The Washington Football Team released Chris Blewitt and signed kicker Joey Slye, the team announced on Tuesday.
Blewitt made two of five field goal attempts and both extra points in two games for Washington. All three of his missed field goals were blocked. Coming off Washington's Week 8 loss to the Broncos, a game in which Blewitt had two kicks blocked, Rivera had said he'd be sticking with Blewitt "for now" heading into Washington's Week 9 bye week.
Washington brought Slye in for a workout on Monday and apparently liked what they saw.
This is the second time Rivera's turned to Slye in his head coaching career. In 2019, Slye signed with the Panthers after Graham Gano — Carolina's kicker for seven seasons prior — suffered a season-ending leg injury before the start of the regular season.
Originally brought in as a camp body, Slye earned the job in Carolina only in part due to Gano's injury. He made seven of eight field goal attempts that preseason, including three from beyond 50 yards, one which was good from 59 yards. His only missed kick was blocked.
Slye connected on 25 of 32 attempts (78.1 percent) during the 2019 regular season, his first as professional kicker, with a long of 55. He was 8-for-11 on kicks ranging from 40 to 49 yards and 8-for-11 on kicks from 50-plus yards that season. He made 31 of his 35 extra point attempts.
Rivera was fired by the Panthers after nine seasons and a 5-7 start to the 2019 season.
Slye continued on as Carolina's kicker in 2020, kicking with an 80.6 percent success rate on 29 of 36 field goal attempts while missing three extra point attempts. He missed two game-winning field goals that season, the first of which was an attempt at an NFL record from 67 yards. His second failed game-winner was from 54 yards. Slye also missed a record attempt from 65 yards earlier in the season that would have tied the game.
Slye was released by the Panthers in August of this year and went on to have brief stints kicking for the Texans and 49ers this season. He's made 11 of 13 field goal attempts (84.6 percent) with a long of 56 between those two stops this season, and has made nine of 12 extra point attempts. He was waived by San Francisco on Nov. 2 with Robbie Gould's return from a knee injury.
Overall, Slye has had an 80.2 percent success rate on field goal attempts in the NFL — good on 90 percent of his attempts from 20 to 29 yards, 100 percent from 30 to 39 yards, 75 percent from 40 to 49 yards, and 60 percent from 50-plus yards. He's had an 87.9 percent success rate on extra points, nailing 73 of 83 attempts.
Slye was a 72.9 percent kicker in four years at Virginia Tech (2014-17)
Washington released longtime kicker Dustin Hopkins — a career 84 percent kicker at the time — after its Week 6 loss to Kansas City. Hopkins has since signed with the Los Angeles Chargers and has made all three of his field goal attempts, but has missed one of five extra point attempts.