HALLELUJAH

yesss - do it Cade. Tired of the crap ass kickers we have had since Dawson.

I'm ecstatic!

This draft has suddenly turned the corner. I still wish we got Pickens and that Georgia linebacker, but Day 3 has started out well.

Thank Heavens.

I love the Browns fan that flashed on the screen with the "KICKERS ARE PEOPLE TOO" T-shirt.

I'm not sure what the takeaway is from the feeling that our Draft was saved by Day 3 picks, but I am liking how this day is going.

I sure hope this guy is "the solution"

Yes, it would be nice to stop that revolving door.

I guess I didn't mean it that way. I agree the Day 2 was still disappointing, but I like these picks.

j/c...

That would have easily been good from 60.

Hilarious, I was curious how drafting a kicker would go over with this crowd.

Everybody said the draft wasn't very top heavy, but heavy in the middle rounds, that there wasn't much difference between players you could select at 35 v 135. I also have a feeling our 2nd and 3rd round guys are going to end up pretty good.

We traded Troy hill back to the Rams. Saves money and makes sense

Obviously a dot of us have watched a few games over the years….

Justin Tucker has been much more reliable… I want reliable as well.

Honestly - 65-67 yards - you get to see how far that ball clears right at the end of the clip. It's got to be 8 yards. More than 3 extra yards by a ways.

hey, it was good from 57, thats good enough for me....well, except that evening.
I am happy as heck we have the kid. He has the leg and can make pressure kicks as people see in the vid.

And yeah, that kick cleared by quite a bit.

Phil Dawson and Matt Stover were weapons. If this kid ca n be mentioned in the same way years from now this will be an awesome pick.

Hey Fl Dawg, did you pay attention to York much in college? If so, what are your thoughts?

No, not much, studying kickers (and punters) is like a trying to understand a foreign language to me. 🙃

LOL.......I hear you. Just thought I would ask, because you are one of my go-to guys since I quit studying the draft. I will probably get into it again next year.

82 yarder was on a tee, but the kid has leg for sure. Hope he is great for us, like or better than Phil.

Couple things:

First... don't know if this is just me, but I've noticed that some of the more successful kickers, as of late, put a lot more "spin" on the ball. It's almost like a throwing star going through the air. Also, a lot of higher-drafted kickers seem to possess this trait. I wonder if this is an analytics thing and new tech is driving this? Their kicks certainly seem to slice through the air and have a more predictable "curve".

As far as Cade, and the decision to not have any competition? Seems counter-intuitive, but what if it's simply a "hey, we've tried every thing else" decision... What is that saying? The definition of insanity...

Bottom line: He's your kicker now. You drafted him. Stick with it through thick and thin -- there are always a few bumps in the road. Unless we start the season and there is something egregious that tells you this isn't going to work? Buckle up and roll with the punches.

Yes, simulating a KO ... his lowest was like 76 yards, which was the longest of the other two kickers (on film from same sight) there ... he is almost an automatic TB, if that is the call with his leg.

Cade did miss the one 57 yarder and the other two went 15/15 ... but by just a wisper.
They said that they like his mental makeup in a real-time situation.

I hope that he becomes our kicker for the next 15 years.

Maybe 20. Lot's of the good kickers are still doing it past 40 years old.

As far as immediate help.

Cade York is probably it. As long as he becomes the solution.

It would be great to have confidence in our kicker.

Janikowski did it for 17 years before missing a season to injury. That would be plenty good..... but, heck, if we get 10 years from a late round pick, that's a HUGE win.

This guy kicks the leather off the ball.

Someone mentioned how often the practice kickoffs. I have no idea, but why would you do a lot of it? Onside kicks and coverages would be the focus.

Directional kicking, wind factors, squib, boom it through the end zone, or kick it high and hope they do return it.

Does anyone know if he is for sure better than Chase McLaughlin.
The Browns drafted Austin Siebert too. In the old days before 32 teams, teams didn't have to draft kickers, they would develop them and they seemed to keep kickers for many years. Does drafting a kicker guarantee he is better than the previous years kicker would have been if they were both in camp.

No, but does anyone even know if they will be alive tomorrow? It's a draft pick, not something that is going to have major consequences on our planet. I actually think having a good kicker is a good thing. We have talked about Baltimore's kicker and look at what the Bengals' kicker did down the stretch and in the playoffs last year. Dude was "money."

Excactly.
Did he beat McLaughlin in camp, or if I recalled/heard correctly was McLaughlin already waived.
(At another time some had differing opinions on Porter Gustin, I took the side, at that time, that he wasn't overly going to help, and the others pointed out he made a play in the Browns playoff win, well at this time, one could argue Isaiah Thomas the draft pick is going to have a Porter Gustin type role, yet: if Gustin has already been waived then Thomas is not going to outperform Gustin for the job in camp;
There may be others in camp that Thomas will compete with, but the process is not like it once was.

"When it's time to change you've got to re-arrange, don't fight the tide come along for the ride Don't you see."

He'd make a great body guard !!

Ouch !!

IMO the thinking is conducting a camp kicker competition is great except it doesn't breed confidence in your eventual winner.

If your kicker is hearing the ice cracking with every kick it creates unnecessary pressure. Now York is the guy.

We have tried it the other way a few times and it hasn't worked. I feel this is going to work out just fine.

We don't know 100% that he is better than McLaughlin, but we do know 100% that McLaughlin is not the answer at kicker, so we have to take a shot on someone else. York seems to be the best available one in the draft.

You could be right, but I don't see it that way. If you wilt under the pressure of having other kickers in camp in spite of you being the clear-cut favorite, how in the hell are you going to handle the pressure of kicking a game-winning in a real football game?

There’s also talk of his commitment to being a professional. Smart, focused, and we see the physical ability. I’m always leery of being too happy, but he’s got the bonafides.

You don't know. As one who played, I think you know it means a lot for a player to feel the coach believes in you. Not knowing that crates a pressure unlike the pressure of making a kick.

Difference of opinion. No big deal.

The only position I've ever seen this applied to is the QB position. I agree with you that I think things will be just fine without competition for the starting kicker.

But I guess my question is if we expand that thought process to kickers, where does it stop? Don't all NFL players feel the pressure to perform? I believe in principal, if you simply avoid competition for NFL positions based on your logic, you could apply it to every position in the NFL.

Not really. You have 1 kicker, and in reality, you have 1 starting QB. Yes, there are 1-2 more QB's, but any competition is for #2.

That's fine, we just see it differently. There is usually always competition for the kicking position in camps around the league unless someone has an established NFL record over time. So at the very least this is a rather unusual set of circumstances. But things change. For all I know this may become the new normal.

I think the fact we used a 4th round pick in a draft which we didn't start taking players until the 3rd round was us saying the competition was over. The kid York who's great grandaddy was one of the most decorated soldiers from WW I, won the competition hands down. We let our past kicker go so he can get a job elsewhere. We might bring another into camp later tp prevent York from getting a tired leg and get himself injured. Its doesn't mean they are correct in their final decision but they think they are correct in this young mans ability for years to come! I'll buy into it and glad they feel that strongly in him.

There may be a new normal forming. For years, kickers and punters were last round or UDFA picks. Now we are seeing mor and more being drafted in the 5th round.

I saw a bit somewhere explaining why we took York in the 4th. As we saw, several punters came off the board in the 5th. We wanted York but felt he wasn't going to last until our 5th round pick, so we went ahead and took him when we did.

I generally don't like reaching, but we wanted the guy and with kickers the pool of players is relatively limited as to other positions. And with kickers, it is a need pick. Teams don't generally have those guys listed in a traditional BPA formula. Even if they do, you don't draft a kicker unless you need one. It's not like teams keep depth at the kicker position except maybe keep some guy on the practice squad.

Time will tell if it was the right pick, but in the moment and as things stood with our kicker situation, it was the right pick.

Cool. I didn't know he was related to Alvin York. I assume that is who you mean.

Just a bit on Alvin copied from a wiki bit on him.

"When all was said and done, Alvin York had single-handedly killed 28 enemy soldiers and captured 128 enlisted men, 4 officers and 32 machine guns without suffering so much as a scratch on his body."

While out on a Sunday drive many years back my wife and I ended up around Jamestown, TN and toured Alvins home and museum. Very interesting. Definitely a Tennessean of note.

I apologize Peen...I have no clue if he's related to Alvin York or not and yes I was referring to him but just taking a writers advantage of prose. I just threw that in being a little sarcastic...sorry that is not a fact but it wouldn't surprise me if he is...lol

I understand the pick and have no qualms with it. I just can't think of any other position, including QB that is a a 4th round pick who goes into training camp with no competition at the position. It just seems very strange to me. But as with everything, the only constant in life is change.

Well that was anti-climactic. Learned about Alvin, though. I hope his maybe great grandson kicks as well as Alvin killed.

There will probably be somebody else in camp. I guess you could call that competition. Josh Dobbs will be in the QB room, so I suppose you could say he is competing with Watson for the starting job.

If anything Dobbs was brought in to run the scout team
jmho

Dont teams always bring in kickers so the main guy doesnt get worn out by practices? There will be other kickers in camp wont there?

Yes they bring in what is popularly referred to as "camp legs". They're not really competition per say. They're to accomplish exactly what you described.

I've seen Mclaughlin and Blewitt kick. They weren't going to be camp competition. They were just expensive camp legs

Mclaughlin and Blewitt?

They were doomed from birth.

From my understanding the maximum any player can make during training camp is 6400 a week. In NFL terms that isn't expensive.

And incase York gets hit by a bus

Hear me out. What if we don’t sign a camp leg and everything will be okay?

Probably. You might not want to run 20 kickoff team reps in a row, and to be honest, I don't know how many of those they actually run in camp anyway and when they do, I doubt they are full contact drills very often. You could do it without an actual kick.

WHAT??

And have Cade running back and forth from practice fields to kick all those extra points??

Yeah, tht won't be a problem. Kickers probably kick 50 or more balls a day anyway. Any fatigue might be on kickoffs, but I am not sure how often teams really practice that, and it is pretty easy to practice that without actually kicking a ball.

You can start the kicking team in motion and toss the returner the ball after allowing for a average hang time to get things rolling. What is the hang time on a kickoff....maybe 4-5 seconds?

It would be interesting to see how many kickoffs are actually returned on average in a game. Maybe 15%? It isn't many.
Most is probably done on the chalkboard. Coverage guys have lane responsibility. Return guys have various man and wall assignments. Most of that can be drawn out.

j/c...

As Phil has done for others, I would bet he shows up in Cleveland to spend a hour or so down at the stadium for a little one on one.

I am sure the team will also send York and a few ball boys down to the stadium a day or two a week to kick on windy days.

Kicking it: Browns rookie York gets advice from Phil Dawson
By TOM WITHERS

https://apnews.com/article/cleveland-browns-nfl-sports-phil-dawson-ffc43b3131a032905169d5620042ad3d

BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Browns rookie Cade York’s first experience kicking inside FirstEnergy Stadium came on a clear, calm, picture postcard kind of day.

Phil Dawson warned him it’s rarely so idyllic.

“He just mentioned that there are going to be days that are tough,” said York, who called Dawson, the popular, longtime Cleveland kicker, shortly after the Browns selected him in the fourth round of the recent NFL draft.

During their 40-minute conversation — “we talked about a lot,” York said — the confident 21-year-old got educated by Dawson on the Browns, Cleveland’s football passion and the city’s unpredictable weather.

Not only was Dawson an incredibly accurate kicker, but he became something of an amateur meteorologist during his 14 seasons (1999-2012) with the Browns.

Through trial and error he learned to read the tricky winds off Lake Erie, famously making a field goal against Buffalo during blizzard-like conditions by aiming at the corner pylon in the end zone to account for the gusts.

On his first day in Cleveland, York made sure he got in some kicks — even if the conditions were pristine.

“It was pretty nice,” York said. “Nicer than most games at LSU, honestly, so excited to see what it’s like when it’s windy.”

The Browns and their fans are excited about York, whose powerful leg (he made 15 of 19 field goals over 50 yards) and penchant for making clutch kicks made him irresistible for a team that has had major special teams issues in recent years.

Last season, Chase McLaughlin started well but stumbled down the stretch with some misses costing Cleveland possible wins during a dismal 8-9 season. So when his turn came around to pick in the fourth round, Browns general manager Andrew Berry snatched York, the highest kicker selected in the draft since 2016.

York is a relative newcomer to kicking. He played soccer in high school — “center back that could kick the ball pretty hard, and had a good shot” — but a strong performance during a summer kicking camp brought interest from several college programs and opened his eyes to a new future.

“I realized that wow, I got a full ride in football or a 50% scholarship to some private school that’s still going to cost $30,000,” he said with a chuckle. “So took the football option and haven’t looked back since.”

York was a star in three seasons at LSU, making 54 of 66 field-goal tries and 164 of 168 extra points. A self-described perfectionist, York also appealed to the Browns after they learned about his mental toughness.

York has learned to accept there will be misses along with the makes.

“You might have one bad kick, it doesn’t mean that everything else is bad,” he said. “It’s just something was off on that one. There’s a part of it where you just have to have fun with it and you know that what you’re doing out there on Sundays -- I almost said Saturdays -- on Sundays.

“It’s literally the exact same thing you do every time, it’s just people in the stands and a few 300-pound guys running at you.”

The Browns cut McLaughlin shortly after drafting York, who won’t have any competition in camp except himself. Coach Kevin Stefanski said the idea was to give York as many reps as possible.

“You’re trying to maximize every moment you have,” said Stefanski, who was pleased to hear York had spoken to Dawson. “You can’t kick every day. What are you doing on those off times? You’re studying tape with the coaches, you’re looking at what you can do better and you’re working on your body.

“He’s going to make sure every minute counts.”

York said Dawson told him that Cleveland will have his back — so long as the ball stays between the uprights.

“He talked about how Cleveland can be either an amazing place to play or a hard place to play if you’re not doing what you’re supposed to do, and how you basically gotta block it out because everyone has bad days,” York said. “Even Phil had bad days. So you gotta just play to the best of your ability and not worry too much about the fans.

“But it’s also a great place to play, just like college. Because Baton Rouge if I wasn’t doing well they were going to let me know.”

NOTES: With three draft picks from Oklahoma, the Browns are at least tinted in crimson and cream. “The Cleveland Sooners,” said defensive end Isaiah Thomas, picked along with college teammates Perrion Winfrey and Michael Woods II.

Mclaughlin was hot garbage. Even the kicks he made were a roller coaster. Losing Parkey, the double doink guy was a big loss last season. If this dude is even as good as Parkey was it's a massive win. If he's better it was the absolute right pick.

No no, really.. how'd you feel about McLaughlin?

I know what you were saying there, but being as ‘good as Parker’ isn’t a massive win. Cody was drafted to kick it through the uprights, nail down the PK job until around 2038. Failure isn’t an option.

I believe this site is known to Browns players, so ‘welcome to Cleveland kid, we hope you stick around awhile’