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Chandler Catanzaro

Vikings Work Out K Chandler Catanzaro

December 15th, 2020 at 5:13pm CST by Sam Robinson

Dan Bailey has missed seven kicks over his past two games, and the Vikings are looking into a potential replacement. They worked out Chandler Catanzaro on Tuesday.

The Vikings signed Bailey shortly after then-rookie Daniel Carlson‘s tough day in Green Bay during a September 2018 tie game. Bailey fared worse Sunday in Tampa, missing three field goals and an extra point. Against the Jaguars in Week 13, Bailey missed three kicks. His misses in Florida impacted the NFC playoff race, elevating the Cardinals to the No. 7 spot and dropping the Vikings to 6-7.

Catanzaro, however, has not kicked since the 2018 season. The Buccaneers cut him midway through that slate, but the Panthers used him as a Graham Gano replacement in four games. Catanzaro is best known for his three-year Cardinals run from 2014-16; he also kicked in 16 games for the 2017 Jets.

The free agent’s career 83.8% field goal make rate sits nearly 3% behind Bailey’s career mark (86.0), but the former Cowboys specialist certainly has weakened his standing with the Vikings after his two most recent showings. This season, Bailey has missed six field goals. He exited Week 14 with what would be a career-worst 66.7% connect rate.

If the Vikings began giving Catanzaro COVID-19 tests Monday, he could kick in their Week 15 game. Players must pass six days’ worth of coronavirus tests before suiting up with new teams. The Vikings released kicker Tristan Vizcaino from their practice squad Tuesday, clearing the way for another potential Bailey replacement to be added.

Panthers Meet With Chandler Catanzaro

December 4th, 2020 at 9:45am CST by Zachary Links

The Panthers auditioned kickers Chandler Catanzaro, Lirim Hajrullahu, and Louie Zervos on Thursday, according to the league’s transactions wire. All three could serve as insurance for current kicker Joey Slye, who just missed a 54-yarder that would have sealed the deal against the Vikings. 

Slye’s job isn’t necessarily in jeopardy. His 77.4% field goal conversion doesn’t jump off of the page, but two of his attempts were from 65+ yards out. Take those out of the equation, and he’s got a much more respectable ~83% rate. In general, the Panthers have confidence in Slye — his 8-of-11 success rate from 50+ yards last year allowed them to part ways with the talented, yet pricier, Graham Gano.

Catanzaro is the biggest name of the workout bunch, though we haven’t seen him on the field in a while. The 29-year-old’s last live action came towards the end of the 2018 season. In 2019, he hooked on with the Jets and retired soon after (we can’t blame him). This year, he had a cup of coffee with the Giants, but lost out to Gano. Catanzaro is best known for his early work with the Cardinals — he sank 87.9% of his kicks as a rookie in 2014 and 90.3% of his tries in 2015.

After the bye, Panthers will look to bounce back against the Broncos.

Giants Cut Chandler Catanzaro

August 17th, 2020 at 11:24am CST by Zachary Links

The Giants have released kicker Chandler Catanzaro, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). That job now belongs to former Panthers kicker Graham Gano, who spent years playing under GM Dave Gettleman. 

[RELATED: Giants Sign K Graham Gano]

Catanzaro, 29, hooked on with the Jets last year. After a rocky training camp and equally rough start to the preseason, he announced his retirement. He returned to the game last month with New Jersey’s other team, but his stay was short-lived.

Catanzaro nailed 87.9% of his kicks as a Cardinals rookie in 2014 and 90.3% of his tries in 2015. His success rate dipped to 75% in 2016, but bounced back a bit with the Jets in 2017, making 83.3% of his kicks and all of his PATs. Then, he dipped once again. His three-year deal with the Bucs was torn up pretty quickly after he missed two field goals in a loss to the Redskins, ending his Tampa Bay tenure with a weak 73.3% success rate. His last live action came with the Panthers towards the end of the 2018 campaign.

Gano, meanwhile, has been out of football since he fractured his femur towards the end of the 2018 season. Before that, he was tremendous in 2017, his last full season. Gano nailed 29 of his 30 field goal tries for a league-leading 96.7% conversion rate.

Giants To Sign Chandler Catanzaro

July 26th, 2020 at 10:54am CST by Zachary Links

The Giants have agreed to sign Chandler Catanzaro, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Catanzaro will enter camp as the Giants’ frontrunner for the kicking job, which has been freed up by the release of Aldrick Rosas. 

[RELATED: Giants Cut Aldrick Rosas]

Catanzaro, 29, hooked on with the Jets last March. After a rocky training camp and equally rough start to the preseason, he announced his retirement. Now, he’s coming back for New Jersey’s other team.

The Clemson product had a tremendous start to his career with the Cardinals. Catanzaro nailed 87.9% of his kicks as a rookie and 90.3% of his tries in 2015. His success rate dipped to 75% in 2016, but bounced back a bit with the Jets in 2017, making 83.3% of his kicks and all of his PATs. Then, he dipped once again. His three-year deal with the Bucs was torn up pretty quickly after he missed two field goals in a loss to the Redskins, ending his Tampa Bay tenure with a weak 73.3% success rate. His last live action came with the Panthers towards the end of the 2018 campaign.

The Giants preferred Catanzaro’s on-field mistakes to Rosas’ off-the-field issues. Earlier this summer, cops alleged that Rosas was behind the wheel in a hit-and-run accident, and authorities suspect that alcohol was involved.

Jets K Chandler Catanzaro Retires

August 11th, 2019 at 8:35am CST by Rory Parks

Jets K Chandler Catanzaro, 28, has retired, according to a team announcement. To take his place on the roster, the club has signed K Taylor Bertolet.

Catanzaro’s job was clearly in jeopardy after he missed a pair of extra points in the Jets’ preseason opener. It was reported yesterday that New York would be bringing in kickers Blair Walsh and Chris Blewitt for tryouts, and the Jets are said to still be interested in Ravens’ kicker Kaare Vedvik, who also caught their eye last summer.

In addition to his difficulties in the first preseason game, Catanzaro had apparently struggled in camp as well. Perhaps he saw the writing on the wall and elected to leave the game on his terms rather than being cut.

Catanzaro, a Clemson product, signed with the Cardinals as a UDFA in 2014 and won Arizona’s kicking competition that year. His first two seasons in the league were quite promising, as he nailed 87.9% of his kicks in his rookie campaign and 90.3% in 2015. But his success rate dipped to 75% in 2016, and he signed with the Jets in March 2017. He experienced something of a bounceback in his first stint with Gang Green, converting 83.3% of his kicks and all of his PATs, and he signed a three-year deal with the Buccaneers last offseason. Tampa Bay released him after he missed two field goals in a loss to the Redskins last November — he ultimately made just 73.3% of his kicks with the Bucs — and he caught on with the Panthers for the last few games of the season.

The Jets saw Jason Myers turn in a Pro Bowl effort last year, but they lost Myers to free agency in March and hoped that Catanzaro would be an adequate replacement. Obviously, that did not turn out to be the case, though as Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News tweets, the Jets could at least recoup Catanzaro’s $500K signing bonus if they so choose.

Bertolet was with the Jets last summer and performed well, but he has no regular season experience.

Jets Auditioning K Blair Walsh

August 10th, 2019 at 11:04am CST by Ben Levine

Chandler Catanzaro‘s hold on the Jets kicking gig is on shaky ground. Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News writes that the team will be auditioning a number of kickers today, including former All-Pro Blair Walsh. Chris Blewitt will also work out for the team.

Walsh broke onto the scene as a rookie with the Vikings in 2012, setting an NFL single-season record with 10 field goals made from at least 50 yards. However, the kicker had shaky seasons in 2014 and 2016, leading to his release from Minnesota. He caught on with Seattle during the 2017 season, connecting on 21 of his 29 field goal attempts. He also missed a crucial field goal during that season’s wild card round, and he subsequently sat out the 2018 campaign.

After playing for the Jets in 2017, Catanzaro signed with the team again this past March. The veteran had an inconsistent 2018 campaign that was split between the Panthers and Buccaneers, and Mehta writes that Catanzaro had been shaky throughout camp. He struggled a bit during the Jets’ preseason opener, missing a pair of extra points. That caught the eye of head coach Adam Gase, who talked about the possibility of adding competition.

“I don’t think there’s ever a downside to creating competition,” Gase said. “Where we’re at right now going through the spring, there’s been some really good moments where there’s been some consistency there. We just need to kind of get back to our rhythm with the snapper, holder, kicker.”

Jets To Stick With Chandler Catanzaro

August 1st, 2019 at 8:33am CST by Zachary Links

The Jets are sticking with kicker Chandler Catanzaro – for now. The free agent import has had a rocky training camp, but head coach Adam Gase says the team is not looking to bringing in another leg at this time (via Manish Mehta of the Daily News). 

“He had a really good spring,” Gase said. “That’s a part of training camp. You start working through things. Sometimes that happens. We got an experienced guy that’s had success. So, this group feels good about what he’s done in the past and what he’s done in this organization before and what he’s done out here starting the spring. We evaluate not just training camp … We got to use all our information that we’ve gathered since the spring.”

Given Catanzaro’s struggles, it’s hard not to question the Jets’ decision to allow Pro Bowler Jason Myers to walk in free agency. Myers set an NFL record with five field goals from 55+ yards out and tied Gang Green’s all-time record with 91.7% field goal accuracy.

This year, Myers inked a four-year deal with the Seahawks, and the Jets replaced him with Catanzaro, who hasn’t been kicking at a truly elite level since his stellar 2015 season in Arizona.

Contract Details: Vaccaro, Callahan, Okafor

March 21st, 2019 at 10:20pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Let’s take a look at the details of a few recently-signed NFL contracts, with all links going to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle’s Twitter account:

Jets To Sign K Chandler Catanzaro

March 15th, 2019 at 7:22am CST by Ben Levine

The Jets have found their kicker. Brian Costello of the New York Post reports (via Twitter) that the team has signed veteran Chandler Catanzaro.

It’s a reunion of sorts for Catanzaro, who spent the 2017 campaign with the Jets. He ended up parlaying his solid performance into a three-year deal with the Buccaneers last offseason, but he struggled during his brief stint with Tampa Bay. The 28-year-old ended up only connecting on 73.3-percent of his field goal attempts and 85.2-percent of his extra point attempts before being released by the team in November.

Catanzaro ended up catching on with the Panthers for the stretch run. In four games, the kicker converted all five of his field goal attempts and seven of his eight extra point attempts.

Veteran kicker Jason Myers appeared in all 16 games for the Jets in 2018. The 27-year-old ended up agreeing to a four-year deal with the Seahawks earlier this week.

Panthers Sign K Chandler Catanzaro

December 7th, 2018 at 9:53am CST by Zachary Links

The Panthers signed former Bucs kicker Chandler Catanzaro, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Catanzaro will serve as insurance for kicker Graham Gano, who was limited in practice on Thursday. 

To make room for Catanzaro, the Panthers placed guard Amini Silatolu on IR with a knee injury. The 30-year-old has been dealing with a concussion and doctors were unable to clear him before this week’s contest against the Browns. Silatolu appeared in 47 games and made 31 starts between 2012-2017 for the Panthers, but saw time in just six games this year as a reserve.

Catanzaro got the boot from the Bucs in November, one day after he missed two of three field goal attempts against the Redskins. At the time, Catanzaro said that he was working to identify the issue.

“I’m trying to find (the reason for the misses),” Catanzaro said after sending two of his tries wide right in the 16-3 loss. “The ball is just not going through the yellow poles right now. It’s got to do that. I’m not sure (what’s wrong). I just try to take it one kick at a time. … Something’s wrong, and I’ve done my best to fix it, and up until now, it hasn’t been fixed.”

So far, the veteran has a subpar 73.3% conversion rate on field goal tries and four missed extra point attempts on the year.

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