The Tennessee Titans will be in the market for a kicker this offseason after the team cut veteran kicker Randy Bullock recently, and one very intriguing name has now become a potential option for Tennessee.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, San Francisco 49ers kicker Robbie Gould has made it clear he will not only test free agency, but will play elsewhere in 2023.
Of course, the Titans’ need for a kicker makes him a candidate by default, but there’s more than one reason to believe he could end up in Nashville.
Gould spent six seasons with the Niners, first coming aboard in 2017, which just so happens to be the year new Titans general manager Ran Carthon began his stint in San Fran.
Both spent all six of their years there together, so they should be familiar with one another.
Veteran kicker Robbie Gould said today that, as much as he enjoyed his last six seasons in San Francisco, he will test free agency later this month and be kicking elsewhere in 2023.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 4, 2023
Tennessee let Bullock go because of his lack of leg strength, which limited the team to shorter field goals, potentially taking points off the board.
The Titans have Caleb Shudak on the roster and he has a bigger leg than Bullock, but he lacks the experience to trust him as the starter.
Gould is the best kicker on the market and checks all the boxes, so it goes without saying the Titans should be interested.
He has the leg to make longer field goals and is as consistent as they come, with his 84.4 percent success rate on field goals ranking eighth in NFL history.
The only real concern is Gould’s age, as he just turned 40, but he is coming off a good season, so there’s no indication he’s on the down side just yet.
“I’m nowhere near retiring,” Gould said back in January. “I got a lot left to do from a career perspective — No. 1 being winning a Super Bowl. And, two, I’m pretty close to a lot of milestones I think would be pretty neat to be able to accomplish.”
Gould’s last contract paid him $7.25 million over two years, which worked out to an average of $3.625 million, which is about $1 million more than what Tennessee was going to pay Bullock this season.
If there’s mutual interest and the Titans are planning on competing this year and can make it work with their tight salary cap situation, Carthon should definitely bring Gould aboard.
