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.