Quote:
Originally Posted by Saccopoo
Kicking dissertation aside (which was superb by the way), you asked for a guy from the 2009 draft that will be with the Chiefs longer than Wesley. Unless his leg falls off, Succop will easily be that guy.
I don't know...the Chiefs have struggled to find a kicker of any merit since Anderson. Add to that that it's a position that ends up with most points scored, and can mean the difference between a win and a loss at the most crucial time, I'd place the importance of a quality kicker higher than I would a mediocre strong safety. Kickers need to have a certain mental makeup to survive in this league. While it's always been the vogue to downplay their role, it most certainly is an important one.
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I actually put a fair amount of value on kickers in today's NFL.
At the same time, it's not terribly difficult to find an average to slightly above average kicker if you just keep plugging away at it. Like I said, a guy like Dan Carpenter was undrafted, as was Tynes. Succop himself would've been but/for us.
I guess it's like the Closer in MLB. A good team absolutely has to have a good closer. At the same time, many of your best closers are just failed starters or guys that didn't have a 3rd pitch to make it in the rotation. A good closer isn't hard to find or develop if you're willing to keep plugging away at it. There are many guys out there that could close games effectively that just haven't been found for whatever reason. I think that's less so for starting pitchers, centerfielders and ultimately, Strong Safeties.
Kicker's just not as tough a position to fill as most.
And I thought about Succup which was why I tried to qualify it by saying 'better for longer' rather than just 'longer'...poor attempt by me. What I really meant was Wesley's career will be, on aggregate, more valuable than Succop's will be to the Chiefs.