After releasing Younghoe Koo after seven seasons, Parker Romo played in his first game as the full-time starting kicker for the Atlanta Falcons. After going 5-for-5 in the Falcons' 22-6 Week 2 win over the Minnesota Vikings, Romo struggled in Sunday's 30-0 loss to the Carolina Panthers.
Romo went 0-for-2 on field goals in Charlotte, missing a 49 and a 55-yarder in the first quarter. Falcons coach Raheem Morris spoke about his new kicker's woeful afternoon in the loss to the Panthers, opened the idea of having a kicker competition, saying it's necessary until the team's kicking woes are solved.
Morris on the kicker situation: We gotta bring competition in. That's what we've gotta do. You've gotta bring competition in until you get it right. #Falcons
— Marc Raimondi (@marcraimondi) September 22, 2025
Parker Romo has new competition for the Falcons' kicking job
With that being said, who could challenge Romo in a kicker competition? The Falcons currently have one other kicker on their roster with practice squad player Lenny Krieg. In training camp, Kreig competed with Koo for the starting kicker job.
After Romo struggled against the Panthers, the Falcons could be willing to bring Krieg back into the competition. Krieg, a native of Germany, is on the practice squad through the NFL's International Player Pathway Program.
There are also free agent kickers that have been the topic of discussion among Falcons fans on social media. Free agent kickers that the Falcons were linked to in order to compete with Romo included former Georgia fan favorite Rodrigo Blankenship and Austin Seibert.
Blankenship played for the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals from 2020 to 2022, and made 83.9 percent of his field goals in his NFL career. Meanwhile, Seibert has played for five NFL teams since being drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
He played nine games with the Washington Commanders last season before being replaced by Zane Gonzalez after missing a crucial extra point in a 34-26 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in week 12.
However, Terry Fontenot and Raheem Morris opted to pursue a different player as the team signed Ben Sauls to their practice squad on Tuesday afternoon.
Th #Falcons signed K Ben Sauls and WR Deven Thompkins to their practice squad, per the team.
— Marc Raimondi (@marcraimondi) September 23, 2025
The undrafted free agent out of Pittsburgh spent the majority of the summer staying close to home with the Steelers before being cut just before the roster deadline. He made 81.3% of his field goals in college and went 5-6 on field goals in the preseason.
This is an issue that the Falcons want to get solved as it'll be a key for them to have a successful season. Romo can redeem himself this weekend against the Commanders, as one bad performance likely won't dictate his long-term future in Atlanta.