Bye bye Carpenter.

Waste of a 5th rounder IMO

This will open $2.7 million in cap space. More room to rollover in 2014.

And a kicker is a kicker...

I like the pick because Carpenter lost us plenty of games but at the same time it would have been a perfect time to grab Ryan Swope!! Imagine giving Tannehill one more target who he's a already familiar with and a FAST wideout as well.. Sucks but I understand it

I like the choice, but not in the 5th round. We don't have a 6th rounder though....but is it likely he would have been there in the 7th??

Still, solid pick when you look at 2012. iirc, Carpenter alone cost the team two games.

BenVolinPBP Caleb Sturgis was 3 for 3 from 50+ yards in 2012 and 6 for 8 last two years. Carpetner is 4 for 9 from 50+ yards last two years

Sturgis didn't miss a kick from beyond 40 yards last season. Upgrade over Carpenter

That alone would have had us at 9-7 in 2012.

Well said until you hear the words "wide right" in a game of importance.

Another solid pick. I had us targeting the other kid from FSU because he was the highest rated kicker according to most publications. But apparently our staff preferred this kid. I had us taking Sturgis in one of my mock drafts (7th round). I love this pick even though it cost us a 5th. The pick won't matter if this kid winds up starting and playing well. Not only that, but he'll save the Dolphins quite a bit of money if they decide to release Carpenter.

no way! stud kicker, maybe we'd have won 2 more games last year.

Surprisingly I actually like the pick, even with talent on the board elsewhere.

Carpenter is as good gone. This is an upgrade and will save cap space

3 million for cutting a kicker? yeah i like that

heard somewhere he was 6 of 8 from 50 yards or more and 100% from 40-50 yards.
I never have any confidence in Carp from a far distance. This is how you win the tight games.
As good a pick as any.

Sturgis missed four kicks last year - three were blocked at the fault of the line in front of him (not his kicking angle). He was the best kicker in college football last year despite not winning the Lou Groza Award. He was a finalist for the Groza in each of the last two seasons. Sturgis is calm under pressure, has a strong leg and is very accurate.

To those of you noting that taking him in the 5th was too early...

1) It was one of the last picks of the fifth round, so if it makes you sleep better, just consider how close it was to the sixth. A second kicker (Hopkins) was selected 11 picks later. Sturgis and Hopkins were 1-2 (in any order you prefer) as far as kickers go.
2) Dolphins (as has been mentioned here) did not have a sixth-round pick. Even if they traded back, what would they have gotten? An extra seventh?
3) Miami identified the kicker they wanted and got him. Hopkins (FSU) was another option but they preferred Sturgis. It was made very evident to me - two months ago - that the Dolphins targeted and were going to draft Sturgis. So they made sure they got him. Kickers may be unimportant to some but they can win and lose you games. Sturgis is the type of kicker that WINS games. He was integral in the Gators' success.

That is the same exact logic Oakland used in justifying drafting Sebastian Janikowski in the 1st round. I know we are not talking about a 1st round pick, but using Oakland as an example, these things don't project out from year to year.

The best college kicker being picked up by the Dolphins is a very good move. At the VERY least you now have serious competition at kicker and let's face it, a young guy coming out like Sturgis will get his shot and who knows, he could become Miami's kicker for the next 10 years.

Carpenter was getting more and more inconsistent and you cannot put up with that very long at all when it comes to winning football games. It is hard enough for the offense in a tight game to drive down the field with seconds left only for your kicker to miss a 50 yard field goal when it really counts.

Only worry for me would be that the kid grew up in florida and played in the SEC... Great talent pool-check, great competition-check, kicking in cold weather... oops!

Granted I did not go through each season he played in college, but it is a concern for me that he does not have a great amount of experience in cold weather, especially with a finesse role as a kicker. Things like that do have an effect.

Granted, I hope the guy does well and can save us some money, but late season division games in December can be pivotal. This year they finally spared us from the Patriots in late december, but expect it in the near future. At least carpenter does have some experience in that area. We will see though... may the best man win.

Marc, look at his game against Iowa State. The weather in that game was terrible. There was another game that he played in really awful, snowy weather...I forget against who, but he kicked a couple long ones in that game too.

When did Florida play Iowa State?

Crap...he didn't. Who am I thinking of?

Sturgis doesn't need to be an improvement over Carpenter (few kickers in the NFL are up to his level). All Sturgis needs to do is be just as good as Carpenter. If he does that, he's a steal for a 5th round pick and he'll save the team quite a bit of money.

Kickers are an undervalued piece of the puzzle. Nobody talks about it, but after you score and the kicker puts it through the uprights on the ensuing kickoff, that sends energy through the stadium. Or when a kicker nails a 40+ yard kick in a tight game, that too can lift a team up.

Bottom line, nobody really wants to talk about a kicker until they miss, and the standing mantra among kickers is "you're only as good as your last kick" rings very true.

This has to be the longest thread ever about a kicker.

!!!

I hadn't realized until today that the Vikings actually drafted a punter before we drafted Sturgis