Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer is a man of his word.
On Tuesday afternoon, Fitterer was asked if the front office would consider bringing in some competition for Joey Slye. In response, Fitterer said, "we're confident in him, but we're going to look at other kickers as well." This is on the heels of coach Matt Rhule saying on Saturday night, "It's like everything else – you have to produce – and so far, Joey has not produced at the level we need him to."
The competition for Joey Slye comes in the form of German placekicker Dominik Eberle.
Eberle is a second-year player out of Utah State. He has spent some time as a Las Vegas Raider but has yet to stick on a team in the league.
Eberle's college stats are impressive. He was 167/167 on extra points in his career as an Aggie and had a game where he booted three 50+ yard field goals. He graduated from Utah State in 2019 as the all-time leading scorer in school history.
There is no guarantee that Eberle will stick with the team, but competition for Joey Slye is much needed. Slye has been far from impressive this preseason. He missed a field goal and an extra point two weeks ago against Indianapolis, and he missed another field goal against Baltimore on Saturday.
Former Panthers Harrison Butker and Graham Gano have been solid NFL kickers since leaving Carolina, and that only adds to the mounting pressure on Joey Slye. The pressure will continue to grow as a new face comes into town looking to compete with Joey Slye for the kicking job on September 12th against the Jets.
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