of the veteran options listed above, I’d feel a lot more comfortable that the Titans have done just about everything possible to make sure they have the right man for the job.

However, having Joseph compete with an undrafted rookie alone simply isn’t a good enough attempt at fixing what was the Titans’ biggest weakness in 2019.

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Tennessee Titans add Missouri kicker to compete with Greg Joseph

The Titans have added some competition for kicker Greg Joseph.

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After the Tennessee Titans posted the worst field goal percentage in the NFL last season, it was vital that the team give itself as many options as possible at kicker going into training camp.

Shortly after the draft, the Titans signed undrafted free agent kicker out of Missouri, Tucker McCann, who will now have a chance to compete with Greg Joseph for the starting job.

General manager Jon Robinson and head coach Mike Vrabel have made it clear that the intention is for the team to have a competition for the starting spot, so a kicker signing comes as no surprise.

Joseph finished the 2019 campaign as the Titans’ kicker, however he attempted just one field goal (he made it) in his short stint. As a result, the jury is still very much out on him.

In his last season at Missouri, McCann converted 16-of-22 field goals (72.7%), with a long of 52 yards. He also offers some versatility after serving as the team’s punter, totaling 68 kicks there.

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