2018 NFL off-season thread: Mr. Alex Smith goes to Washington

Rising ticket prices -- and mandatory "donations" tacked on as extra fees -- have also played a part, I think.
The days of college football being at least a reasonable ticket are largely over if you're at a Power 5 school. A decent season ticket will cost you a several thousand dollar "donation" to the school's athletic foundation (the college version of a PSL, except you have to pay it every year) in addition to your tickets. You can easily be $5,000 or more in the hole for four season tickets, which doesn't even include your travel, hotel and tailgating costs for six or seven home games.
That's the biggest reason I haven't been to a game as a fan at my alma mater since 2006. I live three hours away and would love to go once a year with my wife. But by the time I pay for two tickets, hotel, food and gas it's easily a $500 to $600 weekend.

 

Another QB on the market:

 

Looking it up, it's really a crapshoot for kickers year after year. Jason Elam made a couple, Stephen Gostowski made a couple. Then you had guys like Olindo Mare and Shayne Graham also making it one year.

 

Guess I'm just surprised players keep track of kickers that much. Figured Janikowski and/or Vinatieri would have had five or six apiece through their careers, based on their reps.

 

Janikowski’s greatest contribution to the Raiders was being the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Al Davis-Lane Kiffin war. In a 2008 game in Buffalo, the Bills got deep into Raiders territory in position to kick the go-ahead field goal. Kiffin didn’t use his timeouts, choosing to let the Bills do or die. (They did.) All week, everyone was talking about how they should have saved time for the Polish Cannon.

The following Sunday, back at home at the end of the first half, Kiffin sent Janikowski our for a 76-YARD!!!! attempt. Two days later, Davis fired Kiffin and hauled out the projector.

The other great Janikowski memory is that he missed the final game of the season in 2001. Emergency replacement Brad Daluiso missed two easy kicks in a two-point loss that cost the Raiders a bye and ultimately put them in New England for the Tuck Rule game. The official cause of Janikowski’s absence was cellulitis, but rumors persisted for years that the real reason was a testicle piercing gone bad.

He certainly wasn’t boring.

 

I'm guessing they just check the stats and vote on the guy who is leading the kickers in points.

 

I remember reading a book on the NFL Draft in which, the very night that Florida State won the title, Janikowski and his agent found the FSU compliance guy to get the forms for him to declare he was giving up his college eligibility. As soon as Janikowski signed it, the agent pulled out several thousand dollars and paid him.

 

Yes. Lesser kickers on good offenses will usually trump good kickers on lesser offenses. 28-for-33 is going to get more love than 19-for-20.

 

Aren't the guys going 28-for-33 usually on the lesser offenses, though? Since their teams are settling for field goals more often than getting into the end zone?
If fantasy football has taught me anything, it's that kickers on mediocre teams put up the most points. Part of the reason Titans kickers were probably better than they appeared for so long when Jeff Fisher was coach.

 

No. Bad offenses don’t get many scoring opportunities.

 

The Tennessee Titans were 23rd in the NFL in scoring during the regular season, yet their kicker, Ryan Succup, tied for the league lead in field goal attempts with 42. To be fair, he was tied with the Chiefs' Harrison Butker and KC was fifth in the league in scoring.

Right behind those two with 41 attempts was Robbie Gould of the 49ers, who were 12th in scoring. He was followed by Phil Dawson of the Cardinals, who were 22nd in scoring. Justin Tucker of the Ravens was also among the top 10 in attempts even though his team was 27th in the league in scoring.

The point being, there are plenty of kickers racking up attempts in offense that are mediocre or worse and I don't think this season is particularly unusual in that regard. (I could be wrong. I'm going with my general impression and only bothered to research this past season.)

 

I really like McCarron. I always thought he was a little better than the other Alabama quarterbacks during their run. He had a little more to his game. I feel like he could become a quality NFL starter. Maybe not a superstar, but definitely someone who has the moxie to win tough games.