Getty Zane Gonzalez lines up a kick in 2019.
The Detroit Lions are having an open competition at kicker, and another new name has been added to the mix to perhaps help in solidifying things for the future.
On Tuesday, August 10, it was revealed that the Lions would be signing veteran kicker Zane Gonzalez to a one-year deal. The news was first broken by Gonzalez’s agent Mike McCartney on Twitter.
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Here’s a look at Mccartney’s tweet:
Congrats @ZGonzalez_5 agreeing to a 1 year contract with the @Lions
The Lions revealed the news quickly after, and added they were swapping out Matthew Wright for Gonzalez.
#Lions have signed free agent K Zane Gonzalez and waived K Matthew Wright.
For the Lions to make this move, the team was obviously unhappy with Wright and wanted to give Gonzalez a fair chance to win a crack at the job.
Gonzalez’s Stats and Highlights
Gonzalez has been in the league since 2017, and is a relatively young option for the team to rely on. He was a 2017 seventh-round pick of the Cleveland Browns out of Arizona State, and kicked there for two seasons before being released. Gonzalez signed with the Arizona Cardinals where he kicked from 2018 to 2020 before being released in 2021 following the team signing Matt Prater.
In his career, Gonzalez is 71-91 and has a long field goal of 56 yards. He’s converted 78% of his kicks in the league, and has youth on his side at 26. He was the winner of the Lou Groza award for top kicker in college.
Here’s a look at some highlights from college of Gonzalez:
Why would such a kicker be on the market? Gonzalez has had his share of issues and misses in the NFL which has cost him in two stops. The Lions have to hope they can get it right.
Lions Kickers Struggled at Ford Field
Everyone knew shifting from stud Matt Prater to a pair of unknowns in Randy Bullock and Matthew Wright would be a tough proposition, but the early returns from the newcomers in the kicking competition might be looking even worse than thought, which likely led to Wright’s release.
During Detroit’s practice at Ford Field on Saturday, August 7, the new kickers were given ample opportunity to prove themselves. The problem? Nobody distinguished themselves at the position during the afternoon, with both Matthew Wright and Randy Bullock struggling with consistency.
Chris Burke of The Athletic and Justin Rogers of the Detroit News were there, and witnessed some of the struggles. As Burke said, the misses weren’t that close. Rogers admitted that the 45 yard threshold could be a problem for the Lions.
Randy Bullock and Matthew Wright are a combined 0-4 for around 53 yards. Bullock just hooked one wide left; Wright came up short.
Kicks beyond 45 yards might be a problem, guys.
That will be a worrying fact for Lions fans considering Prater was one of the strongest legged and accurate kickers in the league. Typically, he was a very sure bet from 45 yards and out. Going back to struggles from that distance will harken memories of when the Lions attempted to replace Jason Hanson with Nate Freese and David Akers. Neither player was good, and Detroit was lucky they were able to nab Prater soon after on the free agency market.
Gonzalez will come to the mix and try to help things out, and he has his work cut out for him after the early goings on in Allen Park.
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