Poll: Who should Trent Baalke and Jim Harbaugh draft as their franchise kicker?
by Ken O'Brien on Apr 24, 2011 9:18 PM PDT
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PrintThe 49ers (or basically any other team) can get a Pro Bowler with one of their most useless picks. He probably won't be the next Tom Brady, but rather a great kicker. Personally, I can't stand Joe Nedney anymore. When you consider his age and how the injury bug has bothered him lately, I don't think you can blame me. Not to mention how mediocre his accuracy has been in the last few seasons. The team has four 7th round picks, and picking one of these guys makes more sense than a practice squad player who'll never make a roster.
The three options I look at are: 1. Alex Henery, the Nebraska Cornhusker who went 18/19 last year. He missed 1 PAT attempt out of 194 in his collegiate career. We'll have his #9 reserved for him.
2. Kai Forbath, California kid, made 85/101 career attempts and missed a couple PATs, looked bad at the Senior Bowl; not jaw-dropping stats, but he still has one of the NCAA's top legs.
3. Josh Jasper: I really like this kid, especially after watching the LSU-Arkansas game from 2009. In that game (which LSU won in OT), he was a perfect 7/7 on his kicks, with his two biggest kicks being made late in the game in high pressure situations from beyond 50 yards. The guy went 28/34 in 2010, scoring 120 points. He's also athletic, running a successful fake FG against Florida, which is always a plus for a special teams player.
Bottom line: Just get rid of Joe Nedney. Please.
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors.
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I was tempted to pick Patrick Willis
but the Ndamukong Suh debacle scared me into voting for Henery instead.
Apparently “beast on defense” doesn’t translate to kicking accuracy.
We don't need 8 in the box. We have 52 in the box.
I voted for Kai Forbath because I'm a pac-10 homer
Kellen Moore is awesome
Katie Mcgrath is our savior
Im not competitive I just addicted to winning.
Guess I'm a Homer too D'oh!
LOL my line of reasoning is that I like Forbath and taking him means we don’t lose a 6th rounder and can get someone else. Yes I like Henerey a lot but I’m going to go with Forbath. It’s more about what you give up to get the pick than anything else for me. We could with that 6th rounder get some good players/depth on RB/WR/OLB/DL or a second QB as some have noted.
by ChesapeakeBay9er on Apr 25, 2011 3:44 PM PDT up reply actions
Henery
coming from a UCLA fan.
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work." - Thomas Edison
"I may be an idiot, but one thing I'm not sir, is an idiot." - Peter Griffin
"Pluto’s not even a planet no more, which I’m very disturbed about. I grew up when Pluto was a planet. Now, I’m 25, I turn around and Pluto’s no longer a planet. I’m going to elbow that guy in the nose." -Ron Artest
leave and never come back
Kellen Moore is awesome
Katie Mcgrath is our savior
Im not competitive I just addicted to winning.
Alex Henery.
If you’re going to select a kicker, you may as well get the best one available.
"Blackmail is such an ugly word. I prefer "extortion." The "X" makes it sound cool." - Bender Bending Rodriguez
Eleanor Rigby - "Greatest Song" or "The Greatest Song"?
Don't draft kickers!
There are thousands of college’s in the nation. Of those thousands of college’s, there are thousands of out of work kickers each year. If your scouting dept is good, they should be able to sniff one out without spending a draft pick.
Check out my site!!
The Hometown Fan
You mean you disagree with Al Davis' decision to draft a kicker in the first round?
but a good kicker is the highest scoring player . . .
by reedkrase on Apr 25, 2011 9:03 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
sarcasm didn't really come through on that comment like it was supposed to
Seriously though between Nedney, Jeff Reed and Fabrizio Scaccia I think we can wait another year before addressing the position, which means we have the time to scout out undrafted kickers and get a long term solution in there.
Scaccia is in the AFL
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work." - Thomas Edison
"I may be an idiot, but one thing I'm not sir, is an idiot." - Peter Griffin
"Pluto’s not even a planet no more, which I’m very disturbed about. I grew up when Pluto was a planet. Now, I’m 25, I turn around and Pluto’s no longer a planet. I’m going to elbow that guy in the nose." -Ron Artest
but the NFL still owns his rights
so lockout ends and they could call him back
Doesn't he have the decision on that?
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work." - Thomas Edison
"I may be an idiot, but one thing I'm not sir, is an idiot." - Peter Griffin
"Pluto’s not even a planet no more, which I’m very disturbed about. I grew up when Pluto was a planet. Now, I’m 25, I turn around and Pluto’s no longer a planet. I’m going to elbow that guy in the nose." -Ron Artest
Yea, I guess
http://www.arenafootball.com/news/third-nfl-player-jumps-afl-after-lockout
He just couldn’t sign with another NFL team
why not?
7th round position players almost never become successful pros. Why not use one of our last picks on someone you know will make the roster?
QUESTION: When is our QB going to answer questions like "You only threw 4 TD's today. What's wrong with the offense?"
ANSWER: When Andrew Luck ditches the draft and we sign him as an undrafted free agent!!!
by crumpedup15 on Apr 26, 2011 10:43 AM PDT up reply actions
If you don't draft kickers...
… well, at least in this year, there’s no way 31 other teams pass on Henery or Kai Forbath. And if a guy is one of the best in the business at his job, why not spend a late round draft pick on him? You don’t spend a 1st or 2nd rounder for that reason, but a 6th or 7th round pick is completely different, unless you’re Al Davis of course.
Only if the Giants traded for Brett Cecil...
You can hit the reply button if you want to respond to Drew K's comment specifically.
That way he can see on his profile page that someone replied to his comment, and if more people respond to him it won’t push your comment further down the page.
We don't need 8 in the box. We have 52 in the box.
by these3words on Apr 24, 2011 10:33 PM PDT up reply actions
Pretty much this.
How often do 7th round picks make it into the NFL for a long period of time. If we can get a long term starter that is above average or elite for a 7th round pick wouldn’t that be exceptional. People say Football is a game of inches. The difference between a good kicker and a bad one is yards.
Kellen Moore is awesome
Katie Mcgrath is our savior
Im not competitive I just addicted to winning.
It would be
You aren’t going to find exceptional starters at very many positions in the 6th and 7th rounds. If you can find one on special teams the pick is well worth it over taking a camp body.
Henery
I would hope to wait until the 7th for him, but realistically, the 6th round draft picks aren’t any more likely to make the roster than 7th rounders, depending on position. Because of this, you should at least draft a guy who is going to make it, even if it isn’t a “valued” position. I’ll take a kicker who will stick with the team for a long time over a WR or RB who will make the practice squad for 3 years before having a shot at the 53-man and then blowing his knee out. Have we not learned anything from Thomas Clayton?
Bit strong to suggest you can’t stand Nedney, isn’t it? He’s been amazing for the Niners. I can understand you wanting to upgrade, but to not be able to stand him? Odd.
Get it sorted NFL and NFLPA. My Sunday evenings are special to me.
Well he can barely stand himself.
Kellen Moore is awesome
Katie Mcgrath is our savior
Im not competitive I just addicted to winning.
Henery is a beast.
Great leg and accuracy. AND he’s a good punter! I know Andy’s a beast too. But to Drew K’s point, if you’re going to actually draft a kicker he might as well be very well rounded and worth the money! No doubt about it, he’ll be in the NFL for a long long time!
Gotta go Alex. It's really not close.
Alex Henery stats from Huskers.com:
Alex Henery has made 89.2% of his career field goal attempts (66-of-74). The NCAA record is 87.8% by Florida’s Bobby Raymond. (min. 45 attempts)
Alex Henery has made 77.4% of his career field goals from 40 yards or longer (24-of-31). The NCAA career record is 72.1% by Georgia’s Billy Bennet.
Alex Henery has made 97.7% of his career field goals from inside 40 yards (42-of-43). The NCAA career record is 97.0% by Florida’s Bobby Raymond.
Alex Henery is tied for the NCAA record with six career games with at least four field goals.
Alex Henery has combined to make 256 of his 265 career kicks (PATs and field goals), a 96.6% accuracy rate. The NCAA FBS career record is 94.9% set by Missouri’s Jeff Wolfert.
And Alex Henery was the best coffin corner punter I’ve ever seen. Dude has skills and can be a backup punter in a pinch.
Henery is a built-in back-up punter. Worth a sixth round pick, big time!
Can be a ten year + starter. Can win many close games. Kickers are way under-rated until the one you have gets injured or turns sour. Nedley been very good, but he’s done.
Sebastian Janikowski
The Raiders picked him up in the first round. Now I am not saying to grab Henery that early but I wouldn’t mind spending up to a 5th rounder on him. Lee and Henery would be the best duo in the NFL.
Seabass
One reason the Raiders drafted him that was they lost a bunch of games the previous year by only a few points and felt a weak kicking game cost them big time. But I do see some value in grabbing a kicker in the 5th or 6th.
by David Fucillo on Apr 27, 2011 8:13 AM PDT up reply actions
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