Los Angeles Chargers: Drafting a kicker should be considered

The Los Angeles Chargers enter 2018 with a deep, talented roster. However, the lack of a good kicker has haunted the entire team.

Football is a game of inches and sometimes the most sure-fire things can go wrong and cost your team a playoff appearance. The same things the fans take for granted; the ones that seem to be guaranteed. Realistically speaking, the Los Angeles Chargers missed the postseason on two haywire kicks to start the season.

In week one the sluggish Los Angeles Chargers stormed back from a 24-7 deficit to set rookie kicker Younghoe Koo up for a game-tying, 44-yard field goal. Koo nailed the kick to send the Chargers to overtime. What an entrance.

The whistles blew, the kick was iced. Rookie head coach Vance Joseph went with the biggest 50/50 call in football. In this instance, it worked in his favor. The Broncos blocked the Chargers kick to send them home with a loss. While anything could have happened in overtime, the Chargers had the momentum.

One week later Koo had a chance at redemption. While the first week was not his fault, Koo missed a field goal in the second quarter that would have given the Chargers a 10-point lead. With nine seconds left Koo had a shot at year another 44-yard field goal.

Shanked.

One more win and the Chargers would have been a Wild Card team, two more wins and they would have won the AFC West; who knows what would have happened from there?

The first two weeks served as the perfect appetizer to the rest of the Chargers season which saw four different legs attempt a field goal, five different legs attempt an extra-point, 10 missed field goals and five missed extra points. The Chargers had the worst field goal percentage in the league and it wasn’t even close.

It is apparent that the Los Angeles Chargers need a new kicker. They should not neglect the draft as an outlet to get one.

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The Chargers have already been busy in trying to sum up their kicking game. Los Angeles signed second-round pick Roberto Aguayo. However, Aguayo is not necessarily someone to rave about as he was cut from the Buccaneers before the season started and made just 71% of his kicks the year prior.

Aguayo does have a cannon of a leg and could turn into a solid NFL kicker with the right practice, but that is not something to bank on. Sure, there are options such as Graham Gano in free agency, but I suggest the Chargers go the way of the 2018 NFL Draft.

There are two guys, in particular, that make a draft pick worth it. They are ranked first and second on Walter Football’s list of kickers. They probably will be the only kickers selected this year.

First, there is Daniel Carlson, who Walter Football ranks as the best option in the draft. Carlson did not have the best year last season (making 21 of 28) but shows that he has the ability to nail long field goals with ease. Carlson nailed four field goals of over 50 yards this season and the year prior was perfect six for six from 40-49 yards.

The other option is Florida’s Eddy Pinero. Pinero does not share the same six-foot-four frame as Carlson, but can still knock kicks in from miles away. Pinero’s accuracy was better, making 17 of 18, netting one field goal of exactly 50 yards. In his two season’s with Florida, Pinero became the most accurate kicker in school history.

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Those two guys are great and they certainly should not be ignored in the draft. The Los Angeles Chargers already have so much talent elsewhere; a sixth-round pick to compete for the starting kicking job can be justified.

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