Roberto Aguayo Hammered
November 28th, 2016
Torched by national scribe.
In the immortal words of the late, great Al McGuire, it’s not all seashells and balloons.
Yes, Joe has been dancing around the world headquarters of JoeBucsFan.com today and it has nothing to do with the two mugs of Community Coffee Joe guzzled after being up until 4:30 a.m. working on this here website. The celebratory mood is for the Bucs curb-stomping the Seahawks last night.
Despite being pretty damned accurate the past few weeks, Roberto Aguayo missing a makeable field goal last night awakened the anti-Aguayo crowd. The rookie Bucs kicker has had a roller coaster initiation to the NFL and his miss yesterday only rattled the cages his detractors, one of which is Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com.
Smith took a sledgehammer to Aguayo calling him “the worst kicker in the NFL.”
Roberto Aguayo’s terrible season continues. Aguayo, the Buccaneers’ kicker, missed a 48-yard field goal attempt in the first half yesterday against the Seahawks, and his season-high this year is still just 43 yards. There are 31 kickers in the NFL who have made a field goal of at least 45 yards this season, and Aguayo is not one of them. The Bucs traded up into the second round of the draft to select Aguayo, which would be a highly questionable decision even if he were a great kicker. As it is, Aguayo is the worst kicker in the NFL. That draft pick was a huge mistake.
Joe broke down this subject in detail with the Custodian of Canton, eye-RAH! Kaufman, for Ira’s new podcast tomorrow morning. It is a valid point MDS makes: If you cannot kick for distance, you sure as hell better be one of the most accurate kickers in the league.
Aguayo has been much better of late, but the jury is still out on the merits of drafting him in the second round.
November 28th, 2016 at 2:03 pm
The kid has a weak leg……It just seems that simple to me.
November 28th, 2016 at 2:05 pm
The Jury has never been out on drafting him in the 2nd round….very few have argued that was a good pick. The Jury is out on whether or not he was worth any pick at all and probably will be for a while.
I wasn’t a fan of the pick but I am a Buc fan and I root for all of our players to succeed. When they don’t , I wish them well with their future endeavors.
November 28th, 2016 at 2:10 pm
The jury is still out? I don’t know about that one, I feel we would all like that pick back now. But it still perplexes me that this guy came out of college and then stopped knowing how to kick? What is that about?
November 28th, 2016 at 2:11 pm
Whatever I don’t care lol. Was a dumb use of a 2nd rounder but he’s our kicker. I just wish we stayed with our picks and took him in the 3rd and this wouldn’t be as big a story or media wouldn’t care as much.
If he had a big leg in college I’d have been more happy with the pick but he was not a guy who typically was hitting 50+ yarder’s a lot; although he should hit consistently from 45 & under. 5 of his 6 misses have been from 40+ and he should be making those.
The one he missed this week was hit pretty well and was wide right by like 1-2 feet max. It was a 48 yarder. I can live with that.
Hopefully dude can lock in rest of season and get his % to average; with the goal of being a top 1/3 kicker next year.
November 28th, 2016 at 2:12 pm
I think we can all agree it was a bad pick at this point. We now just have to hope he will become a decent kicker
November 28th, 2016 at 2:15 pm
He’s going to be all over the place this year. He’s also not going anywhere. We’ll continue to hold our breath every time he’s on the field this year and my hope is that an off season will straighten him out.
November 28th, 2016 at 2:17 pm
I still see him with low confidence.. there is no pop off his foot. He’s not going anywhere this year, let’s be honest. So how long,though, will we stick by him?
November 28th, 2016 at 2:19 pm
I think even Licht would have to man up and say it was a terrible pick. Kickers are a dime a dozen and even a special one shouldn’t be drafted in the premier rounds. Janikowski is the exception to the rule.
November 28th, 2016 at 2:20 pm
He wins a game for us last week, you praise him, he misses 1 FG this week, we win the game & you hate him? Dude, make up your minds…
November 28th, 2016 at 2:20 pm
Yeah I didn’t see the point of drafting him in the 2nd round. Only kick 80% his last year at FSU. Plus we traded up. And throw in Daniel Carlson coming out this draft, a guy who routinely makes 4-5 field goals a game and many from 50+. I just didn’t get the pick. But we got him and he can only get better. Have to give him 3 seasons.
November 28th, 2016 at 2:21 pm
Spending 2 draft picks on 1 kicker is always questionable seeing as most kickers in the league have been picked up off the streets. Same goes for Punters (Thank you Mr. Anger).
The Aguayo pick was a mistake the second it was made. We could have plugged up two other holes with that. Another WR? Another DE? Anything outside of a quarterback and punter would have been a better pick than a kicker
November 28th, 2016 at 2:28 pm
he will end up being the cause of 8-8 v 9-7, dont have the stats or score sheet in front of me but pretty sure he has already cost bucs a game or 2 this year, licht made a dumb n horrible pick when there were and still are glaring needs on the roster that a kicker in the 2nd round will never be able to cover up, nice pick licht
November 28th, 2016 at 2:37 pm
Please kick better, Roberto. You are the man. The ball is your friend!
November 28th, 2016 at 2:43 pm
Probably the nicest thing he could of done for Aguayo… Dirk’s poor clock management leads to the end of half, otherwise Roberto misses another. He really was any good in college beyond 40 yards. The KC game is about as good as he can do, 5-5 all inside of 40.
November 28th, 2016 at 3:03 pm
He made 7 in a row, hasn’t missed since SF. He has a pass by me. He will bounce back.
November 28th, 2016 at 3:09 pm
Unless your a FSU fan or related to Roberto you gotta realize he sucks
November 28th, 2016 at 3:11 pm
@mike n
I think that had a lot to do with his lack of confidence in his kicker to make another over 49 yards. That could of come back to bite us. We won but left 6 points on fg’s and maybe who Jameis forced that awful for a pick after that mystery hold. His brother is awful too.
November 28th, 2016 at 3:14 pm
The jury deliberated for 20 minutes. Verdict: Not worth a 2nd rounder. An 8th perhaps…
November 28th, 2016 at 3:20 pm
He’ll be the kicker through the season. Then they’ll bring in a retread and/or an undrafted guy to compete with him next summer. Don’t bother wasting any more breath on this discussion.
November 28th, 2016 at 3:37 pm
Dak Prescott was drafted in the fourth round, but the great aguayo was taken by trading up in the second round. Let that statement just sink in for a little bit.
November 28th, 2016 at 3:38 pm
He will come around. It may be next year, but they’ve stuck with him this long and no sense pulling the plug now.
November 28th, 2016 at 3:40 pm
He suuuuucks. I don’t even see a strong leg to go with that weak mind. That pick made zero sense then and is laughable now.
November 28th, 2016 at 3:48 pm
That was my biggest issue with the pick, he doesn’t have a strong leg. But, strength was not the issue yesterday.
He had the length, just not the accuracy. That is a bigger issue IMO. With all that said, Jon Gruden made me feel better talking about how up and down the rookie season was for SeaBass. He turned out pretty good. Agauyo had been kicking much better in recent weeks, so I expect him to bounce back.
November 28th, 2016 at 3:49 pm
He’s a rookie, people! It was a 48 yarder! The ball was only a foot from going through. Janikowski sucked his rookie year, too.
Relax.
November 28th, 2016 at 4:01 pm
The Bucs would most likely not have won the KC game without Aguayo, so that may have bought him some time. Still, I think that there needs to be an open competition at the kicker position in training camp next year and may the best person win. Bringing in an undrafted guy is not necessarily a bad thing. Cairo Santos, the Chiefs’ kicker, who hit the game winning “bank shot” field goal last night against Denver, was undrafted and has been above 80% FG accuracy since entering the league in 2014. No one, not even a 2nd rounder, should be guaranteed a position next year for performing this poorly. Aguayo no esta acabado todavia, pero…
November 28th, 2016 at 4:01 pm
Jason got cute on this pick.
We need a strong team president to step in when needed
November 28th, 2016 at 4:02 pm
Go easy on Aguayo, he may end up kicking game winners from here on out. Or not.
November 28th, 2016 at 4:09 pm
Well considering the player performing the best that was drafted after him this year is Tajae Sharpe, than it’s not really that crushing yet. Sharpe isn’t that great yet either. He will bounce back and should be our kicker for the next 10 years and we won’t have to address that position or use another pick on a kicker in that span. For some reason people seem to believe the success rate on a late second round draft pick is like 80% or something LOL. 2nd round picks have a 30% chance of playing 5 years. That includes back ups as well. They have a 14% chance of being consistent, elite starters. That means only 4 players are going to be successful in that round, roughly. I’m content knowing our rookie who has already started every game this season and is improving will be one of the better 2nd round picks in the 2016 draft when all is said and done because there will only likely be 3 other teams that are on the same level.
November 28th, 2016 at 4:22 pm
“or some reason people seem to believe the success rate on a late second round draft pick is like 80% or something LOL.”
I’ve been having this argument for a long time here. Too many people who don’t understand what realistic expectations are for FAs & draft picks. Too many people who don’t actually research what goes on around the league and make baseless BS opinions. Fact is majority of FAs are busts and a good/great NFL draft nets you 3 starters/contributors. Ppl here expect all FAs to succeed and for like 75% of our draft picks to be pro bowlers in 1-2 years.
Would you rather have 2 players that we cut in 1-2 seasons after they contribute minimally on special teams or a top 10 kicker for 10-15 years? That was the logic at the time if I had to guess – especially since Light even cited the bust rate in the draft.
I don’t think it was a good pick and was our worst move in the draft; but I think there is absolutely 0 logic to saying it’s the worst pick of the draft immediately because it was a kicker. The worst picks are the ones that are a complete waste of a pick because the player never contributes anything to your team. The higher you draft a worthless non contributor the worse. To think anything else is just weird to me.
Also a lot of media sells it as if he was our “#2 pick in the draft” to make it sound crazier. He was taken in the bottom of the 2nd… and was our 3rd pick in the draft.
November 28th, 2016 at 4:30 pm
@Eric… we wasted 2 picks on a kicker. You are missing the point. Sure, draft picks bust and don’t work out all the time. You have to use those picks wisely. Take a DL and WR with those picks because we need players and the potential is what you have to look at. The potential with agauyo is he could be a good kicker in the league, just like every other kicker you can get for free, like conor barth, kai forbath, mike nuggent, matt bryant, all kicker who are good nfl kickers for free. You have to use those picks on players, not kickers. That why no other GM does anything that stupid. All those percentages you threw out apply to a kicker not working out as well. The idiots that liked the kicker pick missed the fact that kickers have the same bust rate as every other player, but not nearly the same upside potential to be exponetially better than another at the same position.
November 28th, 2016 at 4:38 pm
@ lord… he was our 3rd AND 4th round pick. We spent 2 picks on him.
“Would you rather have 2 players that we cut in 1-2 seasons after they contribute minimally on special teams or a top 10 kicker for 10-15 years”
You mean like Kwon and Ali? I’ll take players. What makes anyone think he will be special for 10 to 15 years. That’s pretty funny. He can’t kick beyond forty yards and he is very inaccurate but to you he’s special and top 10…
November 28th, 2016 at 4:55 pm
@ mike n
Oh no Mike, I am completely aware of the point. What you’re trying to say is that we should have utilized it for 2 other positions that were of much greater need. The fact still remains that their bust potential is the same or even greater if you account for the latter pick we traded that we initially received from the bears. That 4th rounder has less than a 5% chance of being a consistent contributor.
There are a lot of holes in your rebuttal. For one being the reference of Ali and Kwon. You’re naming 2 extreme outliers. Licht nailed the draft cuz of those picks. It is extremely extremely rare to hit on a 4th rounder and we did so twice which is even more rare. As I indicated before, it’s less than 5%.
What makes anyone think he will be a solid player for 10-15 years? Uh the fact that he was the best kicker in college football history LOL. This is getting ridiculous that people are already labeling him a bust. Research some of the all time greats like Vinatieri(?), Seabass, etc. They all struggled as rookies. It’s already evident that Aguayo has improved as well.
Fact is your insinuating that Aguayo’s bust potential is the same as every other player that round. Well like I cited before, he was the best in college football history so I highly disagree. I still have faith that he will be worth it in the end. I can promise you another thing, no other player in that round was the best at their position in college. I also promise you that all of those free kickers that you mentioned, were never near the potential that Aguayo has when they were rookies. Give the guy a chance and be patient SMH
You’re debating selecting a player that could contribute more at a greater need with a much lower probability of success and Aguayo advocates are debating a player who contributes to a less meaningful aspect of the game with a much higher success rate for a longer period of time. I respect their opinion and you should too.
November 28th, 2016 at 4:56 pm
Roberto Aguayo Hammered
Joes,
When I read your headline I immediately thought that Roberto had drank him self unconscious.
November 28th, 2016 at 5:02 pm
Not concerned.. Gostkowski missed a 39 yard FG yesterday. Badly. Cut him cut him.. Now next year if he continues then it’s bye bye..
November 28th, 2016 at 5:25 pm
This kid has plenty of leg strength, he’s got the distance for sure, but the accuaracy is off a touch, he’ll get it going.
November 28th, 2016 at 5:27 pm
@Eric
I understand your point but it doesn’t hold water. The fact is what a kicker contributes is marginal to the success of the team. There’s obviously situations where a kick is the difference of winning a game or not but there are tons of kickers that can be had as free agents that are performing better than Aguayo. Whether draft picks work or not, the greater positions of need would have been better to address. Maybe they would have worked out and maybe they wouldn’t have but you can’t sign a DE or WR off the streets and expect success. You can, however, with a kicker. I’ll continue to hope and support Aguayo. If there’s any silver lining, I think that the guy is kicking the ball with more authority. It seemed on that 48 yarder that he was expecting a slight hook and got absolutely no hook but he had plenty of distance on the kick. Let’s just hope he turns it around and can be our kicker for a long time.
November 28th, 2016 at 5:40 pm
He’s been doing much better the last handful of games. 1 miss does not warrant diving back into this topic.
November 28th, 2016 at 5:44 pm
He’s made 7 of 8 of his last field goals (since the bye) and all of his extra points since.
I’ll take a 87.5% success rate any day.
November 28th, 2016 at 5:45 pm
@eric… best kicker in college football history. Let’s not get carried away.
Yes 100% on xtra points is impressive, but not applicable to the pro game now.
Heres a list of all time best kickers in college http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/leaders/fg-pct-player-career.html which ones if any were good in the pros? Not sure I’ve seen anything yet that would make anyone think he will be a great pro kicker. Aguayo was a 50% kicker from 40 plus yards his last year of college, unfortunately that trend is continuing.
November 28th, 2016 at 6:02 pm
@ cmurda
See now you make an excellent point. Touché. However, before the draft was initiated, most people who watch football would tell you that you would never in a million years be able to pick up a kicker off the streets who is even close to being the best in college history as aguayo was. That’s what the pick was based off. Limited liability and nearly a sure bet. The fact that he’s missed as much as he has is a surprise. If in fact he materializes and plays another 12 years than its worth the pick. Too early to say no. You’re saying tons of kickers are better, well he’s still adjusting just like the best in the game had to. Whether it’s the size of the football, pressure, etc there is an adjustment period. For any player. It’s basically a debate of a safety who has a 30% chance of success or the most successful kicker in college history who’s chance is much higher just because he is the goat. I get that the margin isn’t as significant at that position and that’s where I respect your point and those who agree are correct but kicker was absolutely a position of need as well. I’m not advocating for the pick, I’m just rationalizing why it happened and our professional GM made the decision rather than what Joe bucs fans think and it’s not as bad as you guys portray.
November 28th, 2016 at 6:12 pm
He’s a rookie… GET OFF HIS JOCK!!!
November 28th, 2016 at 6:28 pm
The best kicker in college history now can’t kick, wtf?
November 28th, 2016 at 6:32 pm
The jury came back with a Guilty verdict a long time ago.
November 28th, 2016 at 6:39 pm
There really is no debate. He was not worth a second round pick (or a third and fourth round pick for that matter) people always say it, no kicker is worth that high of a pick. And the reasoning behind that is because every team has a kicker, and just about every kicker in the NFL is pretty good. So the need to draft a kicker is usually pretty low on teams draft boards if there is one at all.
This year with the saints also needing a kicker, (they are going with an Undrafted rookie) the bucs panicked. They heard that the saints were trading up to get back into the second round, and they did. The patriots traded their 2nd round pick to the saints. I believe this spooked Jason licht who would have liked to wait till the third to get him, but didn’t want to risk losing out.
It turned out to be a blunder. But im not not mad at licht. I’m not even mad at Aguayo. You swing for the fences and sometimes you miss. Who knows what the bucs could have got with their third and fourth round picks if they never drafted aguayo. Both players could have been back ups or busts. It’s an unknown, just like drafting any player in the NFL, there are a lot of unknowns about the kids that teams select. You hope it works out, but a lot of times it doesn’t. That’s just the way it is.
November 28th, 2016 at 6:49 pm
A second round pick for an important position like kicker sounds like would be an ok value, if he turns out really good. But you just gotta look at the position and how it works around the league. EVERY team can use another Lb, cb, wr, DL, OL. Worst case they become back ups. But not many teams have a need for another kicker. You only have 1 spot reserved for a kicker on your roster, and most teams (as in 30/32) have a good kicker already. So there is no need to reach so high in the draft for a kicker, because no one else has that need for a kicker.
That is why you don’t draft kickers in the second round, there is no need to. Worst case some other team drafts him before you, and you pick one of the many journeyman kickers that are adequate NFL kickers, like Connor Barth.
November 28th, 2016 at 6:54 pm
Every time I see Bryant knock another field goal through for Atlanta I get a little sick to the stomach. How many kickers have we gone through since Dominik kicked him to the curb, 4 or 5? Pisses me off something fierce.
November 28th, 2016 at 7:30 pm
I couldn’t tell what happened on the miss from my seat… was it short?
November 28th, 2016 at 7:53 pm
I don’t get what all the howling about Aguayo is about. Licht drafted him; he didn’t draft himself. He’s sure better than that ASJ bozo was. Now, what’s the story on Brian Anger (our punter)? He is drop dead brilliant, and Bucs are quietly building another quality STeam. Joes write this mess to keep things stirred up so the ad $$ continues to flow. The kicker who really SU##ED the big one was that loser who cost us at least 2 games (whereas Aguayo hasn’t) about 3 seasons ago. Ye gods he was horrific!!
November 28th, 2016 at 8:18 pm
we could not on missed draft pick during a week long summit here in Tampa Bay… At this point, it does not matter what the cost was, he is a member of this team. I will root for him until he proves beyond a shadow of a out he can’t get the job done.
He is just a rookie. He has time to grow. I believe in a year or two we won’t even remember these missed kicks.
November 28th, 2016 at 8:19 pm
‘lament on’…
November 28th, 2016 at 8:33 pm
I don’t how it looks on tv but if you are at the game when he attempts a moderately long FG he doesn’t drive it. He chips it so it just can clear the crossbar. I understand he wants to elevate it but just drive it to the net!
November 28th, 2016 at 10:31 pm
Dude has been lights out the past few weeks & missed a 48 yarder by a foot, 1 FOOT!. The kid is improving & adjusting quite nicely, unlike some of the knee jerk fair weather fans on this board. RELAX FELLAS
November 29th, 2016 at 1:36 am
I won’t help if you complain about the draft picks. The kid is our kicker – and the key word in this is ‘our’!!! Do you really think he will get better if you call him out??Support your team by supporting its players!!!
By the way: The kick was an absolutely straight shot and was well long enough. If it wasn’t from the right hash the shot would have been perfect!
Come on guys, we just beat Seattle – time to enjoy the life as a Buc’s fan!
November 29th, 2016 at 8:38 am
@ mike n
Hey man, I’m only the messenger here. I was just referring to him as the hundreds of media sources did when he was drafted. The title “most successful kicker in college football history” was utilized by nearly everyone. Your opinion of that is irrelevant. I mean, there is a reason he was drafted in the second round and most likely would have gone in the top of the 3rd if not 2nd if we didn’t select him lol.
It actually is a solid debate for those of you that disagree. If he succeeds for the next 12 years and we don’t have to explore other avenues, I’d say that was a successful pick. Just because he has struggled in his first 11 games, doesn’t make him not worth it….yet.
There is a solid point to both sides, and like I had stated before, I’m not really for either because I am utilizing logic and the wait and see approach. Instead of being pessimistic and writing him off like most of our fan bases have done, most likely as a result of the last decade’s inefficiencies.
Either way this is a dumb topic in relation to what is happening to our team as of lately. We are back guys!!!!! Let’s go BUCS!!!!!!!!