Interesting overseas option for the Titans to compete with kicker Greg Joseph
Kicking competition between Takeru Yamasaki and Greg Joseph might be interesting for Titans.
The struggle at kicker for the Tennessee Titans last season was real, too real.
If you have forgotten, the Titans special teams featured superstar kickers like Cairo Santos, Cody Parkey and Ryan Santoso who filled in for the Titans injured kicker Ryan Succop.
Cairo Santos was an absolute disaster during his short stint with the team. He made only 44.4% of field goals. To make matters worse, he basically cost the team the game versus the Buffalo Bills in week 5, missing 4 of 4 attempts.
Cody Parkey seemed to be an okay option. He was 100% on his field goal attempts, making all 3 that he attempted. The Titans released Parkey after taking Ryan Succop off of injured reserve in week 9 of the regular season.
That was a mistake, it seemed that Succop was still injured, and he performed much worse than Santos. Succop made only 16.7% of field goal attempts before he was placed back on IR in week 15. The Titans signed Greg Joseph to replace him, and Joseph performed really well at that role.
Greg Joseph seems to be really good at extra points. He went 9 for 9, not missing one for the rest of the season. Then, in the playoffs, he made a 30-yard field goal, which is even shorter than an extra point. Right in his wheelhouse!
Greg Joseph at least needs competition.
I’m not saying that Joseph is a bad kicker by any means. We haven’t seen him miss as a Tennessee Titan, that’s a huge plus. We also haven’t seen him attempt anything longer than an extra point as a Titan. Greg Joseph seems intent on keeping the Titans kicking job, but he needs some competition when the team goes into training camp.
The Tennessee Titans signed undrafted free agent Tucker McCann from Missouri. McCann was good in college, but I’m not so sure he’s the guy to give Greg Joseph any competition.
That competition is Takeru Yamasaki, who has built a small following by posting his incredible kicks on Twitter.
This isn’t an isolated incident either, apparently, Yamasaki was in Mobile, Alabama in January, where he kicked at a camp and by his own accord had an outstanding camp.
There are still some good proven kickers left in free agency, but Takeru Yamasaki would be a great cheap option for the Tennessee Titans to bring in and see what he’s worth. It might be a long shot, but you never know, he could be the real deal.
And let’s be honest, if the Titans bring in another kicker to compete with Greg Joseph it can’t be another guy who has bounced around the NFL. It has to be someone that the fans can get behind and hopefully someone who makes this abbreviated preseason interesting.