Scobee is frustrated with his contract situation. (US PRESSWIRE) |
The Jaguars take special teams seriously. They franchised kicker Josh Scobee this spring and used a third-round pick (!) in April's draft on a punter. Perhaps these are the unintended consequences of an offense that looked like it predated the forward pass.
Scobee has yet to sign his $2.88 million franchise tender, and it appears that he has no plans to do so, at least in the coming weeks. He told the Florida Times-Union's Tania Ganguli that attending training camp isn't "an option," although he doesn't "want to miss games or anything like that."
Scobee's frustrations stem from the long-term deal he has yet to receive. In fact, Scobee says that talks broke off in April and the two sides haven't spoken since.
"It’s been a long, frustrating offseason for me," he said. "To get to sit back and not be at practice with my team and do things on my own, it’s been very weird to tell you the truth, I feel disconnected from my team in a sense, and anxious to see guys on the field and meet some of my new teammates."
In 2011, Scobee converted 92 percent of his field-goal attempts, didn't miss from inside 40 yards, and was 12 of 14 from 40 yards and beyond. There's a lot to like, especially when he was the Jags' second-best offensive weapon behind running back Maurice Jones-Drew (who, incidentally, is at home waiting for a long-term deal, too). And under the right terms, Jacksonville wants to lock Scobee up for the next few years.
But here's the problem for Scobee: kickers are notoriously inconsistent from one season to the next, and that lessens any leverage he may have had.
In a 2008 article for ESPN.com, Aaron Schatz examined every kicker form 1999 to 2006 and found that "there is absolutely no correlation between a kicker's field goal percentage one year and his field goal percentage the next. This is just as true for a future Hall of Famer as it is for a scrub signed off the waiver wire."
Scobee, it turns out, is no different. Before his 92 percent conversion rate in 2011, he managed to make just 77 percent of his kicks in 2010 and 64 percent the season before that. In fact, he has converted at least 80 percent of his field-goal attempts in just three of his eight NFL seasons.
Schatz did note that kickers were consistent in one area year-in and year-out: kickoff distances, a feat that isn't as impressive now that kickoffs have been moved up five yards to the 35-yard line and regularly end up as touchbacks.
We suspect the two sides will find middle ground; Scobee doesn't sound like he'll miss the season over the current impasse, and Jags general manager Gene Smith noted recently that "I anticipate (Scobee) kicking for us this season and hopefully that's the case in the future."
And that means that Jacksonville will likely have the man responsible for 40 percent of their points on the field in 2012. Now they just need to find a way to convince MJD, the guy responsible for the other 60 percent, to show up.
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