Atlanta Falcons to Work Out Kickers After Younghoe Koo’s Miss vs Buccaneers

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga – Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris confirmed that the team is set to bring in other kickers on Tuesday to work out after Younghoe Koo’s miss on Sunday cost the team a chance to tie the game. The final kick of the game looms largest, but the Falcons' kicker nearly had another miss after an attempt banged off the upright and through. 

“We’ve got to bring in a competitive edge,” Morris said Monday. “We’ve got to go out there and look. We got to go out there and bring go out there and bring in people to compete. We'll do that accordingly.”

On Sunday, Morris and several teammates expressed confidence in Koo as their starting kicker. He confirmed that Koo is still the starter as of now, but they are going through the due process of a competition. 

“Tomorrow's gonna be a workout,” Morris continued. “We'll work out some veterans, we'll work out a couple of young guys, up-and-comers. We'll keep all those things going. There are no secrets around here about how we go about business. It’s always going to be a highly competitive atmosphere.”

The miss was indicative of a growing trend for the veteran kicker, who has converted just 70% of his kicks between 40-49 yards since 2023, a number even more glaring going back to last season (8-of-14, or 57.1%). In total, he is making just 79.7% of all kicks since 2023. 

This is why they brought in Lenny Krieg for a kicking competition over the offseason, but after losing the battle this summer, it’s not likely that he is their preferred choice as of now. 

When asked about the German kicker, Morris said, “We have a young man in the building that is more of a young, up-and-comer, developing prospect, but we will definitely look outside and inside the building [for a kicker].”

The Falcons’ head coach stopped short of saying Krieg is not “ready” to be the team’s full-time kicker, instead saying they just wanted to have more options to choose from if they decide to make the change. 

Earlier in the day, Koo had expressed his disappointment in how yesterday’s game went. 

“I mean, every point really matters in this league, and we've been in this situation so many times, and the frustration just came out of just disappointment in myself with knowing that I know I'm better than that,” Koo said. “And on top of that, letting the guys down. Unfortunately, we've been having this conversation just more than I would like to, but I think it was just those kinds of things just showing up."

Tuesday is an off day for the Falcons media, but more developments are sure to come over the next couple of days.