Why the Redskins should hire a kicking consultant

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BALTIMORE, MD – DECEMBER 29: Justin Tucker #9 of the Baltimore Ravens kicks a field goal before the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at M&T Bank Stadium on December 29, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /

The success of kicking consultants and teams to use them

If you think a kicking consultant is an unnecessary luxury, I have two words for you: Randy. Brown.

For most of the past 14 years, Randy Brown has been the only NFL coach entirely focused on a team’s kicking game. But other teams have occasionally brought in someone to help out on a spot basis.

For instance, when young New Orleans kicker Garrett Hartley was sidelined for part of the 2009 season, the Saints signed the vet’s vet John Carney to fill in. When Hartley was cleared to return, Sean Payton thought it wise to keep Carney around as a mentor for his youngster. Other teams have tried similar strategies when they have some kind of kicking problem.

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But the only team that has invested long-term in a kicking consultant is the team that employs Randy Brown. Care to guess who that is?

Let me give you a hint. Their punter is a former Pro Bowler who has averaged more the 45 yards per punt over the past fourteen years. Need another hint? Their placekicker has been kicking for eight years and is the most accurate kicker in NFL history. Yeah, Randy Brown has done pretty well by the Baltimore Ravens and his disciples Sam Koch and Justin Tucker.

You’d think that given the success of Brown in Baltimore that other teams would be quick to copy. Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times wrote an article about this very topic several years back. But it seems that most teams are still stuck in the mind of Buddy Ryan, famous old-school curmudgeon-coach, who once opined “Kickers are like taxi cabs. You can always go out and hire another one.”

But is that really what you want to be doing for the position that routinely leads your team in scoring, or the position that affects field position more than any other on your team? After all, the Colts’ Jim O’Brien and the Patriots Adam Vinatieri (twice) won Super Bowls with the consistent manner in which they swung their leg. Buffalo’s Scott Norwood – I won’t go there, just in case there are any Bills’ fans reading. Suffice to say, kicking matters.

Chicago has realized it. After a disastrous 2018, coach Matt Nagy brought in about seven thousand kickers to compete for the job. But he also brought in Jamie Kohl, one the undisputed kicking experts floating around out there, to work with the team’s kicking game. Kohl helped second-year kicker Eddie Piniero overcome a few shaky games in the middle of the season and rebound strongly over the final month.

And Minnesota realized it. Minnesota jumped at the chance to grab veteran kicker Dan Bailey when Dallas let him go, despite the fact that the normally reliable Bailey had begun to struggle. Coach Mike Zimmer also hired former kicker Nate Kaeding to serve as a kicking consultant. The result? Bailey improved from a mediocre 75 percent success rate to over 90 percent last year.

For 2020, even Bill Belichick is getting on board. With the departure of special teams coach Joe Judge (the new head coach of the Giants) and the final farewell of long-time stalwart Steven Gostkowski, the Hoodie hired kicking consultant Joe Houston to rebuild that part of the Pats for 2020.

None of this, of course, means that the Redskins need follow suit. But here’s why they should anyway.

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