How Important is the Kicker Competition?

[Payton!34]

Saw an interesting twitter thread making a point that the current circus behind finding a kicker might be a lot more insignificant than it's playing out to be. What are you guys' thoughts to the current competition for the kicker position? Is it as important as it's being made out to be or is it all just media-generated hype to have something interesting for the off-season?

TL;DR - Parkey had a bad season for sure, 25th worst in the last decade based on expectations, but it wasn't as horrendous as it's being made out to be. Kickers will most often regress to the average, so while Parkey having a bad year really hurt us, he likely would have bounced back this season. Biggest issue was his contract, not having him on the team. Kickers are basically the new RBs - anyone can be slotted in and will likely play close to the average.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1160752323863490560

Very well informed post! Thank you for your time

 

[Rory Sparrow]

TL;DR - Parkey had a bad season for sure, 25th worst in the last decade based on expectations, but it wasn't as horrendous as it's being made out to be. Kickers will most often regress to the average, so while Parkey having a bad year really hurt us, he likely would have bounced back this season.

HUH??????

Parkey has been steadily regressing for the last 5 years. It is far more likely that Parkey would be even worse in 2019 than in 2018.

Parkey's season was INDEED as horrendous as it was made out to be, even if we 'disregard' that he was the 3rd highest paid kicker in the NFL last year. 3 missed extra points! 3 missed FGs from 30+ yards! 3 missed FGs from 40+ yards! Only 1 made 50+ yarder.

So you have a kicker who has no leg, is wildly inconsistent from 30-50 yards, and who routinely misses extra points! Sign me up!

 

[Chief Walking Stick]

HUH??????

Parkey has been steadily regressing for the last 5 years. It is far more likely that Parkey would be even worse in 2019 than in 2018.

Parkey's season was INDEED as horrendous as it was made out to be, even if we 'disregard' that he was the 3rd highest paid kicker in the NFL last year. 3 missed extra points! 3 missed FGs from 30+ yards! 3 missed FGs from 40+ yards! Only 1 made 50+ yarder.

So you have a kicker who has no leg, is wildly inconsistent from 30-50 yards, and who routinely misses extra points! Sign me up!

But he believes in Jesus

 

[Toast88]

Considering the most common margin of victory in the NFL is 3 points, I’d say it’s pretty damn important, especially for a team that lost a playoff game because of a kicker.

 

[Toast88]

Here are the 2018 NFL kicking stats. I suggest some one you read it: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2018/kicking.htm

Parkey was 30th last year at 76 percent.

Dan Bailey was 31st at 75 percent.



Just FWIW - Camp, Family Night and Preseason, Pineiro and Fry are both at 84 percent.

 

[Rory Sparrow]

Here are the 2018 NFL kicking stats. I suggest some one you read it: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2018/kicking.htm

Parkey was 30th last year at 76 percent.

Dan Bailey was 31st at 75 percent.

WTF?! To whom are you speaking?

 

[MDB111™]

HUH??????

Parkey has been steadily regressing for the last 5 years. It is far more likely that Parkey would be even worse in 2019 than in 2018.

Parkey's season was INDEED as horrendous as it was made out to be, even if we 'disregard' that he was the 3rd highest paid kicker in the NFL last year. 3 missed extra points! 3 missed FGs from 30+ yards! 3 missed FGs from 40+ yards! Only 1 made 50+ yarder.

So you have a kicker who has no leg, is wildly inconsistent from 30-50 yards, and who routinely misses extra points! Sign me up!

Kicking is only what he does. It is not who he is.

All Jesus aside, he sucked at his job and then went on television looking for sympathy? Glad he is gone and I hope Jesus takes his leg and foot if he ever gets another gig in the NFL.

 

[Rory Sparrow]

All Jesus aside, he sucked at his job and then went on television looking for sympathy?

Sounds like something dabears70 would do.

 

[MDB111™]

Sounds like something dabears70 would do.

He would just like to put all that in the past...In every thread.

 

[Mikeropod]

Saw an interesting twitter thread making a point that the current circus behind finding a kicker might be a lot more insignificant than it's playing out to be. What are you guys' thoughts to the current competition for the kicker position? Is it as important as it's being made out to be or is it all just media-generated hype to have something interesting for the off-season?

TL;DR - Parkey had a bad season for sure, 25th worst in the last decade based on expectations, but it wasn't as horrendous as it's being made out to be. Kickers will most often regress to the average, so while Parkey having a bad year really hurt us, he likely would have bounced back this season. Biggest issue was his contract, not having him on the team. Kickers are basically the new RBs - anyone can be slotted in and will likely play close to the average.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1160752323863490560

Thanks for sharing that. As someone who works in the sciences, its nice to see some R-coding! My vote at this point is Pineiro or Sly (Panther to be cut or trade-bait). And as others have said, long snapper inconsistency does matter.

 

[BearFanJohn]

It won’t matter because the Bears don’t have a QB capable of getting a kicker into FG range.

Ha! Funny. And so original and insightful.

 

[CRM 114]

Ha! Funny. And so original and insightful.

What part of this post do you find funny?

 

[pseudonym]

It's like some of you forgot how the year ended. Kickers ARE important.

 

[Visionman]

It's like some of you forgot how the year ended. Kickers ARE important.

The topic was about the actual COMPETITION of the kickers in camp being important. Everyone knows the position itself is important!

 

[KittiesKorner]

The topic was about the actual COMPETITION of the kickers in camp being important. Everyone knows the position itself is important!

calm the fuck down, lady

 

[Starion]

Totally and massively over hyped, but that's okay b/c what matters more with this team is sneaking up on the league (and even their own media and fans) as it did before last season.

Curious: what's the stats on makes & misses for the other teams' kickers during off-season? How's that compared to the 2 competing now?

Seems these guys are making 7/8, 6/6, 7/9, 9/10, (made up for example) etc. here & there which isn't bad right? They're never missing more than 1 or 2, with days of no misses.
Yet CHI fans & media lose their shit over Every. Single. Kick. It seems terribly short-sighted. Buggin' Nagy about it after every damn practice. SMDH.


Again, it's a great distraction TBH & lets the rest of the roster go put in work now.

 

[Toast88]

Totally and massively over hyped, but that's okay b/c what matters more with this team is sneaking up on the league (and even their own media and fans) as it did before last season.

Curious: what's the stats on makes & misses for the other teams' kickers during off-season? How's that compared to the 2 competing now?

Seems these guys are making 7/8, 6/6, 7/9, 9/10, (made up for example) etc. here & there which isn't bad right? They're never missing more than 1 or 2, with days of no misses.
Yet CHI fans & media lose their shit over Every. Single. Kick. It seems terribly short-sighted. Buggin' Nagy about it after every damn practice. SMDH.


Again, it's a great distraction TBH & lets the rest of the roster go put in work now.

Good question. Bears beat writers have said they’ve never before even ever counted made and missed kicks in practice and camp, so who knows on league-wide camp kicking stats.

As far as the Bears’ two guys, it’s subjective, but I’d tend to agree that they actually played really well in training camp. All through training camp, neither missed more than one kick in a given day, until Family Fun Night when Pineiro went 12/12 and Fry went 7/9. The resulting post-first-preseason-game practices have seen them both pretty consistently missing 2 a practice. Like Chernobyl, not great but not terrible. Still a better percentage than a lot of kickers during the season, but who knows with game speed, etc.

But it’s even more complicated than that.

There’s also a pretty big discrepancy between the different Bears beat guys on counting the makes and misses this training camp and the following practices.

What do you count as a kick? It sounds simple, but it’s not. Is it a kick if it’s not overseen by a coach—It’s just the kicker lining up shots with the tee? Is it a kick if a snapper and holder are involved, but it’s on their own time without a coach? Or is it only a kick if a coach is there evaluating? Or does it need to have an in-practice rush from other players, like a mock field goal?

These are reasons the different Bears beat guys have wildly different numbers. Some have even mentioned “bonus kicks”, but have not fully explained exactly what those are. When I personally compiled each day into a training camp/preseason game/practice compilation, I came up with 84+ percent for Pineiro and 83.9 percent for Fry. But I’ve seen a beat guy say it was closer to 81 percent for both when you factor in ALL the kicks.

Who knows?—It may be splitting hairs, but they gotta get the kicker situation right, and the point is that right now, neither guy is asserting himself as the obvious choice. That surely doesn’t make the coaching staff comfortable with the situation.

 

[Mdbearz]

Totally and massively over hyped, but that's okay b/c what matters more with this team is sneaking up on the league (and even their own media and fans) as it did before last season.

Curious: what's the stats on makes & misses for the other teams' kickers during off-season? How's that compared to the 2 competing now?

Seems these guys are making 7/8, 6/6, 7/9, 9/10, (made up for example) etc. here & there which isn't bad right? They're never missing more than 1 or 2, with days of no misses.
Yet CHI fans & media lose their shit over Every. Single. Kick. It seems terribly short-sighted. Buggin' Nagy about it after every damn practice. SMDH.


Again, it's a great distraction TBH & lets the rest of the roster go put in work now.

I get your point, Justin Tucker is currently the most accurate kicker in Football history and he is just over 90% but he is just about Mr. Automatic with kicks less than 55 yards.

I also know you were making up numbers, but I think that they have NOT had too many perfect days between them, and I watch Tucker last night in the Pre Season go 4-4 with a 52 yarder that looked smooth as butter and only a half a yard off center. He is the standard that we should expect for a team that is a good as this.

I'm still rooting for one of ours guys to stand out and have a great season, so that we can put last year behind us. But if they can not handle the pressure of having every kick scrutinized, how are they going to handle the boos when they miss a kick, which they eventually will do?

 

[iueyedoc]

Too much of the outcome of football games are put squarely on kickers. To roll this back some, I propose that shorter field goals should be awarded more points and longer field goals should be awarded less points. This will emphasize the actual offense/defense while deemphasizing the kicking position.

Or you could just reduce FG values all to 2 pts. Kickers would likely seek to form their own union if such a measure was ever discussed.

 

[cubby chubby]

It won’t matter because the Bears don’t have a QB capable of getting a kicker into FG range.

I know that’s just hyperbole. You don’t really mean that. Chase is capable and you know it.