If you plan on telling Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht he screwed up by drafting a kicker in the second round, hold your breath. It turns out he’s well aware.
The Bucs released kicker Roberto Aguayo on Saturday, just over a year after the team traded up to take him 59th overall in the 2016 NFL Draft, making the Florida State product the highest kicker taken since Mike Nugent in 2005.
Aguayo’s release obviously opened Tampa Bay up to even more criticism, but it appears Licht is facing the music. In an interview with the MMQB’s Peter King, the Bucs GM took full responsibility for Aguayo’s flop.
“I’m owning up to it,” Licht told King. “I’m owning up to it by releasing him. It was a bold move and it didn’t work out. I don’t know what else to say. I know I have the support of my coach and my ownership.”
Licht also (quite candidly) explained his decision to take Aguayo so high in the draft.
“At the time, I was bound and determined to get the best kicker we possibly could,” he said. “I thought Roberto had the chance to be a special kicker in the league for a long time. That’s a position that had been a rough spot for us.”
“… Roberto is a great kid, but the magnitude of that position, and the pressure on a 21-year-old — his performance is affecting the lives of men who have families to support. That got tough.”
Aguayo missed nine field goals (22 for 31) and two extra points (32 for 34) as a rookie last season and struggled in his first preseason game this year, missing a field goal and an extra point. The 23-year-old managed to find new employment, though, as the Chicago Bears claimed him off waivers Sunday.
Thumbnail photo via Aaron Doster/USA TODAY Sports Images
