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PK Lawrence Tynes, New York Giants
HT: 6-1, WT: 202, Born: 5-3-1978, College: Troy State, Drafted: ---
2008 Projections
Best Case
Tynes has the range to hit longer field goals, having hit two from 50+ yards in each of his three years in the NFL. Tynes is persistent. He'd been in the Chiefs training camps seemingly forever, but never made the final cut. Finally in 2004, the NFL Europe and CFL veteran beat out legendary Morten Andersen.
Worst Case
Shortly after the 2004 season, Jets head coach Herm Edwards iterated that the team would stick with kicker Doug Brien, despite his missed field goals in the playoffs. They subsequently were the first team to draft a kicker (Mike Nugent) in that year's draft. Shortly after the 2006 season, Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards iterated that Lawrence Tynes is a "fine kicker", despite his missed field goal in the playoffs. They subsequently were the first team to draft a kicker (Justin Medlock) in this year's draft. Tynes was traded several weeks later to the Giants. Hitting the upright from 23 yards out in the Wildcard game, capped off three years of adequate, but inconsistent kicking (especially in critical situations). His career average on field goals is 78.2%. He's missed at least one PAT each year. Despite the fact kickoffs factored into his winning the job over Andersen in 2004, Tynes still needs work in this area. In his first year he had good distance and seven touchbacks on kickoffs during the first eight games, but decreasing distance and no touchbacks in the second half of the year. In 2005 his distance fluctuated from game to game, and ended with a 60.8 yard average. He had only two touchbacks, both within the first four weeks. Last year saw a little improvement, to 62.2 yards with five touchbacks.
Outlook
The Giants willingly let Jay Feely depart via free agency, and initially looked for a replacement in two young kickers with no NFL experience, Josh Huston and Marc Hickok. The Giants traded a conditional pick for Lawrence Tynes several weeks after this year's draft, and subsequently release Hickok. Whoever wins the job, will be kicking for a Giants' team that hasn't scored very many kicking points recently other than one year. In 2005 they finished second in kicker scoring. That was their first and only top ten finish since the 1980's. This year they will have a newly promoted offensive coordinator and a new special teams coordinator. The offensive line will see some changes, including the ever important left tackle position. Limited scoring opportunities do not bode well for any kicker, and neither Tynes nor Huston would likely be high percentage kickers.
