ASHBURN — In four seasons with the Washington Redskins, kicker Kai Forbath has been fairly accurate, converting 87 percent of his field goal attempts.
Forbath started the season on Sunday by making a 45-yarder in a 17-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins and pushed a 46-yard attempt wide right.
But his overall performance on kickoffs left coach Jay Gruden longing for more production, which factored into the decision to cut the 28-year-old on Monday.
The Redskins signed Dustin Hopkins, who was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the sixth round in 2013. He was released ahead of the 2014 season and signed with the New Orleans Saints’ practice squad last December.
Hopkins was cut on Sept. 5 as the Saints finalized their 53-man roster. The winner of that kicking battle, Zach Hocker, was drafted by the Redskins last year but was cut at the end of the preseason.
“I think Kai was a good kicker for us for a few years now, very accurate obviously inside of 40,” Gruden said. “But I think moving forward, you look at the total package of what a kicker needs to bring to your football team, and we were looking for a little bit of a stronger leg, especially on kickoffs. That’s the bottom line. We’ve got 16 regular-season games.
“We’re down 0-1, and we just think for the long haul, we’d like to get some better kickoffs. We think that the new kicker, if he can be close to him in accuracy and field goals, I think the kickoffs will put him over the edge as far as being a little bit better.”
On Sunday, two of Forbath’s three kickoffs reached the end zone with only one touchback. Miami kicker Andrew Franks boomed all four of his tries into the end zone, which resulted in three touchbacks.
According to Football Outsiders, the Redskins, at 24.46 yards, ranked 31st in opposing teams’ starting field position following a kickoff last season.
Hopkins had great success at Florida State and set school, ACC and NCAA records after making 88 field goals during his career.
“We’re looking for more consistent kickoffs, obviously, and give this young kid [Hopkins] a chance that kicked out here very well today,” Gruden said. “That’s the bottom line. Now it’s just, we want to give him a shot here and see if we can improve our kickoff coverage.”
Forbath’s missed 46-yarder in the first quarter would have given the Redskins a 6-0 lead. Later in the third quarter, with the Redskins leading, 10-7, the team opted to punt instead of giving Forbath, whose career long is 52 yards, a chance at a 53-yarder.
The kicker set a record in 2012, his first season with the Redskins, when he made his first 17 field goal attempts.
Gruden scoffed at the notion of making Forbath the scapegoat after Sunday’s loss.
“That’s funny,” Gruden said. “We’re not making Kai a scapegoat. That’s insane. All we’re trying to do is improve our kickoff cover team and we’re trying a young kicker who worked out here extremely well today. That’s the only reason.”
• Anthony Gulizia can be reached at agulizia@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.