Video Suggests Succop has Straightened Out Kicking Issues
General manager Jon Robinson said earlier this offseason that the door wasn't closed on former kicker Ryan Succop, the Tennessee Titans’ leader in career field goal percentage prior to 2019.
“Certainly, we were not closing the door on maybe potentially looking at him again,” Robinson said.
This week, Succop was something to see. In a video released on social media the 33-year-old kicker made a pair of 60-yard field goals during a workout in Nashville. It is worth noting that his career long in a game is 54 yards.
The Titans released the 11-year veteran in March, due in large part a knee injury that sidelined him for the better part of the 2019 season and affected his performance when he did play.
Before that, though, Succop was the definition of consistency. During one stretch that included all or parts of his first four seasons with Tennessee (2014-17), he made an NFL-record 56 straight field goal attempts from inside of 50 yards. Through 2018 he had connected on 86.6 percent of his field goal attempts for the Titans (116-for-134).
With Succop on and off of the injured reserve list last season, the Titans had a revolving door at the place-kicker position. Cairo Santos endured a day when he couldn’t make a field goal. Cody Parkey didn’t last too long either.
Combined, those three made 44 percent of their field goals (8-18) in 14 games. Succop missed five of six, which dropped his success rate with Tennessee to 83.6 (third highest in franchise history) and his career rate 82.2.
The situation did not calm until Week 16, when the Titans gave Greg Joseph a shot.
Joseph, the Titans’ presumed No. 1 at the position as training camp opens, is still very much unproven, though. The 25-year-old out of Florida Atlantic University has only played in 19 career regular season games (14 with the Cleveland Browns, five with the Titans). With Tennessee, he has only attempted one field goal, which he made in the AFC Championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs last season.
“(Joseph) did a great job for us down the stretch, and [we are] looking forward to getting him back in here and letting him bang away and put a foot on the ball,” Robinson said.
The Titans seem content to let Joseph have his shot.
If that does not work out, they could always go back to move forward. Video evidence, at least, suggests that is an option.
