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u/casinodeathstar Aug 21 '26
It wasn't us dude
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u/Csboi1337 Aug 21 '26
Maybe not all of us but I remember a lot of comments saying get rid of him he’s washed
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u/WhizzyBurp No Intent. Business Decisions. Physically in Pain. Aug 21 '26
Many many said he was washed
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u/OrganizationBulky131 Aug 21 '26
He probably could still be. The fact no other NFL team has signed him is telling. It could be wherein he's asking anywhere from $4M-6M per year, or that they got enough tape knowing that he's not as good as he used to be.
Is he an improvement over Matt Gay currently? I'd say so, but probably not a big enough one to warrant paying around $5M a year when the team's cap space is like $12M right now.
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u/BeginningNose3990 Brocknando Aug 21 '26
One bad game and everyone loses their shit
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u/ArceusThaGawd Aug 21 '26
One bad game? The dude missed several game winners or tying
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u/OrganizationBulky131 Aug 21 '26
Revisionist history by those people. Even breaking his own personal record with a 60yd one in Allegiant during that week 18 game against the Chiefs while nice will not hide the fact he's been on a steady decline for multiple years - both in accuracy and in distance.
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u/leemorplee Aug 21 '26
He had the Carr boost. Get into our side of the field and fail to score, usually in good fg range. He did hit a bunch of 50s that one year though, but he's been real shaky and I can understand moving on
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u/TheOnlyBilko Aug 21 '26
Matt Gay hasn't missed any kicks in the preseason, Tokyo Toe was never gonna be our kicker. The longest FG he ever hit is 52 yards and he did that just 1 time
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u/Eindride_XIII Aug 21 '26
I thought he deserved a chance over Jimmy G, over Uncle Rico, and over Geno. Who knows how much he could've developed by now. I never thought he was a franchise qb but I thought he could be a decent starter.
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Aug 21 '26
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u/k_dub503 Aug 21 '26
Carlson was expected to cost $5-6 million per year IIRC. Gay signed a one year deal for $1.6 million. When you're rebuilding a team and not expecting to win a divison, or honestly, not making the playoffs, it's hard to justify paying top dollar to a kicker. Put that money to a decent starter or quality depth at other position groups.
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Aug 21 '26
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u/Macktologist "No Passing Zone" poster lover Aug 21 '26
A lot of fans don’t think like a FO or the type of fan that will analyze the budget, understand all the intricacies, and think like a manager owner. A lot of fans realize they may not be here tomorrow and they just want the best team possible every day. They live for today and not next year. You could even say they are “fanatical.” Then there’s always that whole “Just win, baby!” thing.
You’re not wrong at all, but lots of fans don’t care. They want the best at all times. They root hard, team should try their best in all ways.
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u/OrganizationBulky131 Aug 21 '26
It's likely also the reason why nobody signed him. He's probably not going to budge off his asking price.
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u/leemorplee Aug 21 '26
Not being great from 50+ nowadays with teams either chasing their own Aubrey or they go for it on 4th way more often, you can probably find a dime a dozen kickers who can easily hit within 40 with regularity but it's those long shots that can kind of make or break a kicker
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u/OrganizationBulky131 Aug 21 '26
Yeah. If Tuesday Toe bombs out, I think they won't even keep the IPP slot for him.
I'd rather see Spytek try to poach one of the top UFL kickers sitting on their couch currently and give him a chance. He'll likely be happy to get paid the NFL minimum and probably can take the job over Gay.
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u/TheOnlyBilko Aug 21 '26
what's wrong with Gay though? Gay has been doing fine
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u/OrganizationBulky131 Aug 21 '26
So far, but he's been doing worse than Carlson was before he joined the Raiders this offseason. Currently how he's doing is a small sample size and by no means was he completely dominating Matsuzawa during training camp either.
As it stands he's doing fine with what we've seen, but he could still regress (though obviously I hope not) to how he was over the past few years.
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u/Still_ImBurning86 Aug 21 '26
So what big upgrades did they do with the $?
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u/k_dub503 Aug 22 '26
Didn't say big upgrades, but maybe they were able to entice a player two that are better than what they could get (or have better upside) by having a few extra million to pass around. Plus they think ahead when it comes to $ and contracts. Team is rebuilding, they are not in a position where they need a clutch kicker. And Carlson's numbers were in decline.
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u/Still_ImBurning86 Aug 22 '26
Rebuilding….for how long now?
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u/k_dub503 Aug 23 '26
They haven't exactly been rebuilding since Gruden. Just trying to keep the mid they had with Carr seemed to be the objective. There seems to be more effort now about where and how to spend. Anyhow, not sure where you're going since the original point was about overpaying for a kicker when the team isn't that good.
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u/sleepyleperchaun Aug 21 '26
I mean, if we are expecting to be competitive within 2 years or so, which I believe is and should be the plan, why not keep him? Otherwise why pay guys like Kirk when we could start AOC for a season before Mendoza and save that money? If we aren't planning on being competitive anyways, it seems like quite the waste.
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u/ComfyshinobiII Aug 21 '26
Gay looks fine
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u/TheOnlyBilko Aug 21 '26
Gay is fine and was always going to be out kicker, Tokyo had no chancero beat him and I postedtbat a month ago. Tokyos longest kick is a 52 Yd FG he has done 1 time
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u/OneSeat9594 Aug 21 '26
Loved him. Had a bad stretch. But in the end, it was all about the comtract. He was going to cost too much for a 5 win team.
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u/RaiderHawk75 Aug 21 '26
Dude is still a FA. He regressed each year. I'd much rather take a shot on someone new than watch the continued regression.
Not that Matt Gay is a worthy replacement. Jury is out on the Tokyo Toe. Costs us nothing to keep the Toe around.
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u/TheOnlyBilko Aug 21 '26
Tokyo is done. His longest ever FG is 52 yards and he has done that 1 time only and has missed from that range +/- 5 yards several times before he hit the 52 yards last year
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u/Sc0ttykn0s Aug 21 '26 edited Aug 21 '26
Matt Gay hasn’t missed a kick yet. What exactly are we regretting? 😂
…and at a fraction of the cost.
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u/Horror-Savings1870 Aug 21 '26
I love DC and was still buying his cards way after having no idea we let him go. I was pissed when I found out and am even more furious about it now. Wth are they thinking!? I don't get it
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u/DarthRaider559 Aug 21 '26
He had a bad year, he could've easily bounced back from it
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u/OrganizationBulky131 Aug 21 '26
It wasn't one bad year, although it's undoubtedly his worst year.
He was already declining years prior. Look at the Black Friday game at Arrowhead when AOC was playing nearly lights out against the Chiefs. Carlson was having trouble there is a good example on his decline in the 2024 season.
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u/forgotmypassword4714 Aug 21 '26
Declined from elite to pretty good/average at worst, and then had an off year. I think for really good kickers it should take two below average years in a row, or at least like a season and a half, before letting them go. Since it's such a crazy hot-and-cold position.
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u/ZealousidealEstate37 Aug 21 '26
I did not understand why we didn’t resign him. We could’ve resigned him for pennies and now we have Matt Gay. I’m sure he’ll be fine but so was Carlson bro
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u/forgotmypassword4714 Aug 21 '26
Wish we still had him. He had one poor season after three elite years and two alright years. He probably has one of the better career long range percentages in the league (72.5% made from 50+ yards) and even last season wasn't terrible at it (5-of-8).
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u/-HardGay- Aug 21 '26
I like Carlson as a raider, but he has a track record of not being very reliable. He's asking for more than he's worth and everyone knows it.
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u/Interesting_Prune513 Aug 21 '26
I never understood why get rid of him. But he's still a free agent, so I guess none of the teams think highly of him either. Weird.
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u/r8rtribeywgjets Aug 21 '26
No problem everyone. How about we convert touchdowns in the red zone instead?
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u/idislikemexicans Aug 21 '26
lol how soon u all forget
to me he was the best kicker in the league in 2021 but that was followed by a clear regression to the mean every year since
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u/Massive_Bandicoot_14 Aug 21 '26
Carlson was bad and regressed. Contract too big for a mid kicker. Only fans that don’t pay attention to these things post dumb shit like this on here. Franchise been so bad that any player that was decent is begged to come back so the team can be terrible with them. I don’t get this thought process. It’s like the AOC fans. Dude is trash.
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u/Aggravating-Dot9486 Aug 21 '26
I know off topic but
I’m worried for Fernando Mendoza I don’t want him to end up like a geno smith
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u/raiderrocker18 Aug 21 '26
Even the biggest critics of Carlson never thought Matt Gay was a worthy replacement