Report: Kicker Shunned Atlanta Falcons for San Francisco 49ers

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga – The Atlanta Falcons are in the midst of a kicking competition after starter Younghoe Koo continued with his struggles on Sunday against Tampa. Head coach Raheem Morris said they would be bringing in more bodies to compete with the longtime Falcons kicker, and several players tried out on Tuesday.

According to a report from ESPN’s 49ers reporter Nick Wagoner, newly signed San Francisco kicker Eddy Piñeiro was set to take part in the Flowery Branch tryout. Piñeiro reportedly had the choice between the two spots but “felt the Niners presented the better opportunity.”

Piñeiro spent three seasons with the Carolina Panthers and was likely considered the top free agent kicker available on the market. In 70 career games over five NFL seasons, Piñeiro has an 88.1% conversion rate.

In Atlanta, Parker Romo was the eventual choice for the Falcons, and he was signed to the practice squad. Other players invited to Flowery Branch included Zane Gonzalez, Michael Badgley, and Ben Sauls.

“We got to create high-level competition, which we always will,” Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said. “When you bring people in to figure out what's going to happen and how you're going to get about your business, but obviously that's another cut-and-dried position, right? You either make it or you don't, and we've got to have guys in a position to make them.”

Romo connected on 11-of-12 field goal attempts and went 7-for-8 on extra points in four games with the Minnesota Vikings last season. He spent training camp and the preseason in New England this summer, but the team opted to release him on the NFL's roster cutdown day.

The competition between Koo and Romo began on Wednesday and will continue to progress through the week.

“Obviously, I've got to let [Parker] Romo make those decisions, and [Younghoe] Koo make those decisions on the grass,” Morris said. “Right now, I haven't seen anybody other than a workout kick a ball. So today is our first day of practice. We'll be able to go out there and get a real grasp of that and let those guys go kick, put them in some competitive situations, do some different things that we can do from a competitive standpoint, from a coaching standpoint, and then make those decisions as we go.”

Morris confirmed that he will be watching Romo closely to see what he can do, but also to see how Koo rebounds.

“It's really about seeing what Romo can do, but not to say that it's just about Romo, but you've really got to see how [Younghoe] Koo bounces back and some of those types of things,” Morris finished. “It's about what you do consistently in practice throughout the week. What was your percentage? What did it look like? How can you create some low-adversity form within practice?”

The battle between Koo and Romo will continue throughout the week.