So long, Younghoe Koo; we hardly knew you. The Chargers are bringing back Nick Novak in an attempt to correct their kicking woes. They missed a field goal at the end that would have beaten Miami in Week 2, and they also had a miss that would have forced overtime in the opener at Denver.
Novak is accurate on field goals. He hit over 90 percent of his kicks in the 2012-13 seasons with the Chargers, and he’s hit 85-86 percent in his last three other seasons.
Over the last five years, 39 kickers have attempted at least 60 field goals, and only nine have been more accurate than Novak.
FIELD GOAL ACCURACY SINCE 2012 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Player | FG | FGA | Pct |
Josh Brown | 99 | 108 | 91.7 |
Shaun Suisham | 87 | 95 | 91.6 |
Dan Bailey | 139 | 154 | 90.3 |
Justin Tucker | 168 | 187 | 89.8 |
Steven Hauschka | 150 | 167 | 89.8 |
Stephen Gostkowski | 162 | 181 | 89.5 |
Adam Vinatieri | 143 | 162 | 88.3 |
Matt Bryant | 134 | 152 | 88.2 |
Phil Dawson | 128 | 146 | 87.7 |
Nick Novak | 127 | 145 | 87.6 |
Matt Prater | 125 | 144 | 86.8 |
Kai Forbath | 84 | 97 | 86.6 |
Robbie Gould | 99 | 115 | 86.1 |
Dan Carpenter | 131 | 153 | 85.6 |
Jay Feely | 58 | 68 | 85.3 |
Chandler Catanzaro | 78 | 92 | 84.8 |
Ryan Succop | 105 | 124 | 84.7 |
Cody Parkey | 55 | 65 | 84.6 |
Nick Folk | 126 | 149 | 84.6 |
Cairo Santos | 86 | 102 | 84.3 |
Dustin Hopkins | 59 | 70 | 84.3 |
Blair Walsh | 133 | 158 | 84.2 |
Connor Barth | 84 | 100 | 84.0 |
Shayne Graham | 63 | 75 | 84.0 |
Rob Bironas | 50 | 60 | 83.3 |
Josh Scobee | 74 | 89 | 83.1 |
Graham Gano | 122 | 147 | 83.0 |
Brandon McManus | 68 | 82 | 82.9 |
Jason Myers | 53 | 64 | 82.8 |
Sebastian Janikowski | 121 | 147 | 82.3 |
Randy Bullock | 83 | 102 | 81.4 |
Mason Crosby | 131 | 161 | 81.4 |
Josh Lambo | 52 | 64 | 81.3 |
Mike Nugent | 109 | 135 | 80.7 |
Caleb Sturgis | 108 | 134 | 80.6 |
Alex Henery | 51 | 64 | 79.7 |
Greg Zuerlein | 112 | 141 | 79.4 |
Billy Cundiff | 50 | 67 | 74.6 |
David Akers | 48 | 66 | 72.7 |
Problem with Novak is range. His leg isn’t quite strong enough. His kickoffs tend to be about the shortest in the league, putting extra strain on the coverage units. That’s why the Chargers replaced him with Josh Lambo, and that’s why the Texans went with Ka’imi Fairbairn. If you have Novak kicking off, chances are you’ll rank in the bottom half-dozen in average drive start.
But he makes the money kicks, and the Chargers would have loved to have him back in those first two games.
Fantasy impact? Very little. The Chargers are a dumpster fire right now, making it unlikely they’ll put up above-average kicking points in many of the season’s remaining weeks.
—Ian Allan