National Football League

Why Bucs replaced Ryan Succop with journeyman kicker Chase McLaughlin

Updated Apr. 1, 2023 7:28 p.m. ET

The Bucs, having spent almost a decade searching for a reliable kicker, made the decision last week to cut veteran Ryan Succop, who leaves as the most accurate field goal kicker in franchise history.

Succop was due to make $3.75 million, and Tampa Bay is tight enough in salary-cap flexibility that the Bucs can sign multiple players with the cap space opened up by his release. Even knowing that, they faced a difficult conundrum: Is it better to have a consistent kicker with limited range, or a less steady option with a stronger leg?

Their answer, rather boldly, was to choose the latter, in Chase McLaughlin, who enjoyed a breakout year with the Colts last season. His path to Tampa is impressively long, spending time with the Bills, Vikings, Chargers, 49ers and Colts in 2019, back to Vikings, then Jaguars and Jets in 2020, then Browns in 2021 and back to Colts in 2022. This is his 11th stop and ninth NFL team in fewer than four years. The famously well-traveled Ryan Fitzpatrick needed 17 years to squeeze in his nine NFL stops.

But McLaughlin, still only 26, had a really good year in 2022. He went 30-for-36 on field goals, slightly better than Succop's 31-for-38 with the Bucs. But the difference on longer kicks is substantial: On field goals 48 yards and longer, Succop was 2-for-7 on the season, while McLaughlin was 13-for-18.

[Buccaneers looking for depth in draft after being active in free agency]

In a very circle-of-life kind of way, McLaughlin came available because the Colts spent big to land free-agent Matt Gay, who has been one of the NFL's best kickers since the 2020 preseason, when the Bucs cut him after a lackluster rookie season, choosing Succop instead of the former fifth-round draft pick. Gay is every bit the kicker the Bucs sought when they drafted him; he's just at a position that affords little patience for NFL teams. If a receiver or defensive back hasn't found himself after one year, you just play him less and let him develop. But with only one kicker on a roster, you're either ready or you aren't.

After Gay spent three years with the Rams, including a Pro Bowl season in 2021, the Colts gave him a four-year, $22.5 million contract, one of the largest deals ever given to a kicker. That left McLaughlin without a job, again. Spotrac, a site that tracks each team's salary cap and transactions, projects a "market value" for free agents, and it had McLaughlin getting money comparable to Gay's deal — $21 million for five years, or $4.1 million per year. So when the Bucs agreed to terms with McLaughlin this week, I was surprised to think they might be spending comparable money to what Succop was owed.

As it turns out, Spotrac was way high in its estimation, or the Bucs got a steal in McLaughlin, signing him for the veteran minimum salary of $1.08 million, with just $100,000 guaranteed and a very modest $50,000 roster bonus. If he has another season like his 2022, he'll command much more a year from now, but the Bucs got him for a bargain.

McLaughlin is that rare kicker who is somehow better on longer field goals. For his career, from 50-plus yards, he's 17-for-21, good for an 81% success rate that's third-best all time among kickers with more than five such makes. He's also 19-for-32 on kicks between 40 and 49 yards, which means he's twice as likely to miss from the 40s (41%) as he is the 50s (19%). To his credit, he improved in this area last season, going 9-for-11 on kicks from 40 to 49 yards with the Colts.

McLaughlin's success last year came while playing his home games in a dome. For his career, like most kickers, he's better indoors, hitting 86% of his field goals in domes, compared to 75% outside. In his one career game at Raymond James Stadium, he went 2-for-3 on field goals, hitting a 50-yarder, but he also missed a 47-yarder in the fourth quarter immediately before the Bucs scored a touchdown for a 38-35 comeback win.

How can we best appreciate what his range might do to help the Bucs? I looked at fourth-down offensive plays last season between the opponents' 31 and 40-yard lines — in theory, where Succop struggled or wasn't an option and where McLaughlin was consistently good. It's an area where a coach must choose between going for it, attempting a long kick or punting for field position.

The Bucs had 16 such plays last year. How many of those 16 drives would you guess ultimately yielded points? The answer is just three, with one of them a touchdown while down 35-0 to the 49ers. When the Bucs tried field goals, Succop went 1-for-6; when they punted, three of the five resulted in touchbacks. Four of the five times they went for it they were down big in San Francisco. The other instance was a fourth-and-1 conversion from the 40 leading to a touchdown and 10-0 lead in an eventual loss to the Bengals.

The Colts, who went 4-12-1 with three different quarterbacks last year, had 18 instances facing a fourth down between the opponents' 31 and 40, and they managed to get points on 12 of those 18, including 10 field goals by McLaughlin. There's a confidence that comes from an offense knowing it will get points if it breaches the opposing 40, as opposed to thinking it has to get to the 30. It shortens the field in terms of where you need to get to in order to come away with something.

McLaughlin wasn't on an NFL roster at the start of last season and needed three weeks on the practice squad before the Colts committed to using him and cutting Rodrigo Blankenship. McLaughlin's best game last year earned him AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors, as he accounted for all of the Colts' scoring in a 12-9 win at Denver, including field goals from 52, 51 and 48 yards, outdoors. In one day, he had as many field goals from 50-plus yards as Succop totaled in the past two seasons.

So a new kicker will be one of many storylines to follow for the 2023 Bucs, who take a necessary gamble spending less there. There's always a chance that McLaughlin takes them back to the revolving door that featured eight kickers in eight seasons from 2012 to 2019: Connor Barth, Rian Lindell, Pat Murray, Kyle Brindza, Roberto Aguayo, Nick Folk, Chandler Catanzaro and Gay.

McLaughlin could also end up being a better kicker than Succop — the Bucs' franchise record for made field goals from 50 yards and longer in a season is six, by Barth in 2012. McLaughlin had nine last season in what amounted to 15 games.

Good or bad, the Bucs will find out what they have this fall.

Greg Auman is FOX Sports’ NFC South reporter, covering the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints. He is in his 10th season covering the Bucs and the NFL full-time, having spent time at the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.

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