The Tennessee Titans have waived kicker Ryan Santoso, but will the team replace him with another kickoff specialist?
The Tennessee Titans made a roster move on Tuesday and parted ways with kicker Ryan Santoso, who was handling kickoff duties for the team since he was signed in late November.
Santoso was supposed to be the big leg the Titans were looking for in order to get more touchbacks, which is something their regular kicker, Ryan Succop, was unable to do because he didn’t have enough juice behind his kicks.
As we saw in Week 15, Santoso wasn’t succeeding at his job, and his horrid onside kick attempt late in the game was only more proof the Titans were wasting a roster spot on him.
So, with Santoso failing at his job and Succop still unable to make field goals, the Titans were accomplishing nothing by carrying two kickers for specific duties.
Clearly the two kicker experiment failed, but will Tennessee attempt to continue it with another kicker?
Well, waiving Santoso didn’t come with a corresponding addition to the 53-man roster. Instead, the Titans added defensive back Kareem Orr to the practice squad, leaving an open spot for another signing.
As Jim Wyatt of Titans Online noted, another move is expected within the next 24 hours.
My guess is that move will likely be to add another kicker, and perhaps that kicker will be former Dallas Cowboys kicker Brett Maher, who the team worked out last week. Maher has missed 10 field goals this season, but does have a big leg and could handle kickoff duties.
The Titans have given no indication that they are ready to move on from Succop despite his struggles and yet another missed field goal in Week 15 that was blocked because of a low trajectory, as head coach Mike Vrabel admitted to on Monday.
The ideal move would be to bring back Cody Parkey to handle all kicking work, but Succop still has three years left on his contract after 2019 and can’t be placed on IR if he isn’t hurt. So, for now, it looks like the two kicker experiment might continue in some form.