Is Matt Gay on the path to start?

Anything is possible during this time of year. The dog days of summer are in full swing and the heat is high. Know what else is high? Expectations. Especially for the special teams.

Several changes were made to the personnel on special teams with kicking squad seeing a large facelift. The almost shocking release of Bryan Anger to be replaced with the Swiss Army knife of kickers/punters Bradley Pinion and the 1 year $1m retaining of kicker Santos gave the message that the Bucs were at least set for the season on placekickers.

Then the draft happened.

Selected in the 5th round, Matt Gay, the Utah product with an impressive resume was an unexpected pick. It also hangs a large question mark over the special teams. You don’t typically see teams draft kickers for depth, even with the looming woes on special teams. Kickers typically start when they’re drafted.

So, this raises some serious eyebrows about the fate of the starting job for as placekicker. Matt Gay will be eyeballing the start and Santos won’t give it up easily. Is Matt Gay on the path to start sooner than later? One thing is for certain: competition will be thick.