Berea, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – News of Phil Dawson's decision to sign with the Browns to retire in Cleveland Thursday afternoon brought an important question to the forefront, is he sure he doesn’t have a 22nd season in him?
The kicking situation with the Browns right now is not ideal, but general manager John Dorsey, head coach Freddie Kitchens and special teams coordinator Mike Priefer are not panicking, even if everyone outside the organization might be.
Incumbent Greg Joseph, who has made 14 of 17 kicks in team drills through seven practices, leads it by default.
“I’m not [concerned],” Dorsey said Thursday in an interview with Baskin and Phelps on 92.3 The Fan. “What you have to do is you have let those guys compete day in and day out and that’s what they’re doing right now. We’re going to take this thing all the way through the preseason and then at the end of the day we’ll have our kicker.”
Joseph has a miss in a game winning situation and two more during two-minute situations so far in camp while rookie Austin Seibert has struggled mightily in pressure situations missing a pair of simulated game-winning kicks and a pair of kicks in two-minute situations during practices.
Overall the fifth-round pick out of Oklahoma is 10-17 in team kicking drills this camp.
Kitchens has echoed what Dorsey said repeatedly, but it’s hard not to get concerned when Seibert and Joseph don’t perform under pressure, which is something Kitchens is trying to create for the team during this camp.
“I would like to see the kicks go through the uprights, and I would like that done consistently,” Kitchens said. “I am pretty sure if you asked them that they would like the same thing. Now, we just need to get to the point where we are doing it. The only thing I know is to continue to put them in those situations, and hopefully, they get more and more comfortable doing it because the situations will not change.”
Priefer saw improvement with Joseph and Seibert the last two days, even if the results weren’t all positive on Wednesday during the late-game situational work.
“I thought they both hit the ball better [Wednesday],” Priefer said. “We did not respond as well on team as I think we should have. [Thursday], they both worked separately in some technique work. I thought they both did a nice job, and we will see how they do Saturday night.”
Both kickers have shown an ability to bounce back mentally according to Priefer.
“They are both pretty mentally tough,” Priefer said. “Although, they are young, I think they have done a pretty good job after misses coming back and making the next one for the most part since the spring, and we have been trying to put them in these situations since the spring. The more pressure type situation we put them in, we have to see if they can handle [it].”
Saturday afternoon, Joseph and Seibert are expected to get significant work during the Orange and Brown Scrimmage at FirstEnergy Stadium.
The hope is both will gain their footing leading into the preseason, which begins next Thursday night against Washington.
“I know we have the right two kickers in camp – one of them is going to win the job,” Priefer said.
