MOVE OVER FOR THE KICKERS
By STEVE KING
I’ve said numerous times – and I truly believe it to be true – that “print” reporters covering NFL teams can write about the quarterbacks every single day.
Quarterback is the most important position in team sports. The person who plays there touches the ball on every single play, makes the most money of any player on the team and is the face of his particular franchise.
That’s especially true in a football- and quarterback-crazy town like Cleveland, and now more than ever since there is a guy named Baker Mayfield under center.
But right now, what with the preseason marching on and Mayfield having played just one possession all year so as to make sure he’s healthy for the regular-season opener, there’s some room for other stories.
Presently with the Browns, the story being discussed all around town concerns the team’s continuing kicking problems. Incumbent Greg Joseph and Austin Seibert, a fifth-round choice in the 2019 NFL Draft, have really struggled since the practices way back in the spring. The problem has not gotten better. Rather, it has gotten worse.
Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens was asked about the kickers six times – all in a row – in his daily press conference on Monday as training camp nears its end. Since there were 33 questions overall in the presser, just under 20 percent – 18.2 percent, to be exact — of the questions were bout the kickers.
Mayfield? Just two questions about him, the same as for – get this – newly-crowned UFC heavyweight champion and Cleveland native Stipe Miocic.
Who would have ever thought that so close – less than three weeks now – before Opening Weekend? We all know that will change soon, but until this kicking dilemma is solved, it will also continue to be a big part of Kitchens’ press conferences – and the fate of the Browns.
Kitchens said he is not bringing in other kickers to challenge Joseph and Seibert – at least for now. While I respect Kitchens, I wholeheartedly disagree with him. The crop of available kickers is not rated as being very good, but how much worse can it get? The Browns know what they have in Seibert and Joseph, and it isn’t much. Now it’s time to find out what they might have in someone else.
More:
- “Middle Men: Browns Hoping Erratic Kickers Straighten Out” (AP) – “Despite erratic performances — wide right, wide left, short, off the uprights — in training camp and exhibitions by incumbent Greg Joseph and rookie Austin Seibert…”
- “It’s time to pull the fire alarm for the Browns kicker competition” (WFNY) – “Since leaving after the 2012 season where he made 93.5% of his field goals, the Browns have gone through a cavalcade of kickers.”
- “Running backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt looking like a potent combination” (C-T) – “Running back Kareem Hunt, fresh off two solid days of practice against the Colts, is expected to make his preseason Browns debut tonight at Lucas Oil Stadium.”
- “Bears, Browns attracting most Super Bowl bets” (ESPN) – “Bettors have spoken: The Chicago Bears and the Cleveland Browns — and their young quarterbacks — are public darlings at Las Vegas sportsbooks.”
