NFL Player News

Fairbairn did not play in Houston's win over New Orleans in preseason Week 2 on Saturday due to a quad injury.

Houston head coach Bill O'Brien said the injury isn't considered serious, but the kicker remains day-to-day. With Fairbairn out, Nick Novak handled the kicking duties Saturday, but he suffered a concussion on Houston's final kickoff.

Graham signed a contract with the Falcons on Saturday.

Graham is no stranger to Atlanta. After Matt Bryant went down due to a quadriceps injury last season, Graham assumed kicking duties for the Falcons. In his short five-game stint, Graham connected on 11 of 13 tries and hit all of his eight extra point attempts. Entering his 19th season, Graham hasn't showed any signs of decay and could be a solid option at kicker for an offense expected to score a lot of points in 2016.

With Josh Brown suspended for Week 1, Obarski is the leading candidate to start in his place.

Moreover, with more detailed accusations against Brown coming to light, there's some chance Obarski is called on beyond Week 1. Even so, there's no reason to speculate on this situation at this point with plenty of viable kickers available.

Walsh made a 27-yard field goal, but missed a 47-yard attempt in Thursday's preseason win over Seattle.

Fittingly, Walsh made a field goal from the same distance that he missed against Seattle at the end of last season's playoff loss. However, he missed a field goal with a chance to seal a win. Walsh is in no danger of losing his job despite last season's befuddling playoff miss. He made a 51-yard attempt in the first preseason game, which is reassuring since he struggled in the preseason last year.

Sturgis will not play in Thursday's preseason game against the Steelers after suffering a concussion, Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Enquirer reports.

Sturgis' injury comes as a freak accident, he was hit in the head by a punt during warm-ups, which gave him the concussion. He'll likely be out for at least the next few days. He'd been competing and out-performing Cody Parkey for the kicker spot, but his injury opens the door for Parkey to get extra game and practice reps.

Kai Forbath is holding off Barth for the starting kicker job, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, but the competition is "very close and far from decided."

Both players kicked well in Wednesday's practice, but the battle between the two veterans still remains too tight to call. Barth did not attempt a kick in the Saints' preseason opener against the Patriots last week, whereas Forbath missed badly on his only field goal attempt in the game, a 50-yarder. Barth should get an opportunity to kick in Saturday's preseason game against the Texans.

Fairbairn booted a 45-yard field goal and converted his lone extra-point attempt in Houston's preseason opener against the 49ers.

Fairbairn is an undrafted free agent challenging the incumbent Nick Novak for Houston's placekicking job. Two of his three kickoffs did not reach the end zone, but touchbacks may not necessarily be a factor in who wins the job. The 49ers' average field position on his kickoffs was the 22-yard line, which is better than the new touchback rule, where field position begins at the 25. This competition will play itself out over the course of the four-game preseason.

Tavecchio is in competition with Sebastian Janikowski for the kicking gig in Oakland, Vic Tafur of SFGate.com reports.

Special teams coach Brad Seely said of the situation, "Will he kick for us? Well, that remains to be seen. But it's a competition, and we're seeing who's best. Obviously, Sebastian has done this for a long time and has been really good. Obviously, he's the front-runner." Tavecchio has become an NFL travel man, as he is in his fifth training camp with his fourth different team.

Sturgis has outperformed Cody Parkey (groin) thus far into training camp, Philly.com reports.

Though the job battle will likely come down to how Sturgis and Parkey perform in the preseason, Sturgis appears to have the edge at this point in time. Both kickers have attempted 31 field goals in team drills so far during camp, but Sturgis has converted 28 while Parkey has hit just 23. Furthermore, Sturgis' kickoffs have reportedly been consistently longer than Parker's. Regardless, the Eagles project to deploy an uninspiring offense in 2016 that could prove fruitless for whoever wins this training camp battle.

The early returns have been pretty solid for both Barth and Kai Forbath, reports the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Forbath hasn't missed a kick in camp, while Barth has missed only one, and both kickers successfully nailed their four field-goal attempts during Monday's practice.

The reports from earlier this offseason were hardly glowing, as neither Forbath nor Barth instilled a ton of confidence in early workouts before training camp. As a result, it's nice to see both kickers off to a hot early start, though at this stage it's simply too early to call the competition. While the winner of the team's kicking duties should theoretically have some fantasy value backed by a Drew Brees-led offense, it's worth noting that the Saints' kicker production has ranked 28th, 26th, and 16th over the last three seasons.