The Calls Are Already Coming In

The kicking competition was a strong one with two very capable kickers going at it. Cairo Santos was brought in last year to replace Chandler Catanzaro. Despite playing well for the Bucs during the last seven games of the season, Tampa wasn’t sold on him 100%, and that was apparent when they drafted Matt Gay in the 5th round of this year’s draft.

Matt Gay had an outstanding training camp and preseason, as did Santos, but Santos is the odd man out. Gay’s preseason stats are noteworthy. He was 3/ on his extra-point attempts and 5 of 6 on field goals which include going 2 for 2 from 50+ yards with one of them being a 55-yarder, awarding him the official/ unofficial longest kick in Heinz Field history. Despite missing one kick, Matt Gay is our new kicker. Santos, on the other hand, didn’t do too bad on limited play, making everything he attempted during the preseason. He made both his extra-point attempts as well as both of his field-goal attempts. Although, both of his attempts were in the 20-23 range.

For Santos the future for is not exactly set in stone, however, according to Scott Smith, senior writer for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Bruce Arians broached the subject of having two kickers who both had a strong training camp: “The calls have already started coming in.”
With the 53 man roster due to being set in stone by Saturday at 4 PM, I would look for a trade here very shortly involving Cairo Santos and a kicker needy team. Maybe we can score an extra offensive lineman?