Aldrick Rosas can't have a repeat of last season if he wants to remain the New York Giants' placekicker.
The 23-year-old from Southern Oregon might have been the biggest surprise of training camp last summer Youth Kentavius Street Jersey , making the roster as a first-year free agent. The 6-foot-3, rock-solid 233-pounder with a booming leg made almost every kick attempted in training camp to beat out veteran Mike Nugent. It was a no-brainer for then-coach Ben McAdoo and his staff.
Then came the regular season and everything went south for McAdoo, the team 鈥?and Rosas.
There were good moments: Rosas kicked in the opener at Dallas and then hitched a ride on co-owner's Steve Tisch's jet so he could get to California for the birth of his daughter and first child, Karsyn Isabella.
"She is doing great, she is awesome," Rosas said Friday after practice. "It's amazing. She is eating the house. She is growing so fast. It's amazing."
His season wasn't so pretty.
Rosas made 18 of 25 field-goal attempts. That's 72 percent and not good enough when coaches expect their kickers to hit 80 percent.
"It's felt like I have done five years since last summer," Rosas said. "It's been a ride. When you go back and reflect, it's learning the game of football, being a professional and learning the game of life and being a Dad. I am still learning."
Rosas said the biggest thing he learned as a player was the need to stick to a plan and take it one kick at a time, regardless of each result.
This season, he is trying to follow a routine after each kick. He wants to come to the sideline, take a sip of water and wait for his next field-goal attempt, kickoff or extra point.
Rosas insists when he walks on the field, he is never looking to see how far he has to kick the ball, or where the ball is positioned. He is looking at his spot and focusing.
"So if I pushed the last one wide right Authentic Jordan Akins Jersey , I am still going to line up the same, right down the middle," he said. "I am going to give it my best effort to make it. It may be the same result, but I am not going to let the last kick dictate what I do on this one."
Rosas has spent a lot of time recently working with regular long snapper Zak DeOssie and new holder, punter Riley Dixon. Friday was the first time the unit practiced the hurry-up, last-minute field-goal attempts with the fans and media watching.
Rosas made all three attempts.
Looking back on last season, Rosas can't say one thing went wrong. He said his confidence level was OK, but he felt he let his mind wander on what he should and should not be doing in practice with his kicking.
This year, he wants to do the same thing every kick and have a little fun.
New coach Pat Shurmur was hesitant to say what he expected from his kicker, although he agreed with someone with a cranky wizard-like voice from behind the podium curtain who chirped in: "Just make 'em."
"I think it's important," Shurmur said. "Again, you've got to see it happen in game situations. Most often, the kickers that you have in camp make them during the practice sessions, you've just got to watch it happen. It's really not that much more complicated than that."
For a host of rookies, the road to a spot on the Green Bay Packers‘ roster began on Friday. While what they did during the first of two post-draft rookie orientation camp practices won’t decide their fates Authentic Troy Apke Jersey , coach Mike McCarthy believes a good start is vital for them all.
All eyes were on the team’s top two draft pick, Jaire Alexander, a cornerback from Louisville, and Josh Jackson, a cornerback from Iowa. The practices included 11 draft picks, 14 undrafted free-agent signees, a handful of players who spent time on the practice squad last season and about a dozen tryout players.
”This is a great opportunity for these guys – and they realize it. It’s a unique opportunity, if you just look at the statistics in the National Football League,” said McCarthy, whose draft-and-develop team has long relied on rookies. ”This is a very important two days, because you have an opportunity to make your roster better. And the better your 90-man roster is, the more competitive offseason program (is). Going into training camp, that’s the goal.”
Alexander, Jackson and third-round pick Oren Burks, a linebacker from Vanderbilt Alex McGough Color Rush Jersey , are joining a defense that finished last season ranked 26th in scoring defense (24.0 points allowed per game) and 22nd in yards allowed (348.9). Defensive coordinator Dom Capers was replaced after nine seasons by Mike Pettine.
While overwhelmed at times with the sliver of the playbook they learned earlier in the day, all three were excited.
”It was quite an experience. It was like, `Man, I’m finally here. I’m at Green Bay,”’ Alexander said. ”There was a lot of hard work put into it, I can tell you that much.”
Added Jackson: ”This is what you came here to do. This is what you went through the whole process for, to play football. For me, I’m happy for football again. I love the game and I’m just excited to be here.”
After finishing last season 23rd against the pass (236.8), 28th in third-down defense (allowing a 42.8 percent conversion rate) and 31st in red-zone defense (allowing a 65.2 percent touchdown rate), the Packers are counting on Alexander and Jackson to be ready.
The team brought back veteran cornerbacks Tramon Williams, who played for Pettine in Cleveland after spending his first eight NFL seasons in Green Bay, and Davon House, but McCarthy and Pettine want a deep, faster rotation at corner. Alexander and Jackson, along with 2017 second-round pick Kevin King Cheap DJ Moore Jersey , should provide that.
”I wanted to come out and show them who they drafted, give them a glimpse of who they drafted,” Alexander said. ”Obviously, there’s still work to be done but I’m definitely looking forward to working on that.”
Some of the work Alexander and Jackson got came against three rookie wide receivers – fourth-round pick J’Mon Moore, fifth-rounder Marquez Valdes-Scantling and sixth-rounder Equanimeous St. Brown – in the first of what figure to be many battles to come.
”(I) just want to go up against them. Compete, get the best out of them, and they can get the best out of me,” Moore said. ”See what they’ve got and sharpen each other.”
Notes: The Packers signed two of their 11 draft picks, getting deals done with punter JK Scott and long-snapper Hunter Bradley. . The team released incumbent punter Justin Vogel, who set a franchise record for net punting average last season (41.6 yards per punt).
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