Whether you want to get after him for on-field reasons or off-field reasons, it's clear that Cade York has to go.
Is it a shame that we already have to cut a kicker we wasted a fourth-round pick on in 2022? Sure, but it would be way worse to continue to double-down on this sunk cost.
The Browns also need to act quickly to replace York, because they're not the only franchise whose kicker has disappointed in the preseason. There are still some great options out there, but they may not be available much longer.
Cade York Replacements the Browns Must Target
1. Robbie Gould
Robbie Gould is probably the name Browns fans have been throwing around the most, and for good reason.
The 40-year-old may not have many NFL seasons left in him, but kicker isn't exactly a position that you want to worry too much about long-term outlook. And for now he seems to still have plenty in the tank.
Gould is as reliable as they come on kicks that he "should" make. He went 50-of-51 on extra points last year, and that 98.0% rate was the best among the 15 kickers who had 35-plus attempts. He was just as automatic on short field goals as well, going 18-of-19 on kicks shorter than 40 yards.
You worry about leg strength failing with an older kicker, but he did also go 2-of-2 from 50-plus.
2. Mason Crosby
Sticking with the "old but reliable" approach, Mason Crosby could be another short-term answer in Cleveland.
Crosby had a down year in 2021, but he bounced back in 2022 by ranking a serviceable 15th among qualifying kickers with an 86.2% field goal percentage in 2023. We’re also still not all that far removed his back-to-back seasons at 90%+ in 2019 and 2020.
Leg strength is definitely more of a concern with Crosby than with Gould though.
The former Packer went just 1-of-4 from 50+ in 2022, and he did not perform well handling kickoff duties. Only 20.3% of his kickoffs went for touchbacks, and among the 29 kickers who had at least 50 kickoffs, Crosby's allowed the sixth-highest average field position.
You can't fault Crosby for what the kickoff coverage team around him was doing, but you'd think when he was giving up an average field position past the 25 he would've just started kicking touchbacks if he could.
Signing Crosby may well mean that the Browns would need to count on punter Corey Bojorquez to take overkickoff duties, which he has barely attempted during his short NFL career.
3. Matt Ammendola
How about an option that goes in the opposite direction?
The 26-year-old Matt Ammendola hasn't stuck around on any NFL rosters for long, playing for three teams (and being on six different rosters) in two seasons, and he most recently saw the field for the Houston Roughnecks in the XFL.
Ammendola isn't lacking in leg strength at all, and Pro Football Focus had him ranked sixth in average hangtime on kickoffs among the 39 players who attempted at least 15 last season.
The catch, though, is that Ammendola is one of the few kickers out there who might be less reliable than York. His career 69.2% field goal percentage comes in below York's 75.0%, though it is only over a sample of 26 kicks.
I'm not going to advise some sort of kicker-by-committee nonsense, but if the Browns value kickoff ability more than field goals, they could go with Ammendola over Crosby.
Of course, the best move would be to sign a free agent who can do both, which means inking Gould to a deal.
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