New Kicker And Punter, Can We Afford Them?

[LongTimeSkinsFan]

FWIW, I say track down Novak and sign him up. If we do need a new punter (assuming we're going to hate on Tupa and not give him a chance), draft one.
Brown is a trash talker that chokes. The only way I'd sign him would be for one game and one kick, just so the entire O-Line could lie down after the snap and let his pansy a$$ get wailed on by the other team. From what I heard Vanderjagt is a bit of a head case, and had some kind of run in with Manning. Vinatieri would be a great candidate with a clutch rep, but I'm guessing he'll be asking a lot. I wouldn't be opposed to Edinger either. I remember him having strong leg. I'd rather spend the big bucks on a quality #2 wideout especially since there's a good crop of them available in FA this year.

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

In response to the thread's original question, I seriously doubt we'd have any trouble squeezing a punter and kicker's salary under the cap. Tupa and Hall are getting great money right now for their respective positions and no kickers or punters command huge salaries.

[skindogger47]

Novac is a pussy. Keep Tupa, cut Hall, and sign Nedney or Longwell. Tupa was HUGE to our special teams two years ago.

[dgack]

Originally Posted by skindogger47

Novac is a pussy.

LOL, and you base this on... what, exactly? The fact that he broke every ACC kicking record and is 5th in NCAA history for career points scored?

[celts32]

As mad as I am about Hall's performance on Saturday, I would not cut him unless it's for a serious upgrade like Vanderjadt or Adam Vineteria. Hall is usually pretty reliable froma reasonable distance and I still remember a few years ago when our kickers couldn't make 30 yarders.

[dgack]

Originally Posted by celts32

As mad as I am about Hall's performance on Saturday, I would not cut him unless it's for a serious upgrade like Vanderjadt or Adam Vineteria. Hall is usually pretty reliable froma reasonable distance and I still remember a few years ago when our kickers couldn't make 30 yarders.

The bigger problem with Hall is that he's never really recovered from the injury and you never know when he's going to come up gimpy and then we end up having to cut someone else to sign a kicker to a temporary contract (a la Nick Novak).

Personally I'd rather take a chance on a young guy with a strong leg like Novak, and see what he can do, than be happy with a guy who's (usually) good at making 40 yarders.

Gibbs should not have to punt every time we can't get past the 25.

[htownskinfan]

I dont care about Josh brown mouthing off,shoes he has passion for his team,and Van would keep his mouth shut,he learned his lesson,some people are for our punter and kciker and some are against,1 has to go,we either need a punter who can kick a touchback,or a fg kicker who can,I'd love to have tupa come back,because i love the option of having a punter who's an x-qb,but he's to old to rely on not getting injured again

[FRPLG]

How anyone could want Frost over any other punter in the league is beyond sense. He was the worst punter we have had in this town since Theisman tried to punt one. He is terrible plain and simple. There is no way around it.

[hooskins]

Originally Posted by FRPLG

How anyone could want Frost over any other punter in the league is beyond sense. He was the worst punter we have had in this town since Theisman tried to punt one. He is terrible plain and simple. There is no way around it.

As of late, execluding the 14 yard punt in Tampa, he has done very well for us. We are writing him off too soon, if anything we should keep him and see how things go. He has slowly improved, and he did well for us in Seattle. Give the kid a chance, and see how he does, all signs seem to indicate he will only improve.

[FRPLG]

What the hell is all this talk about Novak? Guys he does NOT have a strong leg. He has an average leg. He doesn't kick inside the 10 and is reliable only from inside 45 maybe. That's saying he is "reliable" based on less than a year's worth of experience mostly for a non-contending team. Where is all this crazy Novak love coming from?

[LongTimeSkinsFan]

Originally Posted by FRPLG

What the hell is all this talk about Novak? Guys he does NOT have a strong leg. He has an average leg. He doesn't kick inside the 10 and is reliable only from inside 45 maybe. That's saying he is "reliable" based on less than a year's worth of experience mostly for a non-contending team. Where is all this crazy Novak love coming from?

There's a few of us that have a soft spot in our hearts for former Terps who set ACC scoring records I guess. Just a passing phase I'm sure.

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by LongTimeSkinsFan

There's a few of us that have a soft spot in our hearts for former Terps who set ACC scoring records I guess. Just a passing phase I'm sure.

I hope. I am not saying he isn't a "decent" kicker but we already have a "decent" kicker. We were a playoff team this year so we need to be making upgrades at positions where we are "decent" to be at least "good" so we can take the next steps. Stop letting our past hold us back. Lets find a quality guy to get in there. A guy who can be counted to provide good kicoffssand can makes big kicks. Hell I'd take a punter who is good and can kickoff like they have in Denver this year. Keep the kicker fresh and healthy. Maybe in that scenario you can keep Hall and get his leg strength up by not over working him with kickoffs.

[htownskinfan]

found these stats on kickers,out of the free agents,vinateri had the most tb's,and apparently frost can kickoff,he did twice this yr with a slightly higher avg than hall,also novaks avg was worse than hall and frost
http://www.nfl.com/stats/playersort/...S/2005/regular

[hooskins]

Originally Posted by htownskinfan

found these stats on kickers,out of the free agents,vinateri had the most tb's,and apparently frost can kickoff,he did twice this yr with a slightly higher avg than hall,also novaks avg was worse than hall and frost
http://www.nfl.com/stats/playersort/...S/2005/regular

That stat means nothing because Frost has only taken 2 kickoffs, his average could go either up or down with more kicks so we do not know. It is always a better bet to go with the vet, maybe he will do better next season, but the trends have shown he is going downhill.

[dgack]

One has to admit a certain retarded guilty pleasure in arguing over kickers and punters. For me personally, the issue is that Hall is being paid like a top tier kicker and he is clearly not.

Maybe Novak will never be better than Hall (I question whether that is really true or not). He certainly can't cost us as much, and he's not a gimp, I know that much. And frankly, we've had plenty of time to get used to Hall's deficiencies.

I'm sure a certain amount of the Hall-hating comes from the fact that he's the devil we know. And certainly it could be worse. But it seems kind of lame to just settle for a guy who has become mediocre just because he's comfortably mediocre.