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Jaguars long-running soap opera with kickers continues with lawsuit against Brandon McManus
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- Jaguars long-running soap opera with kickers continues with lawsuit against Brandon McManus
A former Jacksonville Jaguars kicker is getting sued, and the team along with him.
Another former kicker's lawsuit against the Jaguars is still open.
And for the third season in a row, the Jaguars will not start with the kicker who finished the previous season.
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On the field and in courts of law, the Jaguars' kicking situation has been a soap opera since early 2020. Nine players have attempted kicks in regular-season games since then and five others have gotten turns during preseason games.
Gone are the peaceful, serene days when one guy held down the job for years at a time. Josh Scobee was the kicker for 11 years. Mike Hollis for seven, which means only two kickers were needed for 18 of the first 20 years of the team's existence.
There was a brief interlude in 2002 and 2003 when six kickers were tried. But Scobee was drafted in the fifth round in 2004 and the Jags were set for more than a decade.
No more. After Scobee was abruptly traded to Pittsburgh on Aug. 31, 2015 by former general manager Dave Caldwell, Jason Myers kicked for two years, then lost his job to Josh Lambo in 2017. Lambo was the NFL's most accurate kicker for over three seasons and appeared headed for a long and fruitful career.
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Lambo then hurt his hip in week two of the 2020 season, and it's been a revolving door ever since.
Lawsuit rocks Jaguars
Jaguars place kicker Brandon McManus (10) kicks a field goal against the Carolina Panthers in a December game.
The Jaguars were stunned earlier this week with the revelation that two unidentified women who worked as attendants on the team's charter flight to London last season were suing former kicker Brandon McManus for sexual misconduct and suing the team for "failing to supervise McManus and failing to create a safe environment for staff serving the team."
The legal process will play itself out and until then, the Jaguars were resting on a statement that concluded "It bears emphasizing that we insist on an organization built by people who represent our community and game with the highest character and class."
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McManus wasn't figuring in the team's plans long before that. They made the decision over the winter not to resign him, a combination of inconsistency last year and a fat contract they wanted to unload.
But it was still another act in the bizarre saga of Jaguars kickers.
Lambo's hip injury began the spiral
Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo (4) reacts after missing an extra point against the Cardinals in September 2021.
It began when Lambo, who had made 94.8 percent of his field goal attempts and never missed one at home entering the 2020 season, injured his hip at Tennessee in a week two loss. He reinjured it later in the season and attempted only five field goals, making them all.
Former Jags coach Doug Marrone tried five kickers that season. The list included a converted punter ( Brandon Wright ), a veteran who spent his first two days with the team on the injury report and missed a 24-yard attempt in his first game ( Stephen Hauschka ) and a player who had never attempted a field goal in college or the NFL ( Jon Brown ).
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But kicking was far from the only problem in the 1-15 season.
Lambo returned in 2021 for new coach Urban Meyer but missed two field-goal attempts between 40-49 yards in the preseason (he made four) and Meyer grumbled in front of the media after the final preseason game that Lambo "needs to make a damn kick."
Lambo said Meyer took that to another level early that season. After missing his first three attempts, Lambo claimed Meyer kicked him in a practice when Lambo was stretching and berated him for his misses in choice language.
Meyer brought in Matthew Wright, who made 21 of 24 attempts and booted the game-winner against Miami in London for Meyer's first victory as the Jaguars' coach. Lambo was cut after that and two months later, told a Tampa sportswriter of the kicking incident.
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Meyer was fired the next day.
Lambo sued Meyer and the Jaguars in May of 2022 for "creating a hostile work environment." Circuit court Judge G.L. Feltel Jr. dismissed the suit on Nov. 16 but allowed Lambo to refile, which he did on Nov. 30. The case remains open.
Pederson auditioned a half-dozen kickers
James McCourt warms up during team workouts in 2023. McCourt was among multiple kickers to receive a look from the Jaguars during that preseason.
When Doug Pederson took over in 2022, Wright was waived and another search was on.
Five kickers worked out for the Jaguars in the preseason. One, James McCourt, never missed a kick in practice and one preseason game in 15 attempts. Another, 6-foot-5, 260-pound Ryan Santoso , was with his eighth professional team.
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Then there was Andrew Mevis , who hooked an attempt in practice so badly he hit former Dallas Cowboys coach Dave Campo on the shoulder, who was standing well to the left of the goalposts.
The Jaguars ditched all of them and signed Riley Patterson. After a decent start, Patterson made only one of three field-goal attempts against Kansas City, then rebounded to make 16 of his last 17 attempts, including the biggest kick for the Jags in years, a 36-yard field goal on the final play to cap the comeback from a 27-point deficit against the Los Angeles Chargers in a wild-card playoff game for a 30-28 victory.
Jaguars coveted McManus' big leg
But much like a golfer who hits a lot of fairways and greens but is always searching for more distance, Pederson and general manager Trent Baalke jumped at the chance to sign McManus to a free-agent contract.
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McManus was one of only three NFL kickers to make two field goals of 56 yards or longer in one game. When he came to the Jaguars he was fifth among active NFL kickers in points. He also had a huge leg on kickoffs and the Jaguars had tired of Patterson's inability to reach the end zone (his kickoffs produced touchbacks 50 percent of the time).
In most ways, McManus delivered. More than 75 percent of his kickoffs were touchbacks. He made 23 of his first 25 field-goal attempts and four were 51 yards or longer. He didn't miss a conversion in 35 attempts.
But McManus made only seven of his last 12 attempts and one of the misses was a turning point in the season, a 48-yard attempt with 5:25 left in a home game against Cincinnati on Monday night. The Bengals went on to win in overtime, the first of five losses in six games that denied the Jags a playoff spot.
Pederson said the decision to not re-sign McManus came down to performance and a contact (he got paid $2.35 million for the season), and the team had no knowledge of the alleged incidents on the team flight at the time they parted ways.
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McManus signed with the Washington Commanders , the Jaguars signed Patterson on a reserve/future contract on Feb. 6 and then drafted Arkansas' Cam Little in the sixth round.
Pederson praises kickers in OTAs
Jaguars kicker Cam Little (39) takes a football during rookie minicamp in May.
Pederson, while noting May is not the time kickers win or lose jobs, said Little and Patterson are both performing well.
"We are giving them equal opportunity on the field," he said on Tuesday. "When we have kicking days they're getting equal shots, whether it's the field goals or kickoffs. Again, yes, it's competition, but at the same time, we're getting everybody some work and seeing where they are. Both guys have done a great job. Cam, obviously we're still learning him and what he can do, but he's got some leg talent. So does Riley. It'll be interesting in camp to see where it plays out."
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Pederson said Patterson has continued to show the accuracy that has resulted in a career 88.1 percent (59 of 67). But the team drafted Little for a reason. He made 53 of 64 career field-goal attempts for the Razorbacks (82.8), made four of five from 50 yards or longer last season and didn't miss a conversion in 129 attempts.
"Not so worried about it in May," Pederson said. "In September and October [it] becomes an issue. He's doing a nice job."
But if Little wins the job, he will be kicker No. 10 to play in a regular-season game for the Jags since Lambo's 2020 injury.
Scobee calls for specialized coaching
If it seems as if the last four Jaguars coaches have been impatient with kickers, Scobee said it's not unique to the NFL.
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He also said it might be understandable, given the quality of kickers over the past decade.
When Scobee had his best full season in 2011, making 92 percent of his field-goal attempts, he was one of four NFL kickers to touch 90 percent. Last year, there were 11.
"I think coaches get impatient with kickers because of how good they've gotten over the years," Scobee told the Times-Union. "Their accuracy is so good, their power is so good that if you're not making at least 85 percent, you're probably going to get fired. The expectations are so high that a guy like Riley Patterson can have the season he had [in 2022] and get traded."
Scobee also speculated that kickers would benefit from more specialized coaching. He cited Baltimore 's Randy Brown as an example.
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"The work he's done with Justin Tucker speaks for itself," Scobee said.
Scobee also praised Steve Hoffman, now with Atlanta , a former punter who has coached kickers Jay Feely , Ryan Succop and Sebastian Janikowski .
"I worked with some good special teams coaches in 12 years in the NFL, but none of them knew a lot of kicking and punting," Scobee said. "I think with the demands coaches are putting on kickers, they should think about getting guys on their staff who know what it's like to kick."
Perhaps Little will win the job for the Jaguars and embark on a long career. Maybe Patterson will step in with his proven accuracy if the rookie falters.
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Either way, the Jaguars will have a new kicker for the 2024 season.
The only issue is how long will it last?
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Suit against Brandon McManus, Jaguars continues kicking controversies
