Mike Vrabel: There’s no rush to make a decision in kicker competition

T-Rac

Well-known member
Mar 20, 2019
1,711
1
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: DEC 05 Ohio State at Michigan State

Getty Images

Though the Titans have experienced plenty of success over the last couple years, they’ve also had significant issues at kicker.

After the club ran through four of them in 2019, longtime Patriot Stephen Gostkowski missed eight of his attempts, with five of them coming between 40 and 49 yards. Gostkowski finished the year hitting just 69 percent of his field goals — easily the worst mark of his 15-year career.

The Titans did not re-sign Gostkowski after his one-year contract expired. They currently have Tucker McCann and Blake Haubeil on the roster to compete for the kicker role in 2021. McCann was on Tennessee’s practice squad in 2020 and Haubeil is an undrafted rookie out of Ohio State.

“That’s where the battle is at now. There’s not really much of a battle. There’s no rush,” head coach Mike Vrabel said, via Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com. “We have to put them in situations and evaluate them a lot more in training camp and in preseason. But, they’re both working hard and we’re excited to see where that competition leads and then we’ll have to make a decision at that point in time if that’s what’s best for the team and one of those guys moving forward. Everything that we’ve seen thus far, those guys are continuing to improve and work with the timing and the operation with [long snapper] Morgan [Cox] and with [holder] Brett [Kern].”

Neither McCann nor Haubeil have attempted a field goal in the pros. McCann finished 16-of-22 on his attempts in 2019, his final season at Mizzou. Haubeil hit five of his seven field goals last year fo Ohio State, also making all 24 of his extra points.
 
Top