Legend has it, there are three guarantees in life: death, taxes, and the Tennessee Titans struggling to find a viable, long-term kicking option.
After going with a safe veteran such as Randy Bullock for the last few years, Tennessee finally tried to find a young kicker to develop this offseason, ultimately settling on Caleb Shudak and Trey Wolff.
Unfortunately, neither of the two made the cut, and both were released before the conclusion of training camp.
The Titans then tried to bring back a familiar name in Michael Badgley, who seemingly turned the corner in his career ever since being let go by the Titans following a disastrous Week 1 performance in 2021.
Sadly, that didn’t work out too well, either, as Badgley was cut after his lone preseason outing in which he missed one field goal and luckily made the other thanks to a lucky bounce.
This means the Titans are not only currently without a kicker on their active roster, but they are already looking for their fourth different kicker before Week 1.
While that’s obviously not an encouraging development, Tennessee does have some viable options to choose from in free agency, and more kickers will become available as teams cut their rosters down to 53.
Let’s take a closer look at 11 kickers who are either available now or could be available by Tuesday that Tennessee could target.
Possible cut candidates
While none of these guys are available at the moment, at least three of these names should hit the open market over the coming days.
- Cameron Dicker (Chargers): Made 95.5 percent of his field goals in 2022 (21-of-22), 24-of-24 (100 percent) on extra points.
- Dustin Hopkins (Chargers): Made 90.0 percent of his field goals in 2022 (9-of-10), 12-of-12 (100 percent) on extra points.
- Nick Folk (Patriots): Made 86.5 percent of his field goals in 2022 (32-of-37), 32-of-35 (91.4 percent) on extra points.
- Chad Ryland (Patriots): Made 82.6 percent of his field goals at Maryland in 2022 (19-of-23), 39-of-40 (97.5 percent) on extra points.
- Blake Grupe (Saints): Made 73.7 percent of his field goals at Notre Dame in 2022 (14-of-19), 49-of-49 (100 percent) on extra points.
- Will Lutz (Saints): Made 82.6 percent of his field goals in 2022 (23-of-31), 33-of-33 (100 percent) on extra points.
My personal preference from this particular list would be either of the Chargers’ kickers, with the likeliest option being Hopkins since I have a hard time believing Los Angeles will part ways with a talented young kicker such as Dicker.
Folk would be another fantastic option, as he would give the Titans a reliable and powerful leg that can make kicks from anywhere on the field (4-of-5 on 50-plus yard attempts in 2022).
It’s honestly hard to believe the Pats could be moving on from the veteran kicker, but considering the Patriots invested a fourth-round pick on Ryland, Folk could be on the outside looking in.
Mason Crosby
Out of all the kickers who are currently available, this is who I would personally prefer for the Titans to sign.
With that said, I do worry that Tennessee could be in for another Stephen Gostkowski situation where the team signs a once-excellent kicker one year too late.
Nonetheless, Crosby has shown that he still has a powerful and accurate leg, making at least one field goal of at least 54 yards in each of the last four seasons, including a 56-yard attempt in 2022.
- Crosby made 86.2 percent of his kicks in 2022 (25-of-29), 37-of-39 on extra points (94.9 percent)
Still kicking it around. #football #nfl pic.twitter.com/qKlWPGREaj
— Mason Crosby (@crosbykicks2) August 27, 2023
Robbie Gould
This is another fantastic option if the team is fine with an accurate kicker who doesn’t exactly have the strongest leg at this point of his career.
Gould’s longest successful field goal attempt was from just 51 yards out a season ago.
- Gould made 84.4 percent of his kicks in 2022 (27-of-32), 50-of-51 on extra points (98.0 percent)
Randy Bullock
Simply put, if the Titans are fine with settling on a relatively accurate kicker who doesn’t have the biggest leg, a familiar name such as Bullock could be another option for them.
- Bullock made 85.0 percent of his kicks in 2022 (17-of-20), 28-of-28 on extra points (100 percent)
Ryan Succop
This one would undoubtedly make a lot of Titans fans happy since the team probably should’ve never moved on from Succop in the first place.
However, if the Titans are prioritizing powerful legs, it’s hard to make a case for Succop, who made just 28.5 percent of his 50-plus yard attempts in 2022 (2-of-7), and just 33.3 percent of those attempts over the last three seasons (3-of-9).
- Succop made 81.6 percent of his kicks in 2022 (31-of-38), 24-of-25 on extra points (96.0 percent)
Matthew Wright
After being brought in by the Panthers a few weeks back solely to fill in for the injured Eddie Pineiro, Wright was cut by the team despite making all of his kicks this preseason (2-for-2).
- Made 83.3 percent of his kicks in 2022 (15-of-18), 15-of-15 on extra points (100 percent)
