5 kickers Tennessee Titans should consider before Week 1

The Tennessee Titans need a kicker.

Michael Badgley was waived by the Titans on Sunday, becoming the third kicker in the last week to be released by the team.

The Titans have 13 days to find a viable option before the season opener against the New Orleans Saints on Sept. 10. There are some solid veteran options on the free agent market even before the bulk of roster cuts are made across the league on Monday and Tuesday as teams get down to 53 players.

They include two former Titans, two longtime kickers with good track records and a younger option with a strong leg.

Here are five kickers the Titans should consider:

Mason Crosby

Crosby turns 39 this week, and the longtime former Packer is on the market after Green Bay decided not to extend him after the 2022 season.

Crosby made 25-of-29 field goals last year with a long of 56, with only one miss from inside of 50 yards. He was 37-of39 on extra points and had a below-average kickoff touchback rate of 20.3%. It's been an up-and-down last few seasons for Crosby; he made every field goal in 2020 (16-for-16) but made just 73.5% of his kicks (25-for-34) in 2021.

Green Bay moved on from Crosby after 16 seasons and have rookie Anders Carlson on the roster. He appears to be the Week 1 kicker for the Packers, but Crosby's availability will be the elephant in the room should he start poorly.

It's clear Crosby wants to continue kicking. Crosby lives in Brentwood and tweeted a video of him kicking at Brentwood High School on Sunday.

Robbie Gould

Gould will be 41 by the end of the 2023 season, but he's still one of the more accurate kickers on the market.

Gould did not re-sign with the San Francisco 49ers following 6 seasons with the team. Last season, Gould made 27-of-32 field goals and 50-of-51 extra points, with a long of 51. At this stage, he doesn't have the longest range of the kickers available. The 19-year veteran kicker has experience in just about every situation.

Gould did not handle kickoffs in his first five seasons with San Francisco but did get those duties in 2022, earning a touchback rate of 49.5%. That number is below the league average.

Ryan Succop

The former Titans kicker started this mess in 2019 when he struggled to return to form after offseason knee surgery on his kicking leg. After spending the first two months of the season on injured reserve, Succop returned only to miss five of six field goal attempts before being placed on season-ending IR before the end of the regular season.

The Titans tried four other kickers to little success that season, becoming the worst field goal kicking team (44.4%) in the NFL since 1983.

Succop continued his career in 2020, winning a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay and returning to form as one of the most consistent kickers in the league. He made 84.8% of his field goal attempts in three seasons in Tampa with a long of 54, in line with his career numbers as a Titan.

Succop, 36, did not kick off at Tampa Bay and made 3-of-10 attempts from 50-plus yards.

Matthew Wright

Among this group, Wright, 27, is the youngest and would have the potential to be a long-term option for the Titans. More importantly, he has some experience and a decent track record.

Wright was the Jaguars kicker in 2021 and made 21-of-24 kicks with a long of 56. He made two kicks longer than 50 yards, including a game-winning 53-yard field goal, in a win against the Dolphins in London.

Wright did miss two extra points in 2021 and had a 19.4% touchback rate on kickoffs. But that rate was bumped up to 41.2% last year in six total games with the Chiefs and Steelers. Those teams kept him busy over those six weeks, with Wright making 15-of-18 field goals with a long of 59 and converting every extra point. The UCF alum was 2-of-2 in the preseason with the Panthers before being waived over the weekend.

For the Titans, Wright may be the best option when combining age, experience and salary.

Randy Bullock

The Titans have not found Bullock's replacement, so why not bring him back?

Bullock was solid over two seasons in Nashville, making 84.3% of his field goal attempts over two seasons with the Titans. He made every attempt inside of 40 yards and had a kickoff touchback rate of 55.9%.

Titans fans will remember Bullock missing from 47 yards in the final play of the Week 1 loss to the New York Giants and a fourth-quarter miss at the Los Angeles Chargers, and both kicks would have made a difference in those games. Bullock also missed two games due to injury and doesn't have the biggest leg (only tried three attempts of more than 50 yards in two seasons with the Titans, with a long make of 51) of the kickers on the market. He made 14-of-21 field goals from 40-49 yards over the last two seasons.

While he has familiarity with the team, the Titans felt a need to search for an upgrade just six months ago. Bullock's release in February saved the Titans $2 million on the cap, settling the final year of a 2-year, $4.68 million deal he signed before the 2022 season. But if the Titans wanted Bullock on the roster, it could have saved the team six months of questions about the position by keeping him for what was a solid cap number for a veteran kicker.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: 5 kickers Tennessee Titans should consider, including Mason Crosby