Wednesday, November 29th, 2006...12:01 am by Lee Gibbons
Skins To Sign Suisham
Jump to Comments
Nick Novak is about to get some competition. The Redskins are going to sign Shaun Suisham to the practice squad tomorrow and then evaluate him during the week. Suisham could end up being cut, used as a kick-off specialist or take Novak’s job as a full time kicker. Suisham, like Novak, is a young inexperienced guy trying to establish himself as an NFL kicker. He does have a stronger leg than Novak, but he doesn’t inspire that much confidence.
They also have stated they have no interest in Mike Vanderjagt.
3 Comments
November 29th, 2006 at 4:21 pm
To be honest, I’m torn on Vanderjagt and Novak.
Vanderjagt could be a short term answer… but he might not be cheap enough for the Redskins to afford next year to keep him (remember that they may have massive Cap problems because of Archuleta and Brunnell).
On the other hand, Novak is young, cheap, and has a LOT of potential as a PK; he needs to work on kickoffs, and keep his head down, but he has the makings to be one of those guys who can be in the league for years.
Is it worth, then, passing up a GREAT kicker who’s currently in a (for him) slump (but is still kicking, overall, fair), for a guy who may cost the Redskins a game down the line, but could develop into a very good kicker, when the money could be used on (potentially) resigning either Betts or Duckett? Is it worth throwing Novak under the train for a bandaid for THIS season with Vanderjagt if you can’t keep him? If we were 7-4, maybe… but at 4-7?
November 29th, 2006 at 5:00 pm
We need a guy who can kick off into the opposing end zone (instead of the 10-15 yard line). Time and time again, kickoffs are pathetic, and the other teams playing us run out to the 25, 30, 35 yd. line (sometimes more) because of those bad kickoffs. If we limited those yards, we probably would have a better chance of winning more often. Many of our games are so close; we need to fix that problem right damn now.
November 30th, 2006 at 7:13 am
The kickoffs are an issue with both Vanderjagt and Novak. Both have flimsy legs. I just don’t see it with Novak. If he had a strong leg, I could see holding onto him for his potential. But if you have a guy who can’t kickoff past the 10, unless he’s hitting every FG (aka Gary Anderson back in the day), I don’t see the point.
At least Suisham has a good leg, give him a shot.