Tampa Bay Buccaneers Release Super Bowl Winning Kicker
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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be in the market for a new kicker following the release of Ryan Succop.
After years of inconsistency, failed draft picks, and heartbreak — all of which could be traced back to the kicker position — the Tampa Bay Buccaneers finally found some stability in the form of a veteran kicker with Ryan Succop.
Over the course of his three seasons in Tampa, Succop was an extremely reliable and accurate kicker. He made his fair share of kicks in pewter and red, and he made them when they mattered most — most notably during the Bucs' 2020 playoff run.
When evaluating his overall performance though, it was his inability to kick from distance, despite his accuracy from shorter distances, that limited his value to the team.
He simply didn't have enough leg.
And if we learned anything from Todd Bowles in his first season as the head coach of the Buccaneers, it was that he didn't always have faith in his offense, or in his kicker. This was proven by his unwillingness to either go for it, or attempt a field goal in fourth-and-short situations beyond, or approaching midfield.
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This, combined with the team's cap constraints in 2023, are surely what led the Buccaneers to make the decision they did earlier today, which was to officially release their old reliable kicker, Ryan Succop.
Based on the reasons mentioned above, this was not a surprising decision.
But it should be mentioned that even though Ryan Succop didn't have the biggest leg in the league, he provided the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with something they hadn't had in decades prior to his arrival... a consistently accurate kicker.
For all we know, the Buccaneers may not have won a Super Bowl in 2020 had it not been for the presence of Ryan Succop.
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