Back In The Kicker Market – JoeBucsFan.com – Tampa Bay Bucs Blog, Buccaneers News

Surely on super-thin ice.

If there’s a wall with writing on it at One Buc Palace, Super Bowl kicker Ryan Succop surely has his name there in bold, possibly in Arians red.

With the Bucs in a major salary cap crunch, already $50 million or so over next season’s cap, Joe can’t imagine the team holding on to an expensive kicker; Ryan Succop turns 37 in September and is coming off an average season.

Why would a team do that?

Both Super Bowl kickers this season started their careers with clubs not named the Eagles or Chiefs. Yes, you can find a kicker on the street if you know how to spot one.

That’s how the Bucs found Succop in September of 2020 when no other team wanted him. He had been without a team for more than five months and came to Tampa Bay cheap.

The best two NFC kickers over the past two seasons have been Matt Gay (Rams) and Jason Myers (Seattle). Gay was a Bucs reject and Myers was claimed on waivers by Todd Bowles’ Jets team in 2018 and proceeded to make the Pro Bowl that season before he signed with Seattle.

In January, Bowles talked publicly about Succop not having the range he’s seeking. It sounded like Bowles was saying goodbye to Succop, who was 2-of-7 from 50-plus yards last season.

Among 32 full-time NFL kickers (20 or more field goal attempts), Succop was one of only six kickers to convert less than 50 percent from that distance.

Bowels called Succop “efficient” on the Buccaneers Radio Network but said “we’ve got to be able to kick longer field goals than we’ve kicked.”

Joe is confident Succop will be on the chopping block soon so the Bucs can recoup $3.75 million in salary cap room.

And if they can’t find a cheap veteran kicker, then Joe thinks there’s a great chance Succop will be on the street again waiting to re-signed.