Bruce Arians “couldn’t wait” to draft kicker in round five

Captain Fear

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Mar 20, 2019
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Plenty of teams have drafted kickers and punters in round five. Because the Buccaneers drafted three years ago a kicker in round two and the experiment failed miserably, they absorbed plenty of criticism for doing that which really isn’t all that unusual.

“I mean, you get criticized for taking a kicker in the fifth round until you line up with four seconds left and they make a 55-yarder to win a game,” coach Bruce Arians said in his first remarks regarding the team’s decision to take Utah kicker Matt Gay in round five, via JoeBucsFan.com. “‘Oh, what a great pick.'”

Arians added that he and G.M. Jason Licht “couldn’t wait to get that pick in” when on the clock before taking Gay.

“Well, the distance, the strength of his leg, you know, from 58 [yards] in,” Arians said regarding the decision to take Gay. “Cairo [Santos] has been very consistent 40 [yards] in. It’ll be a good battle. And I believe in competition breeds success. It’ll be a heck of a battle between those two guys.”

Trading up and taking Roberto Aguayo in round two became a debacle for the Bucs, and that failure surely fueled the criticism for the decision to take Gay.

This year, four kickers/punters were picked in round five or higher, including one in round four. Four specialists were taken in round five last year, too.

Meanwhile, the Bears possibly wished they’d taken a kicker in round five. Maybe higher than that.
 
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