The Panthers are keeping Graham Gano around. It’s a position that hasn’t played out well for them, but they had little other choice after Gano put together a superb season.
Wind the clock back a year, recall, and the Panthers had some concerns about Gano. He missed too many kicks in 2016, so they drafted Harrison Butker, who played well enough in the preseason that they tried to trade Gano and then kept both kickers on their opening day roster. When they tried to stash Butker on their practice squad, Kansas City grabbed him and Butker went on to have a great season, averaging almost 11 points per game.
In hindsight, the correct move was to keep Butker. He’s not necessarily as good as Gano, but he might be. And he’s definitely younger and a lot cheaper – on a rookie contract and unable to hit free agency until 2021.
But they kept Gano, and he played well enough that the team had little choice but to keep him around. They’ve re-signed him to a four-year deal worth $17 million, making him the league’s 2nd-highest paid kicker.
Gano hasn’t historically been known for his accuracy. He’s hit 82 percent of his career field goals. There are 24 other active kickers with at least 100 career attempts, and all but six of them have been more accurate.
But he picked a good season to have a career year. Gano missed only one field goal in 2017, making him the league’s most accurate kicker.
| FG ACCURACY IN 2017 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | FG | FGA | Pct |
| Graham Gano, Car. | 29 | 30 | 97% |
| Robbie Gould, S.F. | 39 | 41 | 95% |
| Greg Zuerlein, LAR | 38 | 40 | 95% |
| Josh Lambo, Jac. | 19 | 20 | 95% |
| Stephen Gostkowski, N.E. | 37 | 40 | 93% |
| Chris Boswell, Pitt. | 35 | 38 | 92% |
| Justin Tucker, Balt. | 34 | 37 | 92% |
| Cody Parkey, Mia. | 21 | 23 | 91% |
| Harrison Butker, K.C. | 38 | 42 | 90% |
| Randy Bullock, 3 tms | 18 | 20 | 90% |
| Stephen Hauschka, Buff. | 29 | 33 | 88% |
| Matt Bryant, Atl. | 34 | 39 | 87% |
| Wil Lutz, N.O. | 31 | 36 | 86% |
| Matt Prater, Det. | 30 | 35 | 86% |
| Adam Vinatieri, Ind. | 29 | 34 | 85% |
| Kai Forbath, Minn. | 32 | 38 | 84% |
| Jake Elliott, Phil. | 26 | 31 | 84% |
| Ryan Succop, Tenn. | 35 | 42 | 83% |
| Chandler Catanzaro, NYJ | 25 | 30 | 83% |
| Patrick Murray, T.B. | 19 | 23 | 83% |
| Phil Dawson, Ariz. | 32 | 40 | 80% |
| Ka'imi Fairbairn, Hou. | 20 | 25 | 80% |
| Giorgio Tavecchio, Oak. | 16 | 21 | 76% |
| Brandon McManus, Den. | 24 | 32 | 75% |
| Dan Bailey, Dall. | 15 | 20 | 75% |
| Zane Gonzalez, Clev. | 15 | 20 | 75% |
| Blair Walsh, Sea. | 21 | 29 | 72% |
| Aldrick Rosas, NYG | 18 | 25 | 72% |
Gano also has an unusually strong leg, making him an asset on kickoffs. The Panthers had a league-high 85 percent of their kickoffs go for touchbacks last year. And they were one of only three teams to put the ball in the end zone on over 90 percent of their kickoffs.
| KICKOFFS; TOUCHBACK PERCENTAGE | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | KO | TB | TB% | EZ | EZ% |
| Carolina | 82 | 70 | 85% | 75 | 91% |
| San Francisco | 79 | 64 | 81% | 73 | 92% |
| Oakland | 63 | 48 | 76% | 55 | 87% |
| LA Rams | 103 | 78 | 76% | 90 | 87% |
| Kansas City | 95 | 71 | 75% | 83 | 87% |
| Washington | 77 | 53 | 69% | 64 | 83% |
| Denver | 67 | 45 | 67% | 55 | 82% |
| Indianapolis | 69 | 46 | 67% | 53 | 77% |
| Houston | 74 | 49 | 66% | 60 | 81% |
| NY Jets | 68 | 45 | 66% | 59 | 87% |
| New Orleans | 92 | 59 | 64% | 83 | 90% |
| Cleveland | 52 | 33 | 63% | 37 | 71% |
| Baltimore | 87 | 55 | 63% | 60 | 69% |
| Atlanta | 82 | 49 | 60% | 67 | 82% |
| Tennessee | 79 | 47 | 59% | 66 | 84% |
| Dallas | 79 | 45 | 57% | 60 | 76% |
| Green Bay | 66 | 36 | 55% | 45 | 68% |
| Buffalo | 68 | 37 | 54% | 53 | 78% |
| Jacksonville | 89 | 48 | 54% | 60 | 67% |
| Pittsburgh | 88 | 46 | 52% | 65 | 74% |
| Detroit | 90 | 47 | 52% | 67 | 74% |
| Seattle | 76 | 39 | 51% | 51 | 67% |
| Minnesota | 87 | 44 | 51% | 62 | 71% |
| Philadelphia | 93 | 45 | 48% | 61 | 66% |
| Chicago | 59 | 28 | 47% | 40 | 68% |
| Cincinnati | 66 | 31 | 47% | 40 | 61% |
| Arizona | 73 | 34 | 47% | 52 | 71% |
| Miami | 62 | 28 | 45% | 44 | 71% |
| NY Giants | 60 | 26 | 43% | 36 | 60% |
| New England | 98 | 40 | 41% | 60 | 61% |
| LA Chargers | 76 | 31 | 41% | 52 | 68% |
| Tampa Bay | 72 | 27 | 38% | 50 | 69% |
So it’s Gano. He should be a serviceable enough option for them at kicker (but surely they’re quietly wishing they had gone with Butker).
—Ian Allan