Competition at kicker

[dude82]

The Hawks just signed Blair Walsh away from the Vikings. It appears that he's going to at least provide competition for Hauschka next preseason if not beat him out for the job. This wasn't one of the position battles I expected to be talking about, but it makes sense to at least challenge Hauschka's place on the team given how many kicks he missed this season.

Seahawks Sign Kicker Blair Walsh

 

[VikingFan2k2]

He has been winning games for you since January of 2016.

Seriously though, he's a great talent and a good guy. If he can get his head on straight and make the easy ones, I wouldn't be very surprised to see him beat out Hauschka.

 

[jerseyhawksfan79]

Haush had a down year so hopefully this lights a fire under him.

 

[JMR]

Well, Hauschka is not even under contract for 2017 and is a UFA, so the only way this means he has competition is if he's re-signed by the Hawks. We also didn't really sign Walsh "away from Minn" since they had released him in the middle of this past season. They clearly had moved on from him.

Hausch was money for 3 seasons, but he missed the most XPs in the league this year and got paid $3.5M to do it. I bet we got Walsh for no more than half that, so to me this isn't a bad move at all. Wouldn't be shocked if there does end up being some competition at kicker in '17 though, but i'm thinking it may not even involve Hauschka. Maybe bring in a UDFA or another free agent vet in camp and let them duke it out.

 

[Anointed One]

I personally feel Hausch will leave via FA... His market value will be around 4 million so i'd be surprised if he left that on the table from another team... I do not see the Hawks giving him that kind of money... Especially since he's not a pro bowl type kicker... I think we'll roll with Walsh and draft a kicker if he's available and let those two duke it out for the starting job...

 

[HaroldSeattle]

I personally feel Hausch will leave via FA... His market value will be around 4 million so i'd be surprised if he left that on the table from another team... I do not see the Hawks giving him that kind of money... Especially since he's not a pro bowl type kicker... I think we'll roll with Walsh and draft a kicker if he's available and let those two duke it out for the starting job...

Sounds about right.

 

[MrS]

Time to draft a kicker in the 7th. I dont think we need to spend 3 or 4m on a kicker who hasnt been all that good

 

[Uhsplit]

Hausch has been rock solid and has built his range up to one of the best in the NFL.
Then last year happened.
This is a money move and Hausch apparently doesn't want to play for the amount Seattle has him valued at.
It will be down to Walsh vs FA's, drafted or not trying out for the job.

 

[blstoker]

I like Walsh, a lot. He's a big leg kicker, who if he can be more accurate on the PAT will give Seattle a kicker who has hit over 70% of his career 50 yard field goal attempts. I was surprised that Minnesota cut him, and I was surprised that no one signed him after he was cut loose. This could be a good move for Seattle.

 

[Tech_God]

I like Walsh, a lot. He's a big leg kicker, who if he can be more accurate on the PAT will give Seattle a kicker who has hit over 70% of his career 50 yard field goal attempts. I was surprised that Minnesota cut him, and I was surprised that no one signed him after he was cut loose. This could be a good move for Seattle.

He was cut because as of week 10 last season, he missed 4 xp's and 4 field goals. He was clearly still shaken up from the blown kick in the playoffs. Seriously though, the Vikings couldn't score a touchdown that game and Walsh provided the only points in that game. Kickers, they get no love...

 

[JMR]

He was cut because as of week 10 last season, he missed 4 xp's and 4 field goals. He was clearly still shaken up from the blown kick in the playoffs. Seriously though, the Vikings couldn't score a touchdown that game and Walsh provided the only points in that game. Kickers, they get no love...

The Vikings played 8 quarters against us that year in their house, and no one but Walsh scored on the D.

 

[dude82]

I didn't know that Walsh had been cut by Minnesota in-season and I forgot that Hauschka is a free agent so this could very well mean that Walsh is our new kicker outright. I do have a feeling that another kicker will be brought in to compete with Walsh in training camp though. Most likely a late round pick or an UDFA. It'll be weird not having Hauschka out there kicking the ball, but he picked a bad time to have probably his worst season. He's had years with a worse FG% than he had this year, but this was his worst year kicking extra points. Judging by his needing a job, obviously Walsh didn't have a great season either, but as someone mentioned earlier, he's probably going to end up being cheaper than Hauschka would have been.

 

[VikingFan2k2]

The Vikings played 8 quarters against us that year in their house, and no one but Walsh scored on the D.

Patterson had a Kick Return and did the Deion high step while down by 4 TDS. But your point is correct.

Edit: Didn't see that you wrote "on the D".

One more and I'm done, at least he signed his contract in purple ink:

 

[boogiewithstu2007]

He has been winning games for you since January of 2016.

Seriously though, he's a great talent and a good guy. If he can get his head on straight and make the easy ones, I wouldn't be very surprised to see him beat out Hauschka.

lol ... that's what one of the headlines said when I read about the pick-up .... It said Blair Walsh get's a chance to win games for the Seahawks again.... lol

 

[dude82]

Patterson had a Kick Return and did the Deion high step while down by 4 TDS. But your point is correct.

Edit: Didn't see that you wrote "on the D".

One more and I'm done, at least he signed his contract in purple ink:

I hope his signature on his contract isn't a sign of what he'll do as a kicker for us (wide left).

 

[Logicallylethal]

If Hauschka is going to cost 3-4 mil, I say pay him.

2016 was deemed a down year for Hauschka but he still hit 89 % of his kicks. That's better than any season Walsh has had outside of his rookie year. In his 6 years, Hauschka has hit 89 % of his kicks and has not had a year under 83 %

Sure he missed some extra points, but how much of that was just fluky and how much of that was because we couldn't block properly on the extra points?

Walsh is extremely talented. I still remember when he went 10-10 from 50 + kicks his rookie year. But at the kicking position, consistency over talent any day.

This isn't a position we should go cheap on. Especially since we'd only be saving a couple of million of dollars in a year when cap isn't an issue.

.

 

[Anointed One]

Patterson had a Kick Return and did the Deion high step while down by 4 TDS. But your point is correct.

Edit: Didn't see that you wrote "on the D".

One more and I'm done, at least he signed his contract in purple ink:

Yeah but he missed the line to sign on, wide left...

 

[chf]

Heh.

We don't like down years as Hawks fans.

Ship his ass out!

I never know what to think of with kickers. They're kind of like goalies, if you ship them out of town every time they have a rough patch, you'l never keep one. Ever.

 

[jerseyhawksfan79]

I wonder if some of his misses were do to pressing quickly to get the kick off knowing the o-line crumbled several times causing blocked xp's. Could be a reason he was shaky this year.

 

[MKHawk]

Hausch has had a problem with his kicks having a lower trajectory than you'd like for his shorter kicks for a few years now.