Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll opened up his final press conference before the six-week summer break with three words; “let’s talk kickers”.
Considering Seattle’s struggles at the kicking position over the past three seasons, Carroll’s excitement about the kicking game – notably free agent Jason Myers, who is coming off a Pro Bowl 2018 season – is pretty telling.
“Both of our opportunities to end these sessions have come down to a tie last play, last-second kick, which just highlighted the consistency that Jason Myers showed for us,” Carroll commented on Thursday, the final day of the Seahawks mandatory minicamp. “He did a great job throughout this offseason. We’re really fortunate to have him. Just consistency was really there and the leg power and all that working together with Michael [Dickson] and Tyler Ott. Those guys did a great job. So that move that we made to get him, I think is going to work out great for us and it’s going to give us the confidence to utilize the kicker like you’d hope to in crucial situations, long balls when we got to go for it. We’re going to be playing with a lot of confidence in that regard. He did a great job.”
Myers was in camp with the Seahawks last offseason, but the team ultimately decided to go with the veteran Sebastian Janikowski instead. Myers ended up signing on with the Jets and making the Pro Bowl after going 33-for-36 on the season, including 17-for-19 from beyond 40 yards.
Now, he will take that consistency from distance with him back to the Seahawks, who will have their fourth different kicker in the last four seasons.
After signing a four-year deal, Seattle hopes that Myers will be the kicker who not only breaks that streak, but who helps establish Seattle’s kicking game as one of the best in the league.
