After a rocky start to his NFL career, Buccaneers’ kicker Roberto Aguayo is in for a fight to keep his roster spot.
Scott Reynolds of PewterReport.com released his Fab Five as he does every week and had some interesting things to say about Buccaneers kicker Roberto Aguayo. He touched on a conversation he had with Bucs GM Jason Licht regarding the controversial second round pick and his status heading into the 2017 season. Licht didn’t sugarcoat anything in his response;
"“We will do everything we can to bring in the best competition at that position. I think Dirk [Koetter] even said he’s not locked into this roster. He needs to have a great camp just like all of our players, but we will continue to find the best competition that we can and ultimately have the best kicker that we can on this roster – whether it’s him or somebody else.I do have confidence that he’s going to be better,. I have confidence that he’s going to come out and he’s going to improve. Once again, he should be out here [at the Senior Bowl], too. He realizes now that this is a job and he’s got 52 other players that are relying on him – not that he was never committed because he’s been committed but it’s just a maturation thing for him too. It’s part of growing into that position and just your whole routine is different than any other position on the field because you’re a lone wolf.”More from Bucs NewsDevin White posts cryptic message to Lavonte David on TwitterUpdated Buccaneers depth chart after signing two players from rookie minicampTodd Bowles sends clear message about Baker Mayfield’s role with BucsThe Athletic is wrong about Bucs one ‘must-watch’ game in 2023Todd Bowles admits he only looks at three things on Bucs schedule"
It had already been announced that the Bucs would bring competition in for Aguayo come training camp so this isn’t so much a surprise as it is affirmation that Licht has no problem moving on from a mistake. We saw it with the releases of Michael Johnson and Anthony Collins just two years ago. Now, Licht’s most controversial draft pick is on the verge of losing his job if he can’t rise to the occasion and beat out his competition.
Some players that could be in the mix for the Bucs are Phil Dawson, Greg Zuerlein, familiar face Connor Barth, and the big name Steven Hauschka. Reynolds mentioned Hauschka as a smart potential signing and someone who would certainly provide stiff competition for Aguayo. Dawson is 42 years old, but is still one of the most consistent kickers in the league. Barth and Zuerlein seem unlikely but are available. Or the Bucs could go with an undrafted rookie to push Aguayo.
Hauschka was regarded as one of the best in the NFL over the past few seasons, but missed six of his extra points in 2016 – rare for a kicker of his caliber. After being perfect in the first seven years of his career, Hauschka has missed ten extra points in the past two seasons going 69-of-79.
For his career, Hauschka is 191-of-219 for a field goal percentage of 87.2%. He’s 16-of-24 from 50+ yards, a 66.7% success rate.
Buccaneers fans were irate at the drafting of Aguayo and used his draft status to criticize him all season long. Aguayo didn’t choose where he was drafted and the group of fans hoping he would fail are among the worst people in sports. No one should root for a player on their team to fail to help them prove a point because, in the end, that only hurts the team.
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That being said, Aguayo should not be a lock for 2017 as he didn’t earn it. He didn’t kick well – 22-of-31 for a 71% success rate on field goals, 32-of-34 on extra points – in his rookie season and should have to earn his spot moving forward. Hauschka seems like a great person to bring that competition to One Buc Place.