Report: No franchise tag for Hauschka

[RolandDeschain]

Not terribly, no. As a kicker we saw his numbers were good, but not incredible.

If he was in a dome, he'd be top four in the league, possibly top three. What about that is not elite? PFF for instance, has him as 5th-best kicker in the league for 2013, and they don't even penalize Prater for the thin air, or dome kickers for the extra advantage they get.

Come on, dude.

What about him IS elite?

His FG numbers? As illustrated above...no. His kick off numbers? Not there either. He's middle-ish of the pack. And when 15 of the top 20 kickers in the NFL (in terms of accuracy) play in outdoor stadiums, you have to begin to question how much of a detriment the conditions really are.

Have you even looked at the stats for all kickers somewhere online? Gostkowski, Tucker, and Folk all missed three. Prater missed one on only 26 attempts.

Tell you what, list the five kickers that had better 2013 seasons than Hauschka in your opinion, and we'll see if they really did, all things considered.

 

[volsunghawk]

Not terribly, no. As a kicker we saw his numbers were good, but not incredible.

If he was in a dome, he'd be top four in the league, possibly top three. What about that is not elite? PFF for instance, has him as 5th-best kicker in the league for 2013, and they don't even penalize Prater for the thin air, or dome kickers for the extra advantage they get.

Come on, dude.

The thing is, with almost ZERO exceptions, the list of "elite" kickers changes every damn year. The top 5 kickers by FG %age last season were Prater, Hauschka, Suisham, Bailey, and Zuerlein. Of thsoe 5, only two of them were even top 10 the year before (Bailey and Suisham). And while you might want to point to Suisham as an example of consistency, he was below 80% in 2011. You don't find a guy at the top of the list every year because kickers fluctuate within a small range for the most part. One year, a guy hits a couple more than he did the previous year and his percentage rises enough to make him a "top 5 kicker." The next year, he doesn't hit those couple extra and he's suddenly middle of the pack. That's how it goes all the damn time. And that's why kickers absolutely ARE replaceable.

 

[RolandDeschain]

I'm not saying he's not irreplaceable, I'm just saying he's not as easily replaced as some here think him to be, in my opinion.

 

[volsunghawk]

I'm not saying he's not irreplaceable, I'm just saying he's not as easily replaced as some here think him to be, in my opinion.

Eh, we've been hearing that argument for years now about kickers. We replaced Josh Brown with Olindo Mare and that worked out pretty well. We replaced Mare with Hauschka, and that's panning out, too.

Consider that before Brown, we had Rian Lindell, who was not really much good for us. He left for Buffalo and performed poorly his first year there. Then, in the four years following that, he was money for the Bills. Very good FG %age, including a year in 2006 that wasn't far off of what Hauschka did for us this year. Since that 4-year stretch, more fluctuation from Lindell.

All kickers are like that. You never find guys who are at the top of the game for a long stretch. Vinatieri has been in the league for 18 years, and he has posted the highest FG%age only TWICE. Janikowski's never done it. Robbie Gould has been consistent, but he's never broken 90% on his FG attempts. In fact, I'm not sure you can find a guy who has broken 90% 3 years straight. 2 years in a row is pretty rare, too.

The key isn't finding a guy like Hauschka. There are PLENTY of those guys out there. The key is avoiding a truly bad kicker. Once you manage that, they're all pretty interchangeable.

 

[BHF]

Not terribly, no. As a kicker we saw his numbers were good, but not incredible.

If he was in a dome, he'd be top four in the league, possibly top three. What about that is not elite? PFF for instance, has him as 5th-best kicker in the league for 2013, and they don't even penalize Prater for the thin air, or dome kickers for the extra advantage they get.

Come on, dude.

What about him IS elite?

His FG numbers? As illustrated above...no. His kick off numbers? Not there either. He's middle-ish of the pack. And when 15 of the top 20 kickers in the NFL (in terms of accuracy) play in outdoor stadiums, you have to begin to question how much of a detriment the conditions really are.

Have you even looked at the stats for all kickers somewhere online? Gostkowski, Tucker, and Folk all missed three. Prater missed one on only 26 attempts.

Tell you what, list the five kickers that had better 2013 seasons than Hauschka in your opinion, and we'll see if they really did, all things considered.

I think you're missing my larger point, or I'm poorly communicating it. Hauschka isn't elite at kickoffs. He's average to slightly above average. He has good accuracy, but not elite, as there are many kickers who put up similar numbers. He might be a top five kicker. But the drop in production from a top five to a top fifteen kicker is pretty minuscule. If he's okay with being paid like a top ten kicker ($1.5M neighborhood), keeping him around makes sense. If he demands top three or top five money, well...that's money better spent somewhere else, and with our scouting department, coaching staff, and FO I have faith that we can find that top fifteen-ish guy.

 

[RolandDeschain]

Eh, looking at career stats for Brown & Mare, Hauschka is better than they were for us, IMO.

Whatever, argue it all you want, if we bring in someone else I bet you they won't be as good, though. Serviceable? I'm certain. Even good? Probably. As good? Doubt it.

 

[dontbelikethat]

Only one other kicker I would take over Haush right now.

 

[Blitzer88]

I would really like to lock him up long term. Guy was money for us the last couple years.

 

[YYZHawksFan]

They change the distance of the extra point kick and this decision is a totally different one.

 

[Smellyman]

It is true, kickers are just phenomenally good nowadays. It used to be suspensefull when the kicker came out 20 years ago. now it is automatic.

Did anybody doubt Matt Bryant would nail the 49 yarder against the Hawks last year? I didn't. That is a chipshot with todays kickers.

 

[kearly]

Homer card indeed. That is crazy talk.

If you've seen him play, you wouldn't think it was crazy at all. Lots of great kickers every year and all that, but he's just one I know we can count on. Erik is a clone of his brother Nick, who is one of the five best kickers in the league right now. He's been out of the league 1 year, not unheard of for kickers. Steven Haushcka couldn't beat out Matt Prater, we scooped him up. Matt Bryant is pretty good for Atlanta and had the inside track when he beat out Folk.

At any rate, I don't want Carson Wiggs.

 

[olyfan63]

Who remembers how and why we wound up with Hauschka? We can thank our Super Bowl opponents!

IIRC, Hauschka, playing for the Broncos, beat the Hawks in a preseason game about 3 or 4 years ago, on a 50+ yard kick on basically the last play of the game.
The Broncos cut him a week or two later, as the second best kicker at their camp, i.e., newly unemployed. Schneider/Carroll snapped him up, and he won the job.

Hauschka will stick his nose in and make tackles too.

Dude's a baller for a kicker. He's money on anything under 50 and his kickoffs have been improving. I hope we keep him, and I'd go up to 1.5, maybe 2 to keep him, to pay him for the awesome underpaid year he had last year.
3 mil for a kicker? Fuhgeddaboudit! That's for losing teams. Can't tie up that much cash in a kicker. Possible exception for maybe a Greg Zeurlein who can make 60 yarders for you, if he's also super-accurate at everything shorter too. (Haven't checked his stats vs Hauschka to know).

I agree with the year-to-year consistency issue raised for kickers too. We've seen it over and over from kickers... good year, bad year, good year.

Pete and John are all about maximum on-field value per $ spent. If Hauschka fits, wonderful. If not, best wishes to him and thanks for a great Super Bowl season. Hauschka is maybe a high top-ten kicker, #7-9, but there's not that much difference between #7 and # 15 to pay a bunch more. Like others said, we just need to avoid having a crappy kicker that loses (fails to come through) for us under pressure. Hauschka made a lot of big kicks this year. Kickoffs were OK, but not great.

 

[The Radish]

I've been through this good/bad kicker crap before with the Seahawks.

Hauschka worked in the off season last year with someone from a different sport and gained a lot on his kicking. He missed a 59 yarder that hit the crossbar.

This talk about kickers are easy is pure crap. Look at how many games we won this year by a field goal or less. Pay the man even if it takes a couple of million a year. And don't just sign him for a year, get 2-3 so this conversation will not come up in the near future.

:141847_bnono:

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Look at how many close games the Hawks played in this season. They had to win 13 just to win the division. A kicker is HUGE for a team, and can make the difference in making the playoffs or not, getting higher seeds or not etc. The guy is $, so pay him his $

 

[jblaze]

Haushmoney is 28, is clutch and has proven himself to be a franchise kicker. He's the best kicker on the market and someone will pay him 3+ over 4 years probably. I just don't think it will be the Hawks.

The only knock on him is distance and that's not really that big of a deal for us given our great defense, just kick it and stop em.

I love the guy but just don't think the Hawks will pay 3+ for a kicker.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Well, they should pay that, he's one of the best in the game.

 

[minormillikin]

There's nothing wrong with not kicking touchbacks on every kick off, with a great special teams unit like we have. I actually get excited when the opponent gets a chance to return a kick, knowing he'll probably get clobbered shy of the 20, or possibly turn the ball over.