Steven Hauschka

He's a free agent at the end of the year. Would you be willing to let him walk and go into next year with a rookie kicker if it means Seattle uses the $3.5 million he frees up on the offensive line?

Well if our offense still has trouble scoring td's then we def need him!

No.

It doesn't feel like he's automatic anymore. I'd like to at least see someone push him in camp, whether that's a rookie or a free agent.

Yes let him go. He is past his prime

Rat":1hvchojj said:

It doesn't feel like he's automatic anymore. I'd like to at least see someone push him in camp, whether that's a rookie or a free agent.

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This I would not disagree with, but I wouldn't just let him walk without an offer.

You pay him.

There's few, if any kickers more accurate, more dependable, and that can hit 50+ yarders day in and day out.

Of course you could be like Minnesota, get the best college kicker to come along in a long time, then watch him miss a gimmee kick and get you eliminated from the playoffs. Then lose more games for you.

You pay Hauschka. Because you won't find a better kicker.

SeatownJay":34saahzh said:

He's a free agent at the end of the year. Would you be willing to let him walk and go into next year with a rookie kicker if it means Seattle uses the $3.5 million he frees up on the offensive line?

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Well, you would need to factor in the salary of a new kicker. Minimum is around 500,000. Salary cap is expected to rise to between to 166 and 170 million. Currently it's around 155.

I know fans want to spend more on the O-Line. That doesn't mean you weaken other areas by a large degree to do it.

You keep Hauschka.

After watching the Vikings, Bengals, Arizona and others I might have to pay the man. Even in a down year he's been pretty good.

Let him walk.

You keep a good and at time great FG Kicker in this league. I mean, you could hope you stumble across one like we originally did when we picked him up. Or you can be like TB this year and spend a 2nd rounder on a guy that is hitting 72% of his FG's (34th out of 35 kickers this year with the 35th guy 1 of 2) and hope you get lucky.

Hauschka may not seem like a great kicker in the league, but he's hit 90% of his FG's and only missed one PAT that hasn't been blocked, he's also rated the 7th or 8th best kicker stats wise. A lot of his failures can be blamed on the LS and the OL being a shit show this year, with the majority of the blame on the new long snapper. While I agree 100% (maybe even more if that's possible) that we need to upgrade the OL this offseason, desperately, that doesn't mean you throw away a kicker like Hauschka. You can save money in a lot of spots, but a guy that is responsible for 34.9% of your teams points (104pts out of 298pts) this season is not one of them, period.

NFSeahawks628":33nyyybx said:

Let him walk.

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Straight to Paul Allen's office to sign another contract

bigskydoc":2c44dcxw said:

NFSeahawks628":2c44dcxw said:

Let him walk.

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Straight to Paul Allen's office to sign another contract

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YES!!!!

Basis4day":2hrwnjj3 said:

SeatownJay":2hrwnjj3 said:

He's a free agent at the end of the year. Would you be willing to let him walk and go into next year with a rookie kicker if it means Seattle uses the $3.5 million he frees up on the offensive line?

Click to expand...

Well, you would need to factor in the salary of a new kicker. Minimum is around 500,000. Salary cap is expected to rise to between to 166 and 170 million. Currently it's around 155.

I know fans want to spend more on the O-Line. That doesn't mean you weaken other areas by a large degree to do it.

You keep Hauschka.

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You think the cap will keep raising with viewership down?

If he closes the season strong, keep him.

The line isn't getting improved with free agents (it's not the Seattle way with OL) and the Hawks don't have any free agents on the OL of their own so it's a moot point.

Let's not kid ourselves. Any dollar saved by letting a veteran go is not going to be spent on the OL.

I think it's actually a pretty tough call. You can't argue with his performance historically, which is the bottom line I suppose. But are we paying for his past, or what we are currently seeing and how we think he will perform in the future?

My hesitation comes because it appears he kicks about the flattest ball in the league - both kickoffs and field goals. I keep waiting for it to bight us in a really important spot. He's been this way most of his time in Seattle though. But it seems like this year even his extra points aren't getting good height to comfortably clear the line. My season tickets are in the south endzone up just a bit, pretty much center cut. You regularly see opposing teams kickers have the ball reach near the top of the goal posts in height at some point during the flight of the extra point or field goal. With Hausch - even on short kicks, he's at about middle of the way up max height. And I don't mean where the ball lands. It concerns me that even from extra point distance, almost every single kick is just scraping over the top of the blockers outstretched arms. But, the guy has consistently produced.

I think the entire kicking unit (snapper / holder / kicker) haven't been real smooth this year, but that reflects mostly on the kicker - deserved or not.

Name an available kicker that is better AND cheaper.

And one that has worked with Jon Ryan for years.

A new kicker means a learning curve. Means missed field goals and XPs.

Any struggles this year I attribute to the new LS. Have you seen his snaps? Jon Ryan is elite at getting bad snaps in to kicking position.

Don't forget the times that defensive players have blown right through the middle of the line. So know Hauschka has something else to worry about when he kicks.

"Is someone coming at me full steam?"

"Did the ball get snapped off target...again?"