Atlanta Falcons: Matt Bryant might get cut after training camp
The Atlanta Falcons made it known that they will have an open competition for their starting place kicker job in 2016. This job will be between veteran Matt Bryant and rookie Nick Rose. So who will they choose? The seasoned vet or the new comer?
Bryant, who has spent the last seven years with the Falcons missed the last six games a season ago with an injury. This is definitely a cause for concern even after the season is over, especially when we take his age into account.
If any one position can play longer than the other, it’s the place kicker position. We see kickers kick into their 40’s time and time again and that’s exactly what Bryant has done. He has 14 years under his belt and is set to turn 41 at the end of the month.
His days in the league are numbered. There’s no denying that so how do you prepare for this as a team? You sign an undrafted free agent to compete with him and that’s exactly what the Falcons did. Atlanta signed Rose out of the University of Texas to compete with Bryant for the 2016 starting job.
Rose wasn’t a great college kicker, but it wouldn’t be the first time that we see a sub-par college kicker excel in the NFL. But regardless, kickers are odd human beings. They spend most of their time on the team by themselves or talking to their holder, their snapper and the punter. So determining whether or not a kicker will pan out is extremely hard to do.
If the Falcons were to go with Rose they would be saving a lot of money. Bryant signed a three-year deal worth $8.5 million and still has two years left on the deal. Rose would be making next to nothing to kick for the Falcons so in that sense it would be a smart financial move.
However, on a team that struggled to score touchdowns in the red zone in 2015, relying on a rookie kicker to convert much-needed field goals might not bode well for the Falcons. We hope that their red zone offense will be much better in 2016, but if things don’t go quite as planned, Atlanta will need a reliable kicker to keep themselves in games.
Next: Five players that will have decreased roles in 2016
Is Bryant’s time in Atlanta coming to an end? It very well might be. We will have an answer at the conclusion of training camp.