The Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicking game has been somewhat of a mixed bag over the past few seasons. During that time, veteran Ryan Succop served as the Bucs' kicker.
Succop was an above-average kicker for Tampa Bay and left holding the franchise's all-time leader in field goal percentage while performing admirably during the team's run to their second-ever Super Bowl win in 2020. The downside during the Succop era for the Bucs was the lack of long-distance field goals he attempted and made. Succop only attempted 10 field goals of 50+ yards during his three years with the Bucs, making just three of them.
The Bucs in turn released Succop during the offseason and most recently signed fifth-year veteran Chase McLaughlin to a one-year deal. McLaughlin is somewhat of a late bloomer in the NFL, but has shown a knack for handling long field goals going nine for 12 on attempts of 50+ yards in 2022 and over his career is 17 of 21 from that same distance.
Making field goals of greater than 50 yards is something that head coach Todd Bowles and company are paying close attention to when it comes to figuring out who their next starting kicker will be.
"Well, obviously, consistency is number one," said Buccaneers Head Coach Todd Bowles when discussing his team's kicking search the day before at the NFL Annual Meeting in Arizona. "You want guys that can kick 50-plus right now. I think that's a big weapon if you can get a guy that has distance that way, especially in Tampa. You want longer field goal kickers. Evaluation and mental toughness is critical going in as a kicker. Some guys blossom late, some guys have been kicking for a long time and can still do it, sometimes you have to get some new guys."
Even with McLaughlin now in the fold, the Buccaneers could look to add some extra competition to find their kicker for the upcoming 2023 season.
Former Colts' kicker and college standout at the University of Georgia, Rodrigo Blankenship, is set to join the Bucs this week during their minicamp in hopes of making an impression on the staff that he deserves a roster spot.
Rodrigo was heralded for being one of the better kickers in the country coming out of UGA but ultimately ended up going undrafted in the 2020 NFL draft.
It didn't take long for a team to grab the undrafted free agent as the Indianapolis Colts quickly picked him up to become their starting kicker.
In his first season with the Colts, Rodrigo went 43 out of 45 on extra point attempts and made 32 out of 37 field goal tries, with a long of 53 yards. The following season, Blankenship only played in five games before being knocked out due to a hip injury. Since then, he was released from the Colts and has had trouble finding a team to call home.
Blankenship is now coming off a torn muscle in his leg and will get another opportunity to show what he is able to bring to a team. It doesn't seem like the Bucs are set in stone with McLaughlin, so if Blankenship is able to best the Bucs' most recent signing he could end up as the starter in week one against the Minnesota Vikings unless another team decides to swoop in and sign him.
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