Veteran kickers Garrett Hartley, Jay Feely and Rian Lindell were all in Nashville Wednesday for a look from the Tennessee Titans, says Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean.
The Titans will stand pat at kicker Thursday night for their preseason finale against the Vikings at LP Field.
Maikon Bonani or Travis Coons could be able to put the team at ease and win the job. Or the Titans could come out of the night thinking the body of work is insufficient and turn to one of those three or another kicker who comes free as teams cut to 53 by Saturday afternoon.
The tryouts resulted in a question like this from several people on Twitter.
@PaulKuharskyNFL why didnt we just keep bironas if we are gonna bring in all these old kickers for a try out?
— John James (@JohnJamesShep) August 28, 2014I understand the fan base had a great affection for Rob Bironas, who had a very good career with the Titans.
But there have been at least nine other kicker competitions in the NFL this preseason, when 2,880 players have been on rosters. And no other team saw fit to bring Bironas in to be a part of things.
John Glennon of The Tennessean points out that the three veterans the Titans looked at were all lesser kickers than Bironas a year ago. That’s not good, but it doesn’t ensure they can’t be better in 2014 than he would be. (And the guy who resurfaces will assuredly have a better year than the guys who do not.)
Crush the Titans over moving on if you like. But please acknowledge that 31 other teams have also steered clear of him. That says a lot about his current value, even if he resurfaces at some point.
Here is a reminder of the things that factored into the Titans' decision when they cut Bironas in March:
Bironas' performance on kickoffs has taken a step backward over the past three seasons; 56.4 percent of his kickoffs were touchbacks in 2011, 50 percent in 2012 and 38.6 percent in 2013. That’s a sign of diminishing leg strength.
His field goal accuracy was still good, but compared to his peers, he's not what he once was. In 2010 he ranked third in field goal percentage, in 2011 fourth, in 2012 26th and in 2013 20th.
He was due a $250,000 roster bonus in March and a subsequent $2.875 million base salary. With semi-diminishing returns, they didn’t think anticipated production lined up with cost.