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Tampa Bay axes Nick Folk

Bucs go back to Patrick Murray at kicker

Tampa Bay is going back to Patrick Murray (left, in photo) at kicker. They could never get Roberto Aguayo going, and Nick Folk has been dreadful the last two weeks, playing a big role in the loss to the Patriots, so it was time for a change.

Again. The Bucs have been struggling with kickers for years. It’s a position that’s haunted them for years.

In each of the last three seasons, Tampa Bay has ranked no better than 30th in field goal accuracy.

Over the last 15 years, they ranked higher than 15th in field goal accuracy only once.

BUCS FIELD GOAL ACCURACY SINCE 2003
YearFGFGAPctRank
20031626.61531
20041524.62531t
20052227.81515
20072833.84816
20083238.84218
20091626.61532
20102328.82117t
20112628.9292
20122833.84816
20132329.79326
20142024.83318t
20152940.72530
20162231.71032
2017611.54530

No surprise, therefore, that over the last 15 years the Bucs have been the worst field goal team in the league, converting just 77 percent.

FIELD GOAL ACCURACY SINCE 2003
TeamFGFGAPct
Indianapolis349399.875
New England389445.874
Seattle362418.866
Baltimore409477.857
NY Giants346405.854
Tennessee340400.850
Chargers344406.847
Pittsburgh373441.846
Atlanta353418.844
Cleveland333395.843
Cincinnati344409.841
Philadelphia377449.840
Minnesota334398.839
Arizona332397.836
Denver352421.836
San Francisco358430.833
Carolina351422.832
Detroit330397.831
Buffalo339408.831
Dallas333402.828
Rams351426.824
Oakland343417.823
NY Jets359437.822
Houston354432.819
Green Bay343422.813
Miami319393.812
Kansas City321398.807
Chicago320398.804
Jacksonville310389.797
Washington340429.793
New Orleans310392.791
Tampa Bay315408.772

So it’s back to Patrick Murray. At 5-foot-7, he’s the shortest player in the league at this position.

He was serviceable kicker for them in 2014, hitting 20 of 24 field goals (that’s 83 percent – just below average that year). But he lost out to Kyle Brindza the following season. They ended up releasing Brindza after a month, going back to Connor Barth.

Murray was the opening-day kicker for the Browns a year ago, making 1 of 2 field goals, but he suffered a knee injury in their second game, causing them to switch to Cody Parkey. Now he’s back in the league – at least for now.

The Bucs have good offense that’s potentially could be kicker friendly. That is, if Murray can make his kicks, he could be a top-10 scorer at this position. But that hasn’t tended to happen in Tampa.

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index