Elaine Thompson/Associated Press
There is nothing Digest likes better than a good kicker battle. Since there aren't many of those this year, we'll make do with what we have:
Caleb Sturgis vs. Roberto Aguayo (Chargers): Aguayo handled all the kicking Saturday, nailing a 39-yard field goal and all his extra points. Sturgis badly shanked a short field goal in the preseason opener but outperformed Aguayo in practice this week. Anthony Lynn is open to the possibility of keeping two kickers after last year's field-goal catastrophes. He wasn't very specific about keeping these two kickers.
Jason Sanders vs. Greg Joseph (Dolphins): Seventh-round pick Sanders is 5-of-6 in the preseason, with his only miss from 53 yards. Joseph, an undrafted rookie, is 2-of-2 with 48- and 54-yard strikes. Joseph shanked a kickoff out of bounds in the preseason opener, but otherwise both have been fine on kickoffs. This battle is too close to call, or at least too close to call given the amount of attention we are willing to spend on a Dolphins kicker battle, which is barely enough to get to the end of this senten...
Aldrick Rosas vs. Marshall Koehn (Giants): This low-key semi-battle should be over after Rosas nailed a 55-yarder and Koehn missed an extra point against the Lions. Koehn also struggled in joint practices this week with the Lions while kicking into Matt Prater's custom, extra-narrow goal posts. Maybe other kickers should practice with custom, extra-narrow goal posts. Maybe the Chargers should get some custom extra-wides for self-esteem purposes.
Cairo Santos vs. Taylor Bertolet (Jets): Santos has missed most of camp with "leg tightness." Bertolet is 3-of-3 on field goals and perfect on extra points in the preseason; positive reviews of Bertolet have also trickled out of camp. It's hard to tell if Santos is out of the picture, Bertolet (who has knocked around camps since 2016) is a real challenger or the Jets are planning to scour the kicker wires on Labor Day, because the Jets are weirdly secretive about minor things, as if being coy about kickers will prompt some team to call and offer two first-round picks for Teddy Bridgewater or something.
Jason Myers vs. Sebastian Janikowski (Seahawks): Janikowski has kicked a 25-yarder and two extra points in the preseason. Myers has kicked 33- and 43-yarders. Practice reports have been scant and inconclusive. This battle may come down to the Seahawks figuring out whether they think of themselves as a lean, young, rebuilding team or the groaning, animated zombie of a former champion that needs to pay a little extra for a 40-year-old kicker so it can go 7-9 instead of 6-10
Comment