Despite spending the entirety of the 2010s thus far with the Jets and being that franchise’s most accurate kicker, Nick Folk wasn’t especially surprised by his early-offseason release. The 32-year-old kicker is now with the Buccaneers, which would be surprising given their recent investment history at this position. Roberto Aguayo‘s struggles have opened the door to an ongoing competition, but Folk doesn’t believe he has to win it to be kicking in the NFL this season.
“If I kick well, I’ll be kicking here or somewhere else,” Folk said, via Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times. “I can’t worry about things I can’t control. If I kick the best I can, I’ll be just fine.”
Folk signed a one-year, $1.75MM deal with $750K guaranteed. Aguayo went 22-for-31 on field goals last season, putting the former second-round pick’s future in question. Auman offers that Folk’s experience as an 11th-year veteran could give him the edge if this competition is close, Aguayo’s status as a rare Day 2 kicker pick notwithstanding. As Auman points out, Folk winning the job would make it six straight years the Bucs will have deployed a different kicker.
Here’s the latest from the NFC.
- Despite Michael Vick seeming to indicate he was in the process of coming to an agreement with Falcons management on a one-day retirement contract, the former Falcons Pro Bowler said Sunday he hasn’t spoken with anyone with the team about doing this yet. But he has it on the agenda. “I haven’t talked to anybody about it specifically,” Vick said, via Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com. “It’s something that I’ve really been thinking about trying to get done. I was asked the question the other day is that what I want, and I said, ‘Yeah.’ … When I spoke to [Falcons owner] Arthur [Blank], we talked about various other things,” Vick said. “Like I said, [retiring as a Falcon] is something that can happen down the road, and I think we both know that.” Vick told McClure he still has a good relationship with Blank despite one of the most notorious exits from a team in league history. Blank did invite Vick and other former Falcon greats to the Georgia Dome on New Year’s Day for a celebratory ceremony. The 36-year-old added that the Falcons are where his “identity lies as a player.”
- A hamstring injury limited Teez Tabor this week at Lions OTAs, Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com reports. Tabor is not expected to start this year, Rothstein points out, but the second-round pick missing time during his developmental stage would bring a sharper learning curve. The Lions have 16-game starter Nevin Lawson as the likely frontrunner to open the season opposite Darius Slay, and they signed D.J. Hayden to a one-year deal.
- Dorial Green-Beckham‘s Eagles roster spot is in trouble, Dave Zangaro of CSNPhilly.com opines. After the Eagles outfitted Jordan Matthews with outside hired guns in Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith, Zangaro expects Green-Beckham to fail to make the 53-man roster. Philadelphia’s wide receiver group also houses Nelson Agholor and rookie fourth-rounder Mack Hollins. The 24-year-old Beckham, once the No. 1 recruit in the country coming out of high school, played extensively for the Eagles last season but didn’t stand out. The former second-round Titans pick caught a career-high 36 passes but saw his yards-per-catch figure drop drastically, from 17.2 as a rookie to 10.9 in 2016. That said, Matthews, Jeffery and Smith could all be free agents after 2017 — Smith’s deal has option years — so retaining a formerly coveted player with two years left on his contract might be prudent from a long-term perspective.
Why would Tabor not start this year? Lawson is the backup and Hayden is worse
DBG “played extensively” yet he barely played half the offensive snaps. The fact that he had the same numbers as Agholor while playing in half as many snaps DOES stand out. The YPC was down also because they barely went long at all. Didn’t dig too deep for this click bait huh. The guy they need to find a way to get rid of is Agholor. Never shoulda drafted him to begin with.