K Zane Gonzalez

Originally posted by gold49digger:
Damn it is surprisingly hard to evaluate kickers huh. You can't just snag the best kicker in the nation and expect him to be money. I guess its 95% mental an 5% physical.

Which is why I'm never in favor of drafting a kicker early. Not only is it a complete crapshoot, I think the earlier you take a kicker, the more pressure you put on them in a position that is already pressure filled. I feel like if Aguayo had gone in the 6th or 7th round instead of the 2nd, he might be at least an average kicker now but when you are taken that early, you know that your team is expecting great things from you, average is no longer enough and now you're saddled with that burden on top of everything else.

My approach would be to bring in three kickers and just put them through the wringer, have them kick from every possible distance, push them as much as possible in the preseason and go with the guy who seems the most confident and resilient.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
Which is why I'm never in favor of drafting a kicker early. Not only is it a complete crapshoot, I think the earlier you take a kicker, the more pressure you put on them in a position that is already pressure filled. I feel like if Aguayo had gone in the 6th or 7th round instead of the 2nd, he might be at least an average kicker now but when you are taken that early, you know that your team is expecting great things from you, average is no longer enough and now you're saddled with that burden on top of everything else.

My approach would be to bring in three kickers and just put them through the wringer, have them kick from every possible distance, push them as much as possible in the preseason and go with the guy who seems the most confident and resilient.

If I was a GM, I'd never draft a kicker. Don't care how good they reportedly are. Just sign a proven vet

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
Which is why I'm never in favor of drafting a kicker early. Not only is it a complete crapshoot, I think the earlier you take a kicker, the more pressure you put on them in a position that is already pressure filled. I feel like if Aguayo had gone in the 6th or 7th round instead of the 2nd, he might be at least an average kicker now but when you are taken that early, you know that your team is expecting great things from you, average is no longer enough and now you're saddled with that burden on top of everything else.

My approach would be to bring in three kickers and just put them through the wringer, have them kick from every possible distance, push them as much as possible in the preseason and go with the guy who seems the most confident and resilient.

If I was a GM, I'd never draft a kicker. Don't care how good they reportedly are. Just sign a proven vet

Or this. I've seen so many good kickers in college that do absolutely nothing in the pros. And then the same veteran kickers bounce around after losing their job on one team. Kicker has to be right up there with nose tackle and quarterback. If you can play at a pro level, you have a job for life.

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:
If I was a GM, I'd never draft a kicker. Don't care how good they reportedly are. Just sign a proven vet

Kickers are playing into their 40's and at a high level. Janikowski booted a 50 yarder Sunday, and Gould is on long streak. Give me the experienced guy anytime. To quote Yogi Berra, the game is 90% mental the other 50% physical.

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:
If I was a GM, I'd never draft a kicker. Don't care how good they reportedly are. Just sign a proven vet

Sign a vet, have a punter that can kickoff. Jay Feely made a big deal out of that last year when talking about the Cardinals and how Phil Dawson was whiffing on a bunch of field goals early on when he was saddled with kickoff duty. He said that it puts a lot of unnecessary wear and tear on older kickers. I'd be more likely to invest a draft pick in a punter that can handle both kickoff and punting duties, like a Pinion or that guy that Seattle drafted doing the ridiculous drop kicks then just go from one veteran kicker to another.

He's lucky to get out of there while he could...Hue Jackson is mismanaging that team from the ground up...

"Jackson confirmed to reporters that Gonzalez had suffered a groin injury, but said that he wasn't aware of it until after the game.

"That was not reported to me that Zane was hurt," Jackson said. "I did not know and nobody had ever reported to me from our medical department that Zane was hurt.""