Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 3 Players on the bubble heading into season
By Cory Kinnan
K Cairo Santos
When a kicker is drafted in the fifth round by a new coaching regime, then they are going to be given the benefit of the doubt in a kicking competition during training camp. This is the case with Utah kicker Matt Gay, leaving Cairo Santos in position to update his resume after playing half of 2018 with the Buccaneers and signing a one-year extension this offseason.
Tampa Bay is Santos’ fourth team in his five year career after spending the first three with the Kansas City Chiefs, but the Buccaneers’ kicking job is Gay’s to lose. Santos made nine of 12 kicks attempted last season in the pewter and red, but all of his misses came from 40 yards or beyond, going only 50 percent from that range.
Looking to get a kicker with a stronger leg, the Buccaneers felt it necessary to use an early day-three pick on Gay, making him the first kicker selected in the 2019 draft. Santos may be on his way out, but kickers are as fluid as water in today’s NFL, so he could get a call from another team at anytime this year should a starting kicker go through a slump throughout the season.