According to EPSN, the Buffalo Bills have decided to part ways with kicker Dan Carpenter. Carpenter, who played 4 seasons with the team, never seemed to fully recover from a groin injury in 2015. His 2016 season was not a good performance for him, which made the decision to cut him a no-brainer.
Missed extra points
The 2015 extra point rule that moved the extra point attempt to the 15- yard line, which is a 33- yard attempt, seemed to curse the special teams player. He missed 6 points last season and 5 points in 2015. With games in the NFL often decided by a field goal, the misses added up for Buffalo that had an unreliable defense at times.
Bills fans were frustrated with Carpenter's inconsistency. However, nobody was as frustrated as Dan himself. During the last game with the Jets in 2016, he smashed his helmet on the turf after missing an extra point. The helmet sprung back up and whacked him hard in the face, which just added to his agony.
Shanked field goals
Once a consistent kicker, this was not his story this past season. Carpenter’s field goals took a big dive. He only made 4 out of 9 field goal attempts in the 40 to 49-yard range this last season. In his first two seasons with the Bills, he only missed 6 field goals. Carpenter was Buffalo’s top scorers in those years when Kyle Orton and E.J. Manuel struggled to get red zones touchdowns.
The Sherman skirmish
The kicker’s defining moment in 2016 did not come from a kick, but rather when the Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman jumped offside and plowed into Carpenter during a Monday Night game. What should have been a roughing the kicker penalty on Sherman turned into a ridiculous delay of game call on the Bills.
Carpenter’s wife gave it to Sherman on social media by calling him an animal. The incident blew over, but the hit sure didn’t help Carpenter, a guy already struggling to make kicks and prove that he deserved to stay on the Bills.
With only punter Colton Schmidt on the roster, the Bills will need to sign another kicker.
Good luck to you, Carpenter.
