Free Agents

Well Josh, no need for me to go nuts with stats, but there are a few......and let me say this...... We NEVER should have got rid of Gano. He had a terrific leg. Still has the longest FG as a Panther. Tied with the longest FG EVER in the NFL (IIRC..??) till last year when Justin Tucker kicked a 66 yd.. Gano was tied with several others at 63 yds. Anyway when we released him, Gano had a problem with his foot. Not his "kicking" foot or "kicking" leg, but his "plant" foot. We dumped him....Stupid, Stupid. He is still doing well.. Joey Slye was NEVER very accurate as a Panther. He supposedly had a really "strong" leg (And he certainly "looked" strong..). But the truth is in the numbers. Longest FG with the Panthers was 56. Longest career FG is 56 = Meh...??  His FG 'made' percentage 2019 (Panthers..) was 78%. In 2020 (Panthers..) it was 80%. He played with three different teams last year (2021). Houston = 80%. SF 49ers = 87%....Then Washington where he hit 12 of 12 = 100%, BUT no LONG ones.  His Career Percentage = 83%.... Nothing to brag about. His PAT percentage runs about 88% year over year. Career percentage = 88%  NOT GOOD..!!

So, to your point, "we've had good ones"  (during the five years you mentioned..) ..... Well, sort of. We've had ONE good one (Gano), and one "so-so" (Slye). We dumped Slye because he couldn't make a PAT. WAY too many misses. And it still continues. Although he DID clean up his FG kicking late this past year, the PATs still leave a lot to be desired. AND he still hasn't kicked a LONG FG. Now Gonzales is a different story. EXTREMELY reliable on PATs and FGs. Doesn't have a really "strong" leg, but he's almost "automatic".

Here is our Kicker lineup from last year  (JUST LAST YEAR..!!)
Lirim Hajrullahu;  Blake Haubeil;  Alex Kessman;  Dominik Eberle;  Ryan Santoso;  and Zane Gonzales----- We went through six (6) kickers to find Zane.  Last year we lost four games by 6 points or less. How many have we lost in the past three years since Gano..?? How many would a good kicker have won for us.??  Of course it's silly to speculate...no one could forecast what would have happened.  BUT it always pays to have a GOOD kicker. And what I said about the leading points scorer....is absolutely true.

My only point here is, we NEED to find a GOOD kicker and HOLD ON TO HIM. THAT is why I put Gonzales on my list of seven. AND also the reason I MIGHT include our punter, Lachlan Edwards. Remember, we fought the same battle with our Punter last year (although not as bad..).

I wish Zane could kick from 60.... With his accuracy he would be a real "plus" for our ST unit.

OH---I FORGOT..... You're correct about Butker. He is terrific.!! Second only to Justin Tucker in FG percentage (IIRC...over 90%.!!). There's another one we should have kept.!!