My Chief Concerns: I Bet You Did Not Know This
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Off the top of your head can you name a Chiefs player who statistically regressed and played worse than the year before? I know it is difficult to do so considering the fact that the Chiefs played beyond all expectations in 2010, but this player did not. I will give you a hint. He is not irrelevant anymore. He is:
The answer after the jump…
Kicker Ryan Succop. So what happened to Mr. Irrelevant?
If you are Scott Pioli, should you be worried about Ryan? Ryan’s field goal percentage dropped significantly from 86.2 percent to 76.9 percent. As far as field goal percentage is concerned that places him at 32nd in the league last year of all kickers who attempted field goals (he was 13th in his rookie season, 2009). I will reiterate that again, he was 32nd in the league in field goal percentage!
Only Rian Lindell, David Buehler, Dan Carpenter, Graham Gano, Shane Andrus and Aaron Pettrey were worse in 2010. That is not good company, considering most if not all of these kickers are most likely going to be replaced, if they have not been already.
Since competition for every position is key, I suspect there is a high probability that the Kansas City Chiefs will be bringing in another kicker to camp this year (if camp happens). Unlike last year, Ryan Succop should not be the only kicker in camp.
In fact, how surprised would you be if we spent another pick on a kicker? I am not saying it is going to happen, but the drop off cannot go unnoticed.