APTeams are drawing a line after the 75th player on their roster on Monday and it appears that Neil Rackers has wound up on the wrong side of it.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the veteran kicker has been cut loose by the Redskins, which means that Graham Gano was able to hold off a training camp challenge to his job in Washington. Rackers signed with the Redskins in April and was given a good chance of winning the job at that point in time, but Gano showed the Redskins staff something more to their liking.
Rackers missed one of the two field goals he tried in the preseason, which is two more attempts than Gano received in the first three games. Gano got touchbacks on 2-of-6 kickoffs while Rackers had one in four tries, but it doesn’t seem like games separated the two kickers all that much. Gano’s younger leg and/or Rackers not making it clear he was the better choice likely played a role in this one.
The Redskins could still look to replace Gano before the start of the season as other kickers shake loose in the coming days. Rackers could also get a look elsewhere, perhaps back in Houston where Rackers’ presumed replacement — fifth-round pick Randy Bullock — was placed on injured reserve over the weekend.
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I have faith in Gano. Ultimately it’s up to him to stay in the league…he has all the tools and we can’t make the David Akers mistake of letting a good talent get away because of little patience.
Gano has done well every preseason. When the games actually matter he chokes badly. Wasn’t he the worst ranked kicker last season. Foolish mistake releasing Rackers.
Skins should bring in Billy Cundiff, that’ll be real competition for Ga-NOOOOOO
Gano had 5 kicks blocked last year & there is evidence that every single one was due to blocking assignments… so take away 5 of his misses from last season, and he was 31 of 36 with 6 from 50+ yards with a long of 59… yeah, we’ll take that.
Neil will end up somewhere whenever somebody’s kicker gets hurt or is ineffective. He still has some left in him.
I don’t think I’ve ever watched a Redskins game where Gano didn’t miss at least one kick. How this guy continues to have a job is beyond me!