Growler1 said:Gaeilge1 said:Growler1 said:Gaeilge1 said:As an old kicker, (so old in fact that I kciked straight on, not soccer style), the distance issue can be corrected fairly easily. It is more of a mechanical/mental correction as compared to a leg strength issue. The main recruitment criterion for a kicker is now and always has been accuracy. Brody is a very accurate kicker with good mechanics and a strong enough leg to compete in the NFL.
When you look at it there may be no better time to be getting into the league than right now. A significant number of kickers on present rosters are well into their 30's and have been in the league 10-15 years or better. In the next couple of years there is going to be alot of changeover in kickers and I would think that Brody McKnight has a better than average chance of getting a very good look by NFL teams.
Let's be honest about this. Brody had a great season as a punter, but a very average season as a FG kicker. He missed more than he should have, and was not even the best kicker in the Big Sky this season. I like this kid alot. My NFL scout buddy said the Panthers had him rated #9 for FG kickers at the START of the 2011 season. However, I have not asked him about Brody's ranking now.
Having never kicked the football myself, I still have to disagree with the former kicker poster who stated that it is strictly mechanical getting depth on kickoffs. If that is true, why is there a vast difference between the "KO return rate" for various NFL kickers? Furthermore, the NFL teams track this rate and use it as one of the primary stats to evaluate kickers. Field position in the NFL is a highly-valued commodity. There are MANY kickers who have the accuracy to kick in the NFL, from 40 yards and in, but few who combine accuracy, ability to kick the 50+ yard FG, and the ability to put the kick-off deep into the end zone on a consistent basis.
Growler - I agree that NFL teams do track KO return rates and beginning field position, but this is not strictly a kicker statistic. It is a KO team statistic for the receiving team. The counter stat, which is also kept close watch of, is KO coverage and downing inside the 20. While a kicker can improve the coverage team's average with a deep kick, a high kick with a longer hang time can be just as effective for the coverage team. There are very few kicker's in the league who consistently drive the ball out of the endzone so as to completely negate any sort of return. Even those who consistently reach the endzone have the the ball run out on them. If this were strictly a kicker stat the goal would be to drive it out of the endzone every time. The league felt that there was too much of that anyway and that is why they made the rule change at the beginning of this season, which was ultimately scrapped because of the overall danger for a return on every kickoff.
I also agree with your statement that there are MANY kickers who have the accuracy to hit from 40 yards and in but few who can combine accuracy, the ability to hit from 50+ consistently and the abiltiy to continuously put the ball deep in the endzone. Those few probably have an advantage over a kicker like Brody, but as you point out there are very few of them. A liberal estimate might have 3-4 of those kicker's coming out of college each year. The point of my previous post is that distance can be improved a whole lot easier than accuracy can.
As for Brody's FG kicking this year, I have to disagree. He did miss some he should have made, particularly early in the season. Some of that was adjusting to a new long snapper after Tripp's injury. There were a couple that he did pull and one in the playoff game that was simply caught by the wind. I am not sure what happened in the semi-final on that attempt as I could not get a good look at at the kick. However overall he had a stellar season.
I'm not saying that Brody will make an NFL roster. I am saying that he has all the tool's necessary to be competitive at that level.
I guess we'll see. I don't rate him as high as Chris Snyder, who was always on the cusp of making it in the NFL, but never did.
i have vague memories of a bet that included chris snyder kicking in the nfl and somebody's ass. did that ever get "paid"? hmmm....