Big Turk Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Touchbacks might not necessarily be something worth looking at considering he kicks in the windiest stadium in the NFL, with him kicking into the wind for half the game... Might need to compare other kickers TB percentage in Buffalo to his to get a more accurate picture Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubes Posted January 16, 2014 Author Share Posted January 16, 2014 This is going to be an interesting one, I think. The touchback issue is, I sense, important to the staff -- I think it had a large role in letting go of Lindell. The question is, even with the bigger leg, can Hopkins be counted on to get touchbacks consistently enough to warrant letting go of Carpenter? It's tough when you know the incumbent is remarkably accurate and consistent at getting points, probably the most important part of kicking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Over 29 years of fanhood Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 My concern is they are stupid enough to franchise Carpenter in fear of losing him and just let Byrd walk Carpenter had a great year and I'd like to see him back but not if it takes a similar deal to what Chicago gave to Gould Completely disagree with this. And How is Carpenter a journeyman kicker? He's played for two teams. It's also going to take more then an average salary on a one year deal to sign him after the year he had I'd rather them not use the tag at all than tag a kicker. That would just be ludicrous.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. WEO Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 He had a good year with the Dolphins a few years back..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Jay Skurski @JaySkurski 8m K Graham Gano gets 4/$12.4M from CAR, via @JasonLaCanfora. Good idea of what Dan Carpenter will be after from #Bills or someone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papazoid Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 pay the man....he's worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buftex Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 I would pay Carpenter. He was excellent last year. Hopkins may turn out to be great, but it seems, so often, drafted klckers do not make the cut with the team that drafted them. That said, from what I heard at the end of the season, from Carpenter, it didn't sound to me that he was necessarily going to be grateful for whatever the Bills offered him...he knew he had a good season, and never said "of course I want to return"...it was more like "I will have to look at the options available to me, and judge what is best for my family when the time comes." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Chris Brown @ChrisBrownBills 8m Parameters set for Carpenter? http://wp.me/plmrg-9L1 I would pay Carpenter. He was excellent last year. Hopkins may turn out to be great, but it seems, so often, drafted klckers do not make the cut with the team that drafted them. That said, from what I heard at the end of the season, from Carpenter, it didn't sound to me that he was necessarily going to be grateful for whatever the Bills offered him...he knew he had a good season, and never said "of course I want to return"...it was more like "I will have to look at the options available to me, and judge what is best for my family when the time comes." I believe I heard he has a child who lives in Buffalo. That may help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 ProFootballTalk @ProFootballTalk 20m For those saying kickers should never get the franchise tag, five kickers were franchise-tagged in 2012 alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Bills Fan Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 If the contract involved no guarantee money I am all for it. CBF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UConn James Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 This is a no-brainier. Keep the guy who performed. And to anyone with a hang-up about the $.... WTH? $3M as a percentage of today's cap is probably on par to the percentage kickers were getting ten years ago when Lindell came aboard. With the rising tide, all the boats float higher. I'd rather have a clutch kicker than an unproven, injury-return rookie & whatever pride comes from squeezing a nickel until the buffalo stevestojans. Pay the man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EasternOHBillsFan Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Sign the guy PLEASE, no trifling over $$$.. he shows consistency that is pretty damn good. Hopkins can go fly a kite... we've dumped drafted guys before, nothing new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreamOnDan Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Of course not, he's a kicker. Kickers are streaky and go from very solid to very shaky all the time. There's no reason to pay a journeyman like Carpenter more than an average salary on a one year contract. I agree that Carpenter has not earned a big payday yet, but I would be into making him an average offer and letting it be up to him.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucci Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Until the Bills can stop the run it doen not matter, they cannot really compete. So other parts of the team do not matter except this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattsox Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Probably a tougher call at this point than I was thinking. Originally, I thought it would be a simple choice: pay the man. He came in at the last minute right before the season started, and proceeded to have one of the best seasons by a Bills kicker in their history. He was extremely reliable, especially from long distance, which is just about the best you can ask from your kicker. He scored the third most points in a season by a Bills player in franchise history. But such reliability comes at a price. As reported in the BN, the average salary of the 10 highest paid kickers in 2013 was $3.153 million. Bear in mind that Rian Lindell, one of the best kickers in Bills history, had a salary of $2.1 million when he was released. One area that Carpenter struggled a bit was kickoffs. As reported in the BN, he had just 34 total touchbacks, which ranked 23rd in the NFL. Only 41 percent of his kickoffs were touchbacks, which ranked 28th in the NFL. And of course, waiting in the wings for his second chance is Dustin Hopkins, he of the strong leg and rookie salary. So...what would you do? I'm not paying a Kicker. They are a dime a dozen... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALF Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Unless Hopkins can prove he's better , keep Carpenter. Special teams need to do better on kickoff coverage though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Security Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Rian Lindell was extremely overrated, and when the Bills had a chance, they rarely trotted him out for a long FG, and he was a directional kickoff kicker. He was not worth 1 million. Either that or he horribly misused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Over 29 years of fanhood Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 My concern is they are stupid enough to franchise Carpenter in fear of losing him and just let Byrd walk You don't franchise a freaking kicker unless you were not planning on using the tag. I think this is an easy problem for buffalo. Either pay the guy or move on with the rookie. It's almost a coin toss, with the exception that they likely know what they've got in Hopkins. We haven't seem much from him yet but nfl kickers are almost commodities. Little difference between the good, the worst and the average... Excepting kick offs. They can always bring in another guy to compete in camp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McD Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Wish Carpenter was kicking for us in SB XXV.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubs Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 We drafted him because he was considered one of, if not, the top kicker in the entire draft. He has not kicked in a regular season game yet!!! He won the training camp battle and got hurt. All those guys you mentioned were on the roster for years before the team decided to cut ties with them. I'm fine with this. Hopkins won the job outright in camp last year, seems to have the talent. Makes a lot more sense to me to keep a cheap investment instead of paying a vet 3 mil per season. Especially when we have a certain safety who is gonna want a lot of money. He won the job, but it was against Lindell, not Carpenter. I think the Bills need to try and sign Carpenter and let the two battle it out in camp. I am not sure how much MORE you could expect from Hopkins than what you actually got from Dan last year. Maybe you can put Hopkins on the PS (I don't know, just wondering if that's an option). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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