10:11am: The Jags will use the waiver wire to make their latest kicker transaction. Doug Pederson said Tuesday the team submitted a claim for kicker James McCourt, whom the Chargers waived Monday. Although claims are not official until this afternoon, the Jaguars hold the No. 1 waiver priority due to their 2021 record.
A rookie UDFA, McCourt worked as the University of Illinois’ kicker for the past three seasons. He made 18 of 23 field goal tries in 2021 — a career-best mark — but could not beat out Chargers incumbent Dustin Hopkins.
9:12am: The Jaguars are waiving Ryan Santoso, Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com tweets. As a result, the team does not have a kicker on its roster. The team also waived quarterback Jake Luton.
While Jacksonville will obviously not go long without a kicker — the team plans to replace Santoso later Tuesday, per DiRocco — this is a somewhat strange development. The Jags had already waived Matthew Wright, their primary 2021 kicker, earlier this offseason.
The team waived rookie UDFA Andrew Mevis late last month, after an eventfully bad training camp workout, and released his replacement (Elliott Fry) from IR via injury settlement soon after. Santoso had caught on with the Jaguars in March, and the team cut Wright a few weeks later.
Santoso, 27 later this week, kicked for the Lions and Panthers last season and made a Titans cameo in 2019 — his first NFL action. The University of Minnesota alum has only kicked in seven career games. He began the 2021 season shortly after being traded from the Giants to the Panthers and bounced on and off the Rams’ practice squad during the team’s leadup to Super Bowl LVI.
Jaguars keep scraping the bottom of the kicker bargain bin, then wondering why their kickers are so bad. Wright was at least fairly accurate but his leg simply isn’t strong enough: his kickoffs are atrocious and over 45 yards is a stretch. Santoso looks like a deer in the headlights when he kicks. The Jags have to do better.
Looks like they’re getting desperate enough to call arty in for a workout…lol.