That’s why you draft a kicker? Cleveland Browns fans are already turning on Cade York

Have fans already turned on Cleveland Browns kicker Cade York?

For fans of the Cleveland Browns, Cade York has been a name many have talked about quite often over the last few months. Ever since Andrew Berry took the kicker out of LSU in the fourth round of the NFL Draft, the city has been abuzz with his talents. Conversations about his pre-game warm-ups have dominated Twitter (for some reason) and this mythos that was clearly unearned developed around him. He hit a game-winning kick against the Carolina Panthers and the Browns’ official Twitter account tweeted; “That’s why you draft a kicker.”

Yet, since the first month of the season, York’s hype has plummeted with people (myself included) tweeting out the same statement after every miss. For clarity I’m not dunking on York, just everyone who thought drafting a kicker in the fourth round was a good idea. But we’ll get there. No, York has struggled compared to other kickers, he’s only hitting about 74% of his field goals. Not exactly stellar numbers.

Now, the same fanbase that once drooled over his talents has turned against him. So many on Twitter are lambasting the move and the kicker himself. It’s clear the love affair is over but is all of this criticism against him even fair?

Cade York is a victim of overzealous Cleveland Browns fans and unrealistic expectations

Firstly, you should never draft a kicker. Never. Not once, not ever. The whole reason the Browns and Andrew Berry even did so was that the Cincinnati Bengals did just that the year prior. Think about that, the league is now following the lead of the Bungles. Dear sweet baby Jesus, what have we become as fans? Following the Bengals’ lead in anything is a recipe for disaster.

Secondly, York isn’t even playing poorly. He’s “missed” six kicks, but in actuality, he’s only missed three, with another three being blocked. For a league that likes to hype up “pass rush win rates” as if it’s a real stat, you’d think the league would do a better job separating missed kicks and blocked kicks into different categories. Sure, it makes sense in the NBA to count a block as a missed, as you have direct control over so much of the action in the NBA but in the NFL, if you do your job perfectly but someone in front of you doesn’t, you’re the one carrying the outcome, not the blocker who missed their assignment.

And it’s not like Kevin Stefanski is giving the kid much help. He’s 11th in the league in field goal attempts and that doesn’t even factor in all the times the kid should’ve tried to kick a field goal but Stefanski ended up out-coaching himself. So he’s 11th in the league in attempts, only two kickers ahead of him have a 90% accuracy with as many or more attempts.

One plays in a dome in Las Vegas, the other has only one 50-yard attempt to his name on the season. York plays in the worst home stadium for kickers in the league and is 8th in the league in field goal attempts at 50 yards or more with seven. He’s hitting 81% inside of 50 yards, and one of those was blocked.

York has been good, all things considered. I’m not sure how many NFL kickers have had three blocks this season but I have to imagine it’s not that many, if any, beyond York. Beyond that, he’s also the only kicker under the age of 25 to even come close to kicking seven 50-yard field goals. He’s the youngest kicker in the league, and despite that, he’s still among the top half of the league in field goals made.

He’s just fine.

You should never draft a kicker, it’s a foolish idea and one that guarantees that you end up playing yourself, but York isn’t a bad kicker. He’s put in impossible situations by a head coach who may be better served as an offensive coordinator.

Let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater this time around, alright?