Is Place Kicker A Forgotten Need For The Washington Redskins?

Should he stay or should he go? (Photo via redskinsblog)

With 17 days until the June 3rd hearing between the NFL and NFLPA, we won’t really have much groundbreaking news to talk about regarding the Redskins, or any other NFL team, for that matter. As such, the local media and blogosphere will have to really dig down deep to find something somewhat noteworthy to speculate on until there is some kind of clarity to the current labor situation. The same thing applies to this site as well, as we’ll try and give as good of analysis as we can given this dead period of time we’re dealing with.

And with that, let’s discuss a Redskins team need that may have not gotten as much publicity this offseason as let’s say, quarterback.

We know about the needs at QB, the O and D lines, but how about special teams? There were certainly some lackluster performances on that side of the ball during the 2010 season, and place kicker Graham Gano’s might have been the most perplexing out of all of them.

On one hand, there was a clutch side to Gano. A guy who hit three game winning overtime  kicks against Green Bay (33 yards), Tennessee (48 yards), and Jacksonville (31 yards). Each kick was drilled directly in between the uprights and didn’t have a chance of missing. With his right leg, he single handedly clinched half of the wins the team wound up amassing in 2010. This would normally be encouraging for fans because, as usually is the case, one of the best measures of a kicker’s success in the NFL is by judging his ability in the clutch, one that Gano appears to have.

Yet, there is still some debate as to whether or not the Redskins should release Gano this offseason, if not provide some stiff competition once training camp arrives. He might have helped the team win some games last season, but he certainly looked shaky during moments where one would expect an NFL kicker to shine.

In 2010, Gano was 0/3 in kicks longer than 50 yards, one of which being a potential game winner against Houston in Week 2. And even though Gano missed those opportunities, it’s reasonable to say that, while hitting 50+ yarders is a plus, it’s unfair to expect every NFL kicker to hit those on a routine basis.

That being said, it was the shorter opportunities that Gano really struggled with. He finished last season 11/14 between 40-49 yards. Not the worst percentage in the league, to be sure, but he had a knack for barely getting the ball through the uprights. Whether it be because the kick was either too left or too right, or because it was nearly short of the crossbar, he had a way of making Redskins fans sweat it out everytime he lined up for a kick in that range.

His field goal statistics below 40 yards, however, are very troubling:

Between 30-39 yards, Gano made 57% (4 of 7)  of his kicks, good for 36th in the league in percentage. Out of the 40 kickers who made field goal attempts last season, only David Buehler of the Dallas Cowboys is the only other kicker to have missed three kicks in this range.

Between 20-29 yards, Gano made 80% (8 of 10) of his kicks, tied for 36th in the league in percentage. Of the 40 kickers who made field goal attempts last season, only 10 missed kicks in this range, with Gano being one of them. Add to that the fact that Gano missed twice in this range, and he is just one of four kickers in the league to have done so.

Overall, Graham Gano finished the 2010 season with a field goal percentage of 69%, worst among place kickers with at least 5 attempts.

So while the media and fanbase is wondering if the 2011 season could be the start of the John Beck era, it wouldn’t be surprising if special teams coach Danny Smith is having an entirely different discussion inside the walls of Redskins Park this offseason.