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Six NFL free agent kickers are among the players working out for the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday, according to a report from NFL Insider Ian Rapoport along with Albert Breer. The Eagles are working out kickers due to Cody Parkey's groin injury. Here's some more information on each free agent.
Nick Novak
The 34-year-old last played for the San Diego Chargers. He was surprisingly cut earlier this month in favor of undrafted free agent Josh Lambo. Novak is a 81.6% kicker for his career. He made 22 out of 26 attempts in 2014 (84.6%). Novak made 91.9% of his kicks in 2013 and 90% even in 2012. Novak went 3-3 in the 2015 NFL preseason, with two attempts coming from 50+ yards.
So why is Novak a free agent? Well, he's struggled on kickoffs recently. In 2014, Novak only kicked 10 touchbacks on 78 total kickoffs. He ranked dead last (32nd) in that category. The Eagles have a good special teams coverage unit, so they might be able to mitigate this factor, but it's not ideal.
Billy Cundiff
The 35-year-old Cundiff last played for the Cleveland Browns. He struggled with accuracy in 2014 by only making 22 of his 29 attempts (75.9%). Cundiff is 76.2% for his career. Where Cundiff excels, however, is on kickoffs. 38 of his 62 (61.3%) of his kickoffs went for touchbacks last season.
Caleb Sturgis
The former Miami Dolphins kicker is only 26 years old. He's kicked 77.5% through 32 career games over the past two seasons. Sturgis isn't a liability when it comes to kicking it through the end zone but he's nothing special either. 47.2% of his kickoffs have gone for touchbacks.
Shayne Graham
Graham turns 38 in November. Eagles fans might remember him as the guy who kicked the game-winning field goal for the Saints in Philadelphia's 2014 playoff loss to New Orleans. Graham went 19 for 22 in 2014 but he hasn't really even done kickoffs on a regular basis since 2012.
Kai Forbath
Cobra Kai is 28 years old. He's 60 for 69 on his career (87%). He's never very good on kickoffs, however.
Carey Spear
MURDERLEG!!!
The Eagles brought in Spear to "compete" with Alex Henery last offseason but Spear looked terrible and didn't even really play Philadelphia last preseason. Spear spent the 2015 offseason with the Browns.
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Who should the Eagles pick?
Based on all this high level kicker analysis, the Eagles' best option is probably Novak.