Post by Uncle on Sept 20, 2021 8:36:40 GMT -6
We hear this a lot. "Kickers under Zimmer..." How true is it? Seems like we've seen a lot of doozies with kickers in recent years all over the league. A lot of kickers bouncing around from team to team too, with very few truly solid guys. How bad is it really? Or more confirmation bias?
Wish we had Tucker. That'd be a dream!
The Vikings have made 81% of their kicks since Zimmer became HC. That is the same as Detroit who had Matt Prater during that entire time, and kicked all of their home games indoors (something the Vikings did not do in 2014 and 2015). It is also the same as the Bears and 3% points less than the Packers who were 12th in FGs % during that time.
In fact the Vikings were just 5 made FGs away from being average in that statistic, less than one a year. This, despite trotting out a bunch of has-been's and never weres' kickers.
Looking at specific kickers:
Walsh had his second best season % wise with Zimmer as his HC. He also had his worst season, but went on to suck for Seattle as well after we cut him.
Forbath had his most success of his career with Zimmer.
Carlson admits he had a flaw in his kicking that he needed time away from an active roster to fix. He also struggled significantly in 2019 and the Raiders were close to not bringing him back in 2020.
Bailey had the exact same FG % in 2018 as he did in 2017 with the Cowboys, tied his best season in 2019 and struggled again in 2020.
Zimmer has gotten the best seasons out of 2 of 3 kickers, gotten the worst seasons out of 2 of 3 kickers and made the right decision with Carlson.
He isn't exonerated, but he isn't as bad as some think.
For reference, the Vikings have been through 5 K's in 8 seasons in the Zimmer era:
2014-2016: Blair Walsh
2016-2017: Kai Forbath
2018: Daniel Carlson
2018-2020: Dan Bailey
2021: Greg Joseph
That means, on average, a K's average "lifespan" on a Zimmer-led Vikings team is 1.6 seasons - they can't make it through 2 full seasons - and that's not counting Rick trading a 5th for Kaare Vedvik who didn't last a month in Aug 2019 - if you count Vedvik, that's 6 K's in 8 seasons for an avg "lifespan" of 1.3 seasons. Is that above, below or right about on-par with the current NFL K turnover these days?
Here's the NFC North teams K's turnover from 2014-2021:
Packers:
2014-2021: Mason Croby
Turnover avg: 8.0 seasons
Lions:
2014-2020: Matt Prater
2021: Austin Seibert
Turnover avg: 4.0 seasons (sort of deceiving as Prater lasted for 7 full seasons)
Bears
2014-2015: Robbie Gould (not counting Jay Feeley who Bears signed in latter part of 2014 after Gould became injured)
2016-2017: Connor Barth
2017: Cairo Santos
2018: Cody Parkey
2019: Eddy Pineiro
2020-2021: Cairo Santos
Turnover avg: 1.3 seasons
So depending on whether you count the trade for Vedvik, the Vikings either have the 2nd most or tied for the most K turnover avg during the Zimmer era in the NFC North (2014-2021). The Packers (Crosby) and Lions (Prater) have had the luxury of solid K's during that timeframe, but what about the rest of the NFL? Is a 1.3 / 1.6 K "lifespan" about on-par w/ the NFL, or is it a Bears/Vikings issue only?
!!!
... and neither is this Chris guy.