Fantasy Football File: Tucker McCann
The start of NFL training camps is rapidly approaching, which means that Fantasy Football drafts are not far behind.
The Tennessee Titans had one of the NFL’s best offenses in 2020 and this season they feature a number of players who should be appealing to fantasy owners. To help with the pre-draft process, All Titans at SI.com will break down the players who will (or might) show up on draft boards.
Today, kicker Tucker McCann.
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Why you should draft him: Somebody has to be the Titans kicker this fall, and right now that job is McCann’s to lose. Although he has yet to kick in an NFL regular season game, he was with the team throughout the 2020 season, his first as a professional. That is a significant investment in development at a position that has been problematic for the last couple seasons. Plus, Tennessee has had one of the NFL’s highest scoring offenses since Ryan Tannehill became their quarterback and with legitimate questions about the defense there is reason to believe more points than ever will be required in 2021. McCann was one of the most prolific kickers ever at the University of Missouri, where he was a four-year starter, made 72.6 percent of his field goals and produced three of the top 25 single-season point totals in program history.
Why you shouldn’t draft him: It certainly is not a lock that he will have the job when the regular season arrives. Rookie Blake Haubeil from Ohio State also is on the roster, and those two are expected to battle it out during training camp and the preseason until one – or neither – shows he is capable. Despite his relative edge in experience, no one among the coaches or management has declared publicly that McCann the front-runner or the one to beat, and his performance during mandatory minicamp workouts that were open to the media was not exactly eye-popping. Add to that four kickers combined to miss more field goals than they made in 2019 and Stephen Gostkowski had the worst season of his career in 2020 and it is fair to wonder what makes McCann the guy to fix whatever issues exist.
Notable number: 6 – different placekickers the Titans have used in the past two seasons. Eventually, they are going to have to find a long-term solution at that position, which is what makes McCann such an intriguing possibility. If he earns the job and performs well throughout the season, he could set himself up for a long run in that role.
They said it: “We have to put them in situations and evaluate them a lot more in training camp and in preseason. But, they’re both working hard and we’re excited to see where that competition leads and then we’ll have to make a decision at that point in time if that’s what’s best for the team and one of those guys moving forward.” – coach Mike Vrabel, on the competition between McCann and Haubeil.
Bottom line: Whoever kicks for Tennessee will be in position to put up a lot of points. Until coaches settle on that person, drafting McCann is a risk. Even if he is the guy in Week 1 there is no guarantee he still will be the guy in Week 18. Still, at a certain point he becomes a risk worth taking because of the potential payoff, and that point probably should be earlier than at least half the kickers in the league. After all, there are always options available at that position on the waiver wire. So, if it does not work out with McCann owners who draft him will be able to find a fallback, either his replacement or someone from another team.
