Jump to content

Justin Tucker, Michael Dickson, and Adrian Phillips all named to the NFL All Pro Team

Goo Punch

By Goo Punch
in Football

 Share

Recommended Posts

NowThis

NowThis 931

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Billy Pilgrim said:

If you would’ve told me that Adrian Phillips would have a long and decorated NFL career when he was bouncing off of sooners in the cotton Bowl I would’ve called you crazy. Congrats to him!!

true, damn long career.  Must have improve a lot in the league. Cool to have him REPRAZENTUN Texas!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 3 months later...
Huckleberry

Huckleberry 32710

Posted
Posted

Tucker just got paid.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/26594192/tucker-sets-kicker-records-4-year-extension

The Baltimore Ravens and kicker Justin Tucker have agreed to a four-year extension, it was announced Wednesday.

The extension makes him the highest-paid kicker in NFL history. The $23.05 million deal includes $12.5 million fully guaranteed in the first two years and an $8 million signing bonus, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

The total value of the extension, the guaranteed money and the signing bonus all set records for a kicker.

Tucker, the most accurate kicker in NFL history, had been scheduled to become a free agent at the end of the 2019 season. This deal keeps Tucker with the Ravens through the 2023 season.

The 29-year-old Tucker has put himself in a class by himself among kickers, converting 90.1 percent of his field-goal attempts. No other kicker has hit over 88 percent for a career.

Known for his strong leg and big personality, Tucker is the first kicker in league history to make at least 30 field goals in six consecutive seasons. Excluding blocked kicks, he hasn't missed a field goal from inside 50 yards since 2015.

He made 35 of his 39 field goal attempts last season, including five of 50 yards or longer, and finished with 141 points.

Tucker joined the Ravens as an undrafted free agent and tryout player in 2012. He beat out Billy Cundiff for the job and quickly established himself as one of the top kickers in the game.

He was named a first-team All-Pro for the third time last season, however Tucker has not made the Pro Bowl the past two seasons despite missing a combined five field goals in 2017 and 2018. In those seasons, Tucker is 62-for-67 for a 92.5 percent success rate.

Tucker has spent his entire seven-year NFL career with the Ravens, making 237 of his 263 attempts and missing only one PAT in 242 regular-season attempts for a total of 952 points.

With Tucker signed, other Ravens in line for extensions are outside linebacker Matthew Judon, inside linebacker Patrick Onwuasor and defensive tackle Michael Pierce.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...
WBT

WBT 20443

Posted
Posted (edited)

Good read in The Athletic on Tucker's signing with the Ravens

Spoiler

 

Migas, music and making field goals: How the Ravens discovered Justin Tucker hiding in plain sight

USATSI_11491832-e1555680304993-1024x673.jpg
By Jeff Zrebiec Jun 4, 2019comment-icon@2x.png 32 save-icon@2x.png

The coffee was flowing and the migas were as advertised, even though only one of the two men truly indulged. The Kerbey Lane Cafe was Justin Tucker’s choice as the meeting spot for a two-part job interview with Ravens special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg, who found it to be an ideal setting. Tucker passed the initial test.

It was when Rosburg, who was on a scouting trip to Austin, Texas, two days before the 2012 NFL Draft, asked a seemingly innocuous question, that Tucker felt he took his first misstep.

“What else are you into?” Rosburg asked.

Tucker brought up his love of music, but he didn’t stop there.

“I kind of overshared that me and Sergio Kindle, one of Coach Rosburg’s former special teams players, we were in a rap group together with another of our Texas teammates,” Tucker said. “I made beats, recorded all of our stuff, and we performed live a couple of times.

“I think he was caught a little off guard, like, ‘Oh man, here we go. We’ve got another character down here.’ But we had a great conversation and took it out to the field. I guess there’s a lot that’s happened between then and now. But, as they say, the rest is history, I suppose.”

Later that day, Rosburg put Tucker through a workout at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium that confirmed what the longtime special teams coach believed from watching film: Tucker had the tools to be a quality NFL kicker. The Ravens invited him to rookie minicamp and signed him to their roster two weeks later after Tucker ignored an opportunity to work out for their biggest rival.

All Tucker has done since is become arguably the best kicker in the league and inarguably the most accurate kicker in NFL history.

Now, everybody is trying to find the next Justin Tucker. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cleveland Browns both used fifth-round picks in this year’s draft on kickers. The Chicago Bears, whose kicking issues marred an otherwise strong 2018 season, brought in eight kickers for their rookie minicamp last month, and still have three on their roster. The Minnesota Vikings have had one of the most talented rosters in the league, but they’ve gone through four different kickers in the past three seasons.

A clutch and consistent kicker is a coveted commodity in a league in which the difference between winning and losing each Sunday is so small. The Ravens have one, and they found him where everybody was looking.

“I was hiding at the University of Texas … playing in front of 100,000 people for all of our home games,” Tucker joked.

Tucker wasn’t a finalist for the Lou Groza Award, given to the nation’s top collegiate placekicker. Not only did he not make the All-Big 12 first or second team, as voted on by conference coaches, he wasn’t among the nearly 75 players to garner honorable mention his senior season. Twelve specialists were invited to the 2012 NFL Scouting Combine, and Tucker, who kicked and punted for four years at one of college football’s most visible programs, wasn’t one of them.

The Bears and Dallas Cowboys worked out Tucker before the 2012 draft, but they were focused on his punting. Rosburg didn’t ask Tucker to punt once during their roughly 45-minute session.

“That was a good day. I remember everything about it,” Rosburg said. “It changed my life. It changed a lot of things. It’s one of the rewarding and fun things about this profession. You meet a lot of different people from different walks of life, and you never know when that moment might change some people’s lives.

“When Justin came in and signed his (recent) contract, we had a nice time. He said, ‘You know, you changed my life.’ And I said, ‘Justin, you changed mine too, man. This goes both ways.’ Mine wouldn’t be the same without him.”

The truth is, the Ravens have become a kicking factory. Four of the top 10 most accurate kickers in NFL history were with the team at some point, even if it was just for a training camp apprenticeship. Current front-line kickers Robbie Gould, Graham Gano, Stephen Hauschka and Wil Lutz all spent some time in Baltimore before establishing themselves as the top guy elsewhere. Bears general manager Ryan Pace, who’s spent all offseason answering questions about his team’s kicking situation, recently joked that one way to settle on one is to pick up whomever the Ravens let go at the end of training camp.

Rosburg, who worked with Morten Andersen in Atlanta, Phil Dawson in Cleveland and Matt Stover in Baltimore, certainly knows what to look for. So does Ravens coach John Harbaugh, a longtime special teams coach in Philadelphia. The Ravens have also been one of the few NFL teams to employ a kicking coach, and players and staff are quick to cite the impact Randy Brown has made.

When the 2011 season came to an abrupt and disappointing conclusion, and the Ravens began preparing for the 2012 draft, kicking was a hot-button topic. Billy Cundiff’s missed 32-yard field-goal attempt against the New England Patriots — one that could have sent the AFC Championship Game into overtime — was fresh in the Ravens’ minds. The organization supported Cundiff, who developed into a Pro Bowl kicker in Baltimore. It wasn’t necessarily looking to replace him, but Harbaugh craves summer competitions at every position, including kicker.

Rosburg had already done his homework on a draft-eligible kicker from Texas who seemed to be flying under the radar. Of all the kicking tape that crossed his desk ahead of the 2012 draft, Tucker’s stood out. Tucker connected on 83 percent of his field-goal attempts and made all 71 of his extra points for the Longhorns. But for Rosburg, it went beyond the numbers.

He liked how Tucker made flush contact with the ball. He was impressed by Tucker’s leg strength and how he had a consistent routine when he jogged onto the field. Tucker’s penchant for making clutch kicks stood out — most notably the late game-winner to beat rival Texas A&M.

“There was never a question in my mind, at any time, that if we had to kick a field goal to win the game, we were going to win it,” said Mack Brown, Tucker’s college coach who is now at North Carolina.

Still, there curiously was little buzz about Tucker. Brown said he received some calls from interested NFL teams, but scouts and special teams coaches weren’t wearing out the path to Austin to see a kicker. Every NFL team was represented at the Longhorns’ pro day although most of the scouts and coaches had headed home by the time the kicking phase rolled around at the workout’s conclusion.

Rosburg wasn’t worried that other NFL special teams coaches didn’t seem to share his opinion of Tucker. He was more focused on concealing his interest. He talked up Tucker in organizational pre-draft meetings, albeit admitting to Ravens executives that he hadn’t even worked him out yet, but that was by design. Rosburg worried that if other teams caught wind of the Ravens’ interest, they might start sniffing around Tucker as well.

Rosburg promised Tucker’s agent, Rob Roche, that he was interested in the kicker and he would head to Austin before the draft to get a closer look. With the draft nearing, there was no sign of Rosburg yet.

“I just kept telling Rob, ‘I’ll be there. I’ll be there,’” Rosburg said.

The draft was little more than 48 hours away when Rosburg touched down in Texas. He contacted Tucker to finalize the details and get the location for their meeting the next day.

“This was some corporate kind of stuff that I’m not familiar with,” Tucker said. “I picked this place, the Kerbey Lane Cafe. I was like. ‘Well, you can get good migas, breakfast burritos, pancakes.’ This is a super, solid breakfast place and they’ve got this queso that you can put on everything. It just makes it a million times better.”

For Rosburg, the interview before the workout is an essential part of the evaluation process. Kickers and other specialists operate in their own universe in the NFL. They decide games regularly, yet spend much of the week working with the long snapper and holder on an adjacent field away from the rest of their teammates. The role requires a tremendous amount of confidence, discipline and attention to detail. Those qualities can reveal themselves in getting-to-know-you meetings.

Tucker was nervous, and while he recommended the migas — a mix of scrambled eggs, tortillas, pico de gallo and cheese — with the Kerbey queso, Rosburg observed that he wasn’t eating much. Tucker didn’t want to be weighed down for the workout. Rosburg had no such concerns.

“I finished my breakfast, I can assure you,” Rosburg said.

They hit on pretty much everything. Rosburg asked Tucker about his experiences as a wide receiver and safety at Westlake High in Texas, the same school that produced Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks Drew Brees and Nick Foles; and about his time kicking and punting at Texas. They talked about football and family. The conversation even shifted to Tucker’s dog at one point.

“It went on and on,” Rosburg said. “I asked a lot of questions, all within the boundaries, and he took it from there. It was just getting to know him and you set the table. Justin was willing to expand. I was into my third or fourth cup of coffee by then. There’s a lot to talk about when you first meet someone, and my interest level was high.”

Rosburg noticed Tucker getting particularly animated when he discussed his love of the arts. Tucker was a music major at Texas, and he can sing opera in seven different languages. At Texas’ freshman day, Tucker started singing opera in front of his teammates and then quickly transitioned into a rap song.

“He had the entire room standing up, screaming and laughing,” Brown said. “That’s Justin. He was just so confident in everything he did.”

While Tucker wondered if he had blown the interview by mentioning his participation in a local rap group, which included Kindle — a Ravens’ second-round pick in 2010 who played three total games in parts of three seasons with the team — Rosburg quietly loved it.

“His background, his competitiveness, for lack of a better word, his showmanship. When he’s telling me about his work as a performer, those are things that are powerful for me,” Rosburg said. “Here’s a confident guy, and that’s been a big thing for Justin. He loves those moments. He just loves them.”

The on-field workout also got off to a good start. Rosburg found a parking garage across from the stadium. That’s always a plus for NFL coaches and scouts who annually collect parking tickets in the spring when visiting college campuses to work out players.

Rosburg and Tucker, along with a fresh set of NFL kicking balls, had the cavernous stadium mostly to themselves. It was under renovation and there were some construction workers perched atop scaffolding that started in the lower level and extended to the upper deck. Rosburg snapped a picture of the workers high up in the stadium and texted it to his children with a reminder of the value of hard work.

Rosburg’s general philosophy at workouts is to evaluate, not coach. He wants kickers to be comfortable, so he encourages them to stick to their warmup and their routine. He might provide a tip here or there to measure a prospect’s ability to adapt, but he doesn’t want to put too many thoughts in player’s head.

Rosburg had Tucker kick field goals from various distances and spots on the field in addition to kickoffs, onside kicks and other specialty kicks. They simulated game situations with Tucker running in from the sideline, going through his pre-kick routine before kicking field goals. Rosburg served as the holder for part of the workout, because it allowed him to get a feel for the tempo and how the ball came off Tucker’s foot.

“I think one of the things that he was looking at was: Do I have a routine? So many college guys don’t really have one. They just kind of swing at the ball and hope for the best,” Tucker said. “It was important to me because I watched great kickers before me at Texas. They all had a routine. They had a plan. That was something I developed, even more, when I got here. As we know, he’s a detail guy. At the end of the day, the most important thing is making kicks and striking the ball well, but there’s a lot that goes into it. I think he wanted to see all that as well.”

Tucker doesn’t remember the percentage of kicks that he made during the workout. What mattered was, it was enough to get a look from the Ravens.

A hard-driving coach and not easily impressed, Rosburg’s belief in Tucker was strengthened. He noticed some fundamental areas where Tucker needed to improve, but those could be coached. What couldn’t be was leg speed and strength and unflappable confidence and belief. Tucker had those things covered.

After the workout concluded, Rosburg called Roche.

“He said, ‘Rob, I really liked him, but don’t tell anybody,’” Roche recalled. “In this business, all it takes is one team to fall in love with you.”

Brown annually advised his kickers and punters at Texas not to get their hopes up about getting drafted. That’s just how the league works. “You don’t walk into a draft room thinking about what punter or kicker you’re going to draft,” he said.

Tucker still felt he’d be selected. Four kickers were drafted in 2012 with Texas A&M’s Randy Bullock (Houston Texans) going in the fifth round, Missouri Western State’s Greg Zuerlein (St. Louis Rams) and Georgia’s Blair Walsh (Vikings) selected in the sixth, and Western Michigan’s John Potter (Buffalo Bills) chosen in the seventh. It was the most kickers selected since four were also drafted in 1993. Tucker’s name was never called.

A Texas native, Tucker had grown up dreaming of playing for the Dallas Cowboys. He garnered interest from them and the Bears but decided that if he went undrafted and had the choice, he was headed to Baltimore. He felt he’d have a better opportunity there to make the team, given the uncertainty with Cundiff. Also, with Rosburg and Brown on Harbaugh’s staff, it was a great spot to be for a kicker either way.

“It was a business decision at that point,” Roche said. “The bottom line was if he kicked well for Baltimore and didn’t make the team, he could have gone somewhere else and kicked.”

The Ravens had a full undrafted free-agent class, so Tucker came to the team’s rookie minicamp the week after the draft on a tryout basis, with the understanding that he’d be signed if he kicked well.

“The very first kick was just … for me, it was like, ‘Wow, he’s pretty good. Where’d we find this guy?’” Harbaugh said.

The Ravens nearly squandered their good fortune. They didn’t immediately sign Tucker, even though they made it clear they wanted to after the minicamp. Neither side seems to know — or at least wants to share — what caused the holdup. Tucker said that he still had to get full medical clearance by the team and he couldn’t immediately following the rookie minicamp, because it was Mother’s Day and doctors whom he needed to see were off. There was also the matter of the Ravens creating roster space for him.

Whatever the reason, Tucker waited two weeks before the Ravens signed him.

“I’m a humble special teams coach, but ultimately, the gap was far too long for my comfort,” Rosburg said. “There shouldn’t have been a gap in the first place. I just didn’t want it to spill out anywhere else. We’ve got to get this guy. ”

As he waited for the Ravens to extend him a contract offer, the Pittsburgh Steelers, who had undoubtedly heard about Tucker’s successful audition at Baltimore’s rookie minicamp, called the kicker and offered him an opportunity to work out for them.

“For some reason, like some sort of knucklehead, I told the guy, ‘Let’s pump the breaks, because I need to see this other opportunity through to the end,’” Tucker recalled. “A couple of days go by, and I don’t hear anything. I don’t hear anything from the Steelers. I don’t hear anything from the Ravens. I was kind of taking a pretty big risk. I trusted Coach Rosburg. I didn’t necessarily have some crazy compelling reason to. It just felt right. I just felt like this is a guy who I should trust. A couple of weeks go by; I finally get the call.”

On May 29, 2012, the Ravens signed Tucker to their 90-man roster, releasing a receiver named Phillip Livas to make room. Buoyed by Randy Brown tweaking his alignment and approach during training camp, Tucker won a spirited battle with Cundiff. Rosburg said his mind was officially made up when Tucker bested Cundiff in a kickoff competition late in training camp.

Tucker went on to make 30 of his 33 field-goal attempts as a rookie, including all four from 50-plus yards. His 38-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLVII was pivotal in the Ravens holding off the San Francisco 49ers to win their second championship, 34-31.

In seven seasons, Tucker has made 237 of his 263 field-goal attempts, the 90.1 percent conversion rate nearly 2.5 points better than any other kicker in NFL history.

The Ravens signed Tucker to a four year, $23.05 million extension in late-April, making him the highest-paid kicker in the league for the second time. Before the news conference began, Tucker and Rosburg, who recently announced his retirement, reminisced about that day back in Texas, where their highly successful professional relationship was born.

Tucker admits to wondering what would’ve become of his career had Rosburg not journeyed to Texas to meet with him and work him out.

“I remember Kerbey queso, and everything else from that day is a blur,” Tucker said. “Except for making kicks.”

 

Edited by WBT
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing


Football ... Basketball ... Baseball ... Other Sports ... Futbol ... 🤫995🤫 ... Gambling ... Movies & TV ... Music ... Hobbies ... Lulz ... Food & Travel ... Daily Texan ... Business and Markets ... Cloak Room ... Help ... For Sale ... Board Discussion ... Subscribe!... Donate!... Advertise... COOKIE MONSTER!

×
×
  • Create New...