Cairo Santos Isn’t A Problem (Yet)

Sep 7, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Tennessee Titans kicker Ryan Succop (8) waves to the fans after the game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. Tennessee won the game 26-10. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

Chiefs fans have found themselves a new whipping boy and his name is Cairo Santos.

The rookie kicker has had a shaky start to his career. He’s clanked in a kick from 35-yards and hit the post on a 48-yard attempt in his first game against Tennessee, and botched a 38-yard field goal in Denver last weekend. This is enough for some Chiefs fans to demand his head on a spike. And hey, missing 38-yard field goals is not something you want happening with your kicker.

But here’s a near universal truth about kickers: The first year is almost always an adventure.

Santos is replacing Ryan Succop, who has achieved deity status for some people. Much has been made about Succop being ‘the most accurate kicker in Chiefs history,’ which is a statement that is both 100-percent true and 100-percent misleading. Here are three Succop facts:

– Since his 2009 rookie season Succop ranks 31st out of 33 kickers in field goal percentage (min. 50 FG attempts). This includes Succop’s perfect five-for-five start to this season for Tennessee.

– Only Sebastian Janikowski has a worse field goal percentage than Succop amongst kickers with at least 40 total attempts since 2012. (Again, this includes Succop’s perfect 2014 start.) It should be noted seven of Janikowski’s 12 misses since 2012 have come on kicks beyond 50 yards. Only three of Succop’s 12 misses are from outside of 50 yards.

– In the kickoff game Succop ranked in the middle of the pack amongst all kickoff specialists according to Pro Football Focus’ data. Football Outsider’s data rated the Chiefs as the most efficient special teams unit in 2013 with the only negative efficiency rating coming from Succop’s field goal kicking.

Knowing those facts, now consider Succop was set to be one of the top 10 highest paid kickers in all of football through 2016. One of the worst field goal kickers in football since 2009 was going to make top ten money at his position. Thanks a bunch, Scott Pioli.

Replacing Succop was a must both for performance and for salary cap reasons, so it was the right move for John Dorsey to choose to move on. To replace Succop the Chiefs chose Santos, a former unanimous all-American and Lou Groza winner with exceptional range that estimated to go beyond 60 yards. He’s playing for the rookie league minimum and is under Chiefs control for three years.

And here’s where the first year kicker thing comes in.

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