Buccaneers 5th round pick Kicker Matt Gay has been impressive during minicamp.
Bucs rookie Matt Gay looked good in kicking period today, hitting one long attempt from 50-plus. Cairo Santos had two misses, with officials on hand to signal whether kicks are good or not …
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) June 5, 2019
This is great news for the Buccaneers as kicking has seemed to be something they can’t get right. Multiple free agent kickers have been run through One Buc Place like a casting call for Game of Thrones.
Enter 2019 5th round draft pick Matt Gay (K).
Gay has from all reports been money during OTAs & minicamp. That’s encouraging, but the Buccaneers have been encouraged about a kicker before.
So what is the difference this time? How is Gay a better draft pick than Roberto Aguayo?
The “fuzzy math” that is draft capital says Gay is a better selection if for nothing else the Buccaneers only spent one draft pick on him. A mid-late round pick at that, instead of 2 early-mid round picks like those spent on Aguayo. When you add in Gay being in an actual kicking competition with incumbent Cairo Santos (and not just awarding him the job like they did Aguayo), it answers the question of how the drafting of Gay is different from the drafting of Aguayo.
In answering is the “How is Gay a better draft pick than Aguayo,” that answer will have to wait until the team and its kicker actually play some games.
