Brandon Fields cut

[MikeO]

The Sturgis love-fest is baffling to me. People think Miami is replacing Morton Anderson or Adam Vinitari in their prime

[Dave Gray]

^ He was drafted high and had high expectations.  That's all there is. 

[Brian Fein]

Not a love fest but he's a known quantity.  You can say 27th in the league, whatever - fine.  But Rich gets to exclude Franks' misses from 50+, so it should work both ways.  Numbers don't tell the whole story, IMO.

Sturgis last season was 20/21 from inside 40 yards.  To me, I expect perfection in this range, but OK he missed 1, and it was blocked.  Big whoop.  This puts him 14th in the league at this range (including the block).
40-49 yards, he was 6/10.  To me this is poor.  3 misses from 48, 45, 43, and a 41 that was blocked.
50+, which Rich himself said was not a gimme, he was 3 of 6.  This really drags down his percentage.

So if you exclude blocks and 50+ misses, the guy missed three FG's all last season.  Is that really SO TERRIBLE?

In total, last season, Sturgis was 29/37 for 78%, including 2 blocks and 3 misses over 50 yards.  Outside of that, he was 26/29 for nearly 90% hit rate.

But, yeah, let's get rid of him cause he sucks.

[MikeO]

^ He was drafted high and had high expectations.  That's all there is. 

He was drafted high over 2 years ago. We know what he is now

[MikeO]

But, yeah, let's get rid of him cause he sucks.

IF they get rid of him (and it hasn't been decided yet) it's to save cap space and they feel they have a guy who is better on kickoffs and equal on FG's. You get too worked up over something that may or may not happen.  But the fact is he was ranked 27th out of all the kickers last year and that isn't good enough.

[Rich]

IF they get rid of him (and it hasn't been decided yet) it's to save cap space and they feel they have a guy who is better on kickoffs and equal on FG's. You get too worked up over something that may or may not happen.  But the fact is he was ranked 27th out of all the kickers last year and that isn't good enough.

They aren't going to get rid of him to save cap space. He is on a 5th round pick rookie contract.

[Rich]

Not a love fest but he's a known quantity.  You can say 27th in the league, whatever - fine.  But Rich gets to exclude Franks' misses from 50+, so it should work both ways.  Numbers don't tell the whole story, IMO.

Sturgis last season was 20/21 from inside 40 yards.  To me, I expect perfection in this range, but OK he missed 1, and it was blocked.  Big whoop.  This puts him 14th in the league at this range (including the block).
40-49 yards, he was 6/10.  To me this is poor.  3 misses from 48, 45, 43, and a 41 that was blocked.
50+, which Rich himself said was not a gimme, he was 3 of 6.  This really drags down his percentage.

So if you exclude blocks and 50+ misses, the guy missed three FG's all last season.  Is that really SO TERRIBLE?

In total, last season, Sturgis was 29/37 for 78%, including 2 blocks and 3 misses over 50 yards.  Outside of that, he was 26/29 for nearly 90% hit rate.

But, yeah, let's get rid of him cause he sucks.

The Dolphins aren't going to make the decision on what Franks did in college. They are going to make the decision on the following things:

1. Sturgis makes less than 80% of his kicks for his career
2. Sturgis also always seems to have some sort of injury
3. Who has looked better in camp - and all things being equal why should we keep a guy that is always nicked up and is bottom of the league in field goal percentage


Remember this is the same way Olindo Mare won the job and he was a good kicker for us for a while.

[Spider-Dan]

Sturgis last season was 20/21 from inside 40 yards.  To me, I expect perfection in this range, but OK he missed 1, and it was blocked.  Big whoop.  This puts him 14th in the league at this range (including the block).
40-49 yards, he was 6/10.  To me this is poor.  3 misses from 48, 45, 43, and a 41 that was blocked.
50+, which Rich himself said was not a gimme, he was 3 of 6.  This really drags down his percentage.

To recap: at a range which should be a lock (<40), he was 14th in the league.
From 40-49, he was kicking at a 60% clip.
At 50+, he was kicking at 50%.
This is not a good hill to die on.

I don't give him a pass on blocks, particularly since his leg strength is a concern; if he doesn't have enough power to safely clear the line on a <50 (or even <40) yard kick, that is a deficiency that needs to be accounted for.

[masterfins]

The guy is in the bottom 20% of the league on FG and is one of the few kickers who can't consistently boot it out of the end zone. 

This 78% stat can be very misleading.  Sturgis tied for 8th last year for number of field goals made.  As Brian pointed out he was 3 for 6 beyond 50 yards, a bunch of guys ahead of him only attempted 2-4 kicks beyond 50 yards, and they weren't perfect, so that tends to skew the stat.  Not to mention guys kicking off astroturf have an easier time of it.  So you just can't base his performance off of this one stat.  I can think of two missed kicks last year that I was upset about, so if that's it for a season I'm happy to keep him until his rookie contract is up.

[MikeO]

This 78% stat can be very misleading.  Sturgis tied for 8th last year for number of field goals made.  As Brian pointed out he was 3 for 6 beyond 50 yards, a bunch of guys ahead of him only attempted 2-4 kicks beyond 50 yards, and they weren't perfect, so that tends to skew the stat.  Not to mention guys kicking off astroturf have an easier time of it.  So you just can't base his performance off of this one stat.  I can think of two missed kicks last year that I was upset about, so if that's it for a season I'm happy to keep him until his rookie contract is up.

Not 1 team in the league plays on astroturf. Hate to break it to ya.  Not 1 stadium in america has astroturf anymore either. The days of playing on that concrete astroturf are over with.

[masterfins]

Not 1 team in the league plays on astroturf. Hate to break it to ya.  Not 1 stadium in america has astroturf anymore either. The days of playing on that concrete astroturf are over with.

You know what I meant, its still artificial and has a uniform base.  Unlike real sod.

[MikeO]

You know what I meant, its still artificial and has a uniform base.  Unlike real sod.

Field Turf is very little different than real grass and definitely not an  advantage for a kicker.

[dolphins4life]

I think we have high expectations for our kickers because we have watched NE's kickers kick their teams to Superbowls and Division titles, whereas our kickers have cost us playoff berths.

Kicking has been no small part in the Patriots success over the dynasty and the last few years, no matter how much everybody seems to want to downplay it.

[ArtieChokePhin]

Anyone watching tonight's game will see why Fields was cut.   Darr is having the game of his life

[MikeO]

Perfect world, Sturgis opens as kicker and Franks can be kept on the practice squad. First Sturgis f' up and he is gone. Problem is Franks will probably get picked up and we won't be able to hide him on the practice squad