last time Cat was here, he was outplayed in preseason but still got the job. He kicked alright except he singlehandedly lost the Atlanta game, missing 2 kicks in a 5 point rainy home loss. It didn't matter because the Jets weren't in playoff contention of course, but under normal circumstances, guys lose jobs just for that
Probably, but moreso that the Patriots don't even value one of the best kickers in the league highly enough to lock him up. And the rest of the league agrees.
Cat is also one of the lowest rated kickers in terms of touchbacks... if that matters at all to you. That's why he wasn't brought back here after 2017. Touchback percentage around 61% traditionally. Myers was at 73% last year, a whopping 79% in 2016 with Jacksonville ... but.. he also got $7 mil guaranteed from Seattle
Yup. Glad that's been settled. Pour one out (how many times now?) for the Ross Martin lovers of the world.
what are you talking about???! The Patriots have literally employed the highEST paid kicker in the NFL for the last four seasons consecutively. Vinatieri was also the highest paid at the position for multiple seasons when he was a Patriot. Since Belichick took over actually, in the year 2000, they have only spent 3 seasons without a top 10 highest paid kicker and that was Gostkowski's rookie and early years before they decided to pay him. The Patriots are a team that is hard to make definitive statements about in terms of priorities probably on purpose. But one thing we can say is that they absolutely value the kicker position more than anyone else in the league
Yes and for a total of around $15M for three years. It was never on the cards for us. Good first step with Catanzaro
I'm fine with it. We won't be kicking many FGs this season. As long as he can kick 60 PATs, we're good.
Agree. IMO, When you get to be super good as NE with guaranteed post season play deep into the playoffs every year, the value of a kicker itself in an otherwise well balanced team goes way up, because he literally becomes a difference maker. We have many much larger holes to put key dollars on before we split hairs with decent versus great kickers.
This is the reason I'm not happy with Catanzaro over Myers. Except for a few elite kickers, field goal percentage varies quite a bit from year to year. In other words, Myers isn't going to replicate last year's performance. But touchback percentage is consistent from year to year, and that's where Myers really shines.
7M isn't that much. Having said that, if I am going cheap at kicker, I at least want a guy who isn't terrible at kickoffs.
That’s an unfair question. Myers isn’t making $7m to kickoff. He is making $7m to kickoff, kick field goals and kick extra points. The $7m is over a couple years also Myers’ kickoff expertise is only what HOTJ used to separate his abilities from Catanzaro. If you are gonna attach salary to things then you should cite Cat’s salary as well. So your question should be - is it worth a couple extra mil over the next couple years to have more touchbacks? I would say yes myself but it’s a decent debate from there