Another Kicker? Really?

November 03, 2009 at 03:24pm by Scott   •  6 Comments »

Today the Bucs released Shane Andrus after going 0-1 on field goals and 6-6 on PATs and signed Connor Barth, who sounds like a villain in a Harry Potter novel. The most amazing thing about all this? The Bucs scored six touchdowns for Andrus to kick after. That actually makes me feel better.

Andrus’s only field goal attempt came against Carolina and was short even though it was only 43 yards, so I guess his release isn’t all that surprising. But the guy barely had a chance to even compete. Barth has been a free agent since August when the Dolphins released him to keep Dan Carpenter, who is currently 10 for 11 on the season.

And yet, Michael Clayton is still employed.

In 47 games at North Carolina, Barth succeeded on 54 of 71 field goal tries (76.1%), setting a school record for most three-pointers. As a senior in 2007, he was good on 19 of 22 tries (86.4%) and was named the kicker on the All-ACC first-team.

Barth also went 3 for his first 11 as a sophomore. A sophomore who looked like this:

Barth doesn’t have 11 kicks to get the butterflies out before Raheem Morris sends him back to the bitchin’ waves of North Carolina. He did go 10 for 12 with Kansas City last year, but his long was only 45 and, despite this weird reputation for having this monster leg, Barth’s kickoff average was 58.6 with 4 touchbacks. Matt Bryant, with his weak, old man leg, had a 62.9 average with 6 touchbacks. 58.6 yards on an average kickoff puts the returner between the 6 and the 7 yard lines starting off.

I don’t have anything against Barth. He actually sounds like a nice enough guy, so fine. But this just seems like another pointless roster shuffle that will have zero effect on the win/loss column. Can anyone think of a reason why this was necessary?