Chris Tabor Discusses the Decision Made on Eddy Pineiro vs. Zane Gonzalez

Not all that long ago, the Carolina Panthers had a revolving door at kicker. Joey Slye got a case of the yips which led to his release and the team brought in a handful of guys before eventually landing on Zane Gonzalez.

Gonzalez had a heck of a season in 2021 with the Panthers, booting 20 of his 22 field goal attempts through the uprights seemingly locking up the kicking job. Unfortunately, he suffered a quad injury in pregame warmups in Week 15 in Buffalo, bringing an end to his season. 

He made his way back for training camp in 2022 but once again, Gonzalez went down. This time it was a groin injury that occurred while kicking into the practice net on the sidelines of a preseason game against you guessed it, the Bills. 

As soon as the Panthers felt like they had the kicking situation solved, they had to scan the market for a new one. Special teams coordinator Chris Tabor had previously worked with Eddy Pineiro in Chicago, so that's who the Panthers went with.

After missing a couple of key kicks in the overtime loss to Atlanta, it felt like the kicking woes had returned. But they didn't. Pineiro would go on to make each of his final 19 field goal attempts of the season, finishing the year 33/35 on field goals and 30/32 on extra-point attempts. His 94.3% field goal accuracy ranked second in the NFL, behind only Cameron Dicker of the Chargers.

Even with all the success, the Panthers still had a decision to make between Gonzalez and Pineiro. In late March, the team agreed to a two-year deal with Pineiro and followed that up by trading Gonzalez to the San Francisco 49ers for a late-round draft pick in 2025.

"Both really good players," Chris Tabor said. "And like I always do each and every year, I will always kind of keep it and talk about the players we have here on our roster. I appreciate what Zane did for us. But having Eddy back, we're excited about having Eddy back. I think he's a good football player. He had a nice season. I think he finished number one in the league and that's something that he needs to continue to chase. Real fortunate to have him and then obviously real fortunate to have Johnny [Hekker] and JJ [Jansen] back with him because that's part of the dynamic that can help a kicker be real successful, so I'm pleased with the three guys we have on our roster right now."