The Jacksonville Jaguars were briefly without the services of a kicker on Tuesday before claiming second-year leg Riley Patterson off waivers on Wednesday. They struggled to find a competent solution to their kicking needs and despite the outstanding play of rookie James McCourt against the Atlanta Falcons last week, the team decided to keep rolling the dice to find a long-term answer at the position.
Special teams coordinator Heath Farwell explained the Jaguars’ decision to continue looking for their next kicker in a press conference on Wednesday, telling reporters that they had been eyeing Patterson from afar for some time.
“They both did a really good job for us,” He said of what he saw from his kickers against Atlanta. “James [ McCourt’ had a good game, had a good practice yesterday, and we still really like where he’s at. Jake [Verity], unfortunately, wasn’t able to finish up exactly what we wanted, but both those guys did a really good job for us. With that being said, part of our job of getting this roster as good as we can is to evaluate other rosters and see what’s best available.
“We had been watching several kicker battles as well as other positions to figure out if we can upgrade our roster in any way. Riley [K Riley Patterson] is a guy that we’ve targeted for a while. He was a guy we were hoping would become available. We are fortunate that he did, and here we are. We’re excited to have him.”
With as many moving pieces as there are in the Jaguars 2022 rebuild, there is some irony in the team’s relentless pursuit of a contributor at the game’s most underrated position. A good kicker has a chance to lead his team in scoring in a given season, and if Jacksonville can find a good one, it might keep them in contention against some of the better opponents on their schedule this season.
Watch for Farwell to keep assessing his options as he tries to get his unit in shape before the regular season starts on September 11th.
