49ers sign k Phil dawson

[MHSL82]

Meh, enough of the old kickers already... hope the 49ers bring in some new blood later on and the kid wins the job.

This is probably how Kansas City feels about getting their QBs through FA or trades and not the draft, since 1983 (or somewhere abouts). Neither has New Orleans for awhile, but they have this Brees guy that I hear is supposed to be good.

 

[threelittleturds]

Why not? He missed 1 game his rookie year (can't find out why), missed the final 3 games in 2003 with a fractured arm, and missed 5 games in 2009 with a right calf (kicking leg) injury and a groin injury that I don't believe was as serious as the calf. In 2006 he had surgery in the offseason for a sports hernia which was deemed "minor" and didn't miss any game action. It's somewhat difficult to hold a broken arm against a kicker. Since 2004, the only games he's missed was in that 2009 with that calf injury. 11 of his 14 seasons he played every game.

I get that 38 years old is getting up there but he doesn't have a long injury history that I can find. I've read nothing that suggests he's injury prone or wearing down to the point where missing games is easily foreseeable with him given his history? Did I miss anything?

Just basing it on the experiences of our last 2 kickers. Akers had no real history of injury until last year but because of his age he wasn't able to recover from that surgery as quickly as he would have if he were say 25. Also Nedney broke down with age and it started to be an issue.

Dawson is only 1 month and some days younger than Akers. It is only natural that his body is going to break down and be unable to do professional athlete stuff for much longer. I hope it doesn't happen since the 49ers appear to have gone all in with him, but Im fairly sure a 38 year old body won't hold up in the NFL.

 

[ChrisPozz]

Just basing it on the experiences of our last 2 kickers. Akers had no real history of injury until last year but because of his age he wasn't able to recover from that surgery as quickly as he would have if he were say 25. Also Nedney broke down with age and it started to be an issue.

Dawson is only 1 month and some days younger than Akers. It is only natural that his body is going to break down and be unable to do professional athlete stuff for much longer. I hope it doesn't happen since the 49ers appear to have gone all in with him, but Im fairly sure a 38 year old body won't hold up in the NFL.

Nedney came to the 49ers with groin, hamstring and knee (torn ACL on kicking leg) injuries. The hamstring injury caused him to miss a season and then the ACL tear caused him to miss another season before coming to the 49ers. I think it's safe to say that Dawson is far healthier than Nedney this late in their respective careers with far fewer injury concerns going into the last 1-3 years of their careers.

With that said it's probably safe to assume that Dawson is on the tail end of his career and probably doesn't have a half decade left or anything like that. If an injury creeps in all of a sudden it won't be incredibly surprising given the fact he's at the tail end of his career. I just wouldn't necessarily be expecting it to definitely happen because of age or because it happened to Nedney. Nedney was in a much different boat having suffered a much longer list of injuries than Dawson ever has.

We aren't debating from two completely different platforms. I just don't think Dawson compares to Nedney all that similarily except for the age number.

 

[sjballer03]

Nedney came to the 49ers with groin, hamstring and knee (torn ACL on kicking leg) injuries. The hamstring injury caused him to miss a season and then the ACL tear caused him to miss another season before coming to the 49ers. I think it's safe to say that Dawson is far healthier than Nedney this late in their respective careers with far fewer injury concerns going into the last 1-3 years of their careers.

With that said it's probably safe to assume that Dawson is on the tail end of his career and probably doesn't have a half decade left or anything like that. If an injury creeps in all of a sudden it won't be incredibly surprising given the fact he's at the tail end of his career. I just wouldn't necessarily be expecting it to definitely happen because of age or because it happened to Nedney. Nedney was in a much different boat having suffered a much longer list of injuries than Dawson ever has.

We aren't debating from two completely different platforms. I just don't think Dawson compares to Nedney all that similarily except for the age number.

What about the comparison between Akers and Dawson?

 

[Flyingiguana]

Just basing it on the experiences of our last 2 kickers. Akers had no real history of injury until last year but because of his age he wasn't able to recover from that surgery as quickly as he would have if he were say 25. Also Nedney broke down with age and it started to be an issue.

Dawson is only 1 month and some days younger than Akers. It is only natural that his body is going to break down and be unable to do professional athlete stuff for much longer. I hope it doesn't happen since the 49ers appear to have gone all in with him, but Im fairly sure a 38 year old body won't hold up in the NFL.

if he keeps himself in good shape there's no reason why he can't go till 40

 

[ChrisPozz]

What about the comparison between Akers and Dawson?

Yep. Akers didn't come in with as long of an injury history that Nedney had. Akers did have an occasional groin injury that flared up in the middle of his career but he didn't miss any time because of it as far as I know. A torn hamstring was the only thing that I think ever caused him to miss extended time outside of the hernia issue this year that popped up after he initially had surgery for it.

Again, could Dawson's age come into play and play a part in him suffering some kind of injury? Yep. I'm just not going into the season that there's a good or likely chance or with much fear that something is going to happen to him all of a sudden. If there was a groin injury or a hint of repeated hernia issues then I'd have a decent amount of fear. If he was a RB or WR at an advanced age then I'd probably be on that type of boat with you even if he didn't have a long injury history. I'm just not expecting it to happen to Dawson like I might if there was a history there or if he played a different position at an advanced age.

 

[threelittleturds]

Nedney came to the 49ers with groin, hamstring and knee (torn ACL on kicking leg) injuries. The hamstring injury caused him to miss a season and then the ACL tear caused him to miss another season before coming to the 49ers. I think it's safe to say that Dawson is far healthier than Nedney this late in their respective careers with far fewer injury concerns going into the last 1-3 years of their careers.

With that said it's probably safe to assume that Dawson is on the tail end of his career and probably doesn't have a half decade left or anything like that. If an injury creeps in all of a sudden it won't be incredibly surprising given the fact he's at the tail end of his career. I just wouldn't necessarily be expecting it to definitely happen because of age or because it happened to Nedney. Nedney was in a much different boat having suffered a much longer list of injuries than Dawson ever has.

We aren't debating from two completely different platforms. I just don't think Dawson compares to Nedney all that similarily except for the age number.

I know that just because Akers and Nedney had health issues it doesn't mean Dawson will, obviously everybody is different. I'm just kinda tired of the old kickers cause so much hinges on them staying almost completely injury free. Its just the way it works with the body that the older you get the longer it takes to heal, small injuries turn into bigger injuries, and of course you just get slower and weaker.

Of course it is easy to point out that a young kicker can get injured just as easily as an old kicker, but Akers is a good example of a guy fighting through injuries as a young guy and it not really affecting his game too much but then being unable to fight through injury issues as an "old man".

 

[imac_21]

I know that just because Akers and Nedney had health issues it doesn't mean Dawson will, obviously everybody is different. I'm just kinda tired of the old kickers cause so much hinges on them staying almost completely injury free. Its just the way it works with the body that the older you get the longer it takes to heal, small injuries turn into bigger injuries, and of course you just get slower and weaker.

Of course it is easy to point out that a young kicker can get injured just as easily as an old kicker, but Akers is a good example of a guy fighting through injuries as a young guy and it not really affecting his game too much but then being unable to fight through injury issues as an "old man".

For me, with kickers injuries aren't a big deal. How often do kickers get injured? We didn't sign a 38 year old NT.

My concern with kickers is can they kick? Sure the Ravens got it done with the rookie this year. This year was a good year for rookie kickers. But getting a rookie kicker is always a crap shoot. This is walter's football's top 7 kickers going into last year's draft. Blair Walsh is the only guy to turn out this year (no Zuerlein (6th round) or Tucker (undrafted))

WalterFootball.com: 2012 NFL Draft: Kicker Rankings

Here's 2011. One of these guys is even in the league

WalterFootball.com: 2011 NFL Draft: Kicker Rankings

2010. I don't believe any of these guys made it.

WalterFootball.com: 2010 NFL Draft: Kicker Rankings

I have no problem bringing in a rookie kicker, but with where this team is in terms of progress, we can't exactly commit to a rookie and then have him be Jeff Chandler.

 

[ChrisPozz]

Kickers whose deals are expiring after this next season:

Phil Dawson

Jay Feely

Robbie Gould (One of my all-time favorite kickers. I trust him in clutch spots as much as anyone in the league). He'll be just north of 30 next year and has the 6th best FG % in NFL history. I also like him because he kicks in some really poor conditions and might be as ideally suited for California as anybody else in the league. Although, maybe this won't be as important in the team's new stadium.

Sebastian Janikowski

Adam Vinatieri

Feely might be the most likely of any of those guys to switch teams but right now I don't get a feeling that it's all that likely that any of those guys will change teams. Obviously that's hard to say for sure right now, though.

I have no problem recycling a somewhat established kicker every year or every couple years if the front office can somehow keep doing that. That's easier said than actually done, though.

I really, really wanted Alex Henery in the 2011 draft. (After the 49ers made the trade to get Colin, I suggested several options to get back into the early 4th to take him even before Philly took him in the middle of the 4th). At the time of his departure from Nebraska he held the all-time record for FG accuracy (89.5%) and had alot of experience kicking in bad weather.

The only two other kickers I've ever said before every draft that I'd use a draft pick on since 1998 were Nate Kaeding and Sebastian Janikowski. I liked Henery that much.

 

[4lifer9er]

I am with you on that Henery bandwagon. I def wanted him in the 4th as well. Oh well.. better luck next time. I wonder how much it would be to bring in Gould or if he would want to come. I don't have an idea of what kickers are in the draft, or if there are any worth drafting.

 

[ChrisPozz]

I am with you on that Henery bandwagon. I def wanted him in the 4th as well. Oh well.. better luck next time. I wonder how much it would be to bring in Gould or if he would want to come. I don't have an idea of what kickers are in the draft, or if there are any worth drafting.

My guess is that he'll get something like 4 years, $15M with around $3-$4M signing bonus. That'd make him in or just around the top 3 highest paid kickers in the league. Scobee, Bironas, Barth and Prater all just recently re-signed long term and make up the top 5 with Janikowski easily the highest paid kicker.

 

[Badger8843]

I love the idiots dogging on Phil Dawson, he has been one of the NFL best kicker the past couple years. He only missed 2 Fg's last year and one of them was blocked. He kicked in Cleveland and I'm from Ohio and that Stadium is a damn wind storm, he will be a stud for the 49ers. And whoever said he cant kick over 50, sorry but you are DEAD WRONG, he was 7/7 over 50+ which was 2nd in the NFL only behind B.Walsh. So before you post about a young kicker or not liking this deal, please do your research or actually watch a team besides the 49ers before you make a comment

 

[MHSL82]

Hypothetical: What's the highest pick you would use on a FG kicker if under some magic you knew that he'd make 100% of the field goals within 64 yards. And somehow everyone else knew he'd make 100%. Remember this is a magical hypothetical, I know it would never happen and we'd never know it beforehand even it were.

Just trying to see the importance of a kicker. If a kicker is good but still misses, then the drive to get any particular kicker would be lessened. But if he made all of them, he'd be pretty darn important.

 

[Yoshi]

It's hard to predict who's really susceptible to getting injuries - sure, someone who has a history of nagging ailments has a better chance of hitting the mend as opposed to another athlete although durability can not be predicted with 100% accuracy. Training, diet, and genetics all have a play into someone's overall health, although a person's body could be an anatomical time bomb - case in point: Derek Jeter who was fairly healthy until sustaining that nasty injury in the playoffs last year.

With that said, the groin injury followed by the calf injury are what concerns me, yet he's been fairly healthy his entire career. I really like this signing, as well with every other move the 49ers have made (Dorsey, Nnamdi, and Boldin). They all have addressed important needs on this team and although Dawson is 38, I still believe it was a solid move. The Niners will more than likely draft a kicker with 1 of their 10,000 picks in this upcoming draft because this team is getting stacked to a point where competition for starting spots is the name of the game. Nonetheless, doesn't hurt when the 49ers are getting someone who is the 9th most accurate kicker in league history.