The writing was on the wall for Bucs punter Bradley Pinion, maybe even earlier than the 2022 NFL Draft. However the number of Georgia punter Jake Camarda within the fourth spherical sealed his destiny. On Wednesday, the Bucs made it official with the discharge of Pinion, NFL Community’s Mike Garafolo reported.
The #Buccaneers are releasing P Bradley Pinion at the moment, supply says. Tampa drafted Jake Camarda within the fourth spherical. Pinion, who kicked and punted by a torn hip labrum and hip impingement final 12 months, handed a bodily yesterday. Count on a number of groups to have curiosity.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) June 22, 2022
Pinion, who signed with the Bucs in 2019, was set to make an unguaranteed $2.9 million this season and his launch offers the crew some much-needed cap area. The seven-year veteran is coming off his worst season as a professional. His 42.5 yards per punt common was one of many worst within the league, making him No. 33 out of gamers who had 37 or extra punts. Pinion additionally missed three video games as a consequence of harm. His touchback proportion on kickoffs has additionally proven a steep decline since becoming a member of the crew, falling to 79.8% in 2021 from 85% in 2020 and 90.7% in 2019.
Pinion’s fill-in for 2021, Sterling Hofrichter, was signed to a futures contract after the season. Nonetheless, he didn’t fare a lot better within the veteran’s absence. He punted six instances for an abysmal 37.8 yards per punt whereas averaging simply six touchbacks on kickoffs on his 14 makes an attempt (42.9%).
Georgia P Jake Camarda – Picture by: USA At present
Pinion’s decline in numbers and his massive cap hit led to the number of Camarda. Over his 4 seasons at Georgia, Camarda completed with a forty five.6 yards per punt common. He solely had six punts go for touchbacks throughout his senior season. Whereas 17 of his punts pinned opponents contained in the 20, 18 went for over 50 yards. Camarda additionally reveals nice management together with his punts, possessing the most effective PINYA’s (P.c of Best Internet Yards Achieved) in all of school soccer.
One other asset of Camarda’s that makes Pinion expendable for the Bucs is his capacity to deal with kickoff and placeholding duties. He averaged 61 yards per kickoff with 71 touchbacks and had only one kick exit of bounds. Pinion had two within the Bucs’ playoff loss to the Rams alone.
The Bucs might additionally make a youth transfer at kicker as properly, with incumbent Ryan Succop poised to face stiff competitors from second-year kicker Jose Borregales. Releasing Succop would save the Bucs a further $2 million.
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