Sturgis Fighting For His Job

[CA Dolfan]

Is he gonna make it.

"Caleb Sturgis is fighting for his job, but he won’t be able to fight for it this weekend.

According to Alex Marvez of FOX Sports, Sturgis won’t be able to kick in Saturday’s preseason game against the Cowboys because of a groin injury.

Last year’s fifth-round pick was good early in the 2013 season, but has been inconsistent and plagued by injuries since then.

He aggravated a persistent groin injury before last weekend’s game against the Buccaneers, and John Potter hit field goals from 48 and 51 yards. Sturgis is expected to be back for the preseason finale, but Dolphins coach Joe Philbin said he wasn’t sure who’d be kicking in the regular season opener against the Patriots.

“We’ll see. We’ve got a lot of time, ” Philbin said. “We’re open to anything. We haven’t named any kicker. I don’t know who’s going to be kicking for the New England game yet.”

Draft picks usually get plenty of chances, at least a year’s worth, but it’s worth noting that Sturgis was a pick of a General Manager who no longer works there, which could erode any support he might have."

Caleb Sturgis is fighting for his job, but he won’t be able to fight for it this weekend.

According to Alex Marvez of FOX Sports, Sturgis won’t be able to kick in Saturday’s preseason game against the Cowboys because of a groin injury.

Last year’s fifth-round pick was good early in the 2013 season, but has been inconsistent and plagued by injuries since then.

He aggravated a persistent groin injury before last weekend’s game against the Buccaneers, and John Potter hit field goals from 48 and 51 yards. Sturgis is expected to be back for the preseason finale, but Dolphins coach Joe Philbin said he wasn’t sure who’d be kicking in the regular season opener against the Patriots.

“We’ll see. We’ve got a lot of time, ” Philbin said. “We’re open to anything. We haven’t named any kicker. I don’t know who’s going to be kicking for the New England game yet.”

Draft picks usually get plenty of chances, at least a year’s worth, but it’s worth noting that Sturgis was a pick of a General Manager who no longer works there, which could erode any support he might have.

 

[roy_miami]

PUP him.

 

[AL R]

The fact that we spent a 5th round pick on a kicker just makes no sense to me, especially on one they could be released already.

 

[gregorygrant83]

Can't PUP him since he's taken part in training camp, but I could see him starting the season on IR.

 

[gregorygrant83]

I believe Sturgis will likely be a Dolphin longer than most of the players selected after him remain with their teams.

 

[russianbear]

Let him get healthy. Put him on IR, and let this kid Potter handle it until then. I'm sure after he misses a few, fans will be begging to Sturgis back.

 

[Zounds]

This is one position I never thought I'd be worried about.

 

[gregorygrant83]

The fact that we spent a 5th round pick on a kicker just makes no sense to me, especially on one they could be released already.

Remember the. situation: Everybody was yelling to get rid of Dan Carpenter... Miami had the second to last pick in the fifth round and didn't pick again until midway through the seventh round. There were only two kickers deemed draft worthy Dan Hopkins and Caleb Sturgis, Hopkins was drafted early in the sixth round, just a few picks after Miami drafted Sturgis. Had Miami tried to wait until the seventh round to select Sturgis they likely would have missed out on both kickers. And finally the best veteran free agent kicker last year was none other than Dan Carpenter, the player Dolphin fans didn't want.

 

[Vaark]

Sturgis looked lights out the beginning of last season but unfortunately succumbed to the Carpenter affliction.. Just like with golf, when things go wrong, and negative expectations begin to creep in, it becomes mind over matter and difficult to right the ship mid-stream. He cost Tannehill at least one game, possibly more? Anyone have that handy? Potter looks fine; this week will be a litmus test since more is on the line with the starters. Still Sturgis has a little time in practice to show how he's overcome his yips, so hopefully Rizzi and Philbin can make an informed decision between the two of them. I'm not ready to either anoint Potter nor throw Sturgis into the recycle bin. Let's see how this week goes. But if last Saturday was any indication of what Potter can do on long FGs and kickoffs, then even if we deep six Sturgis, IMO, we'll be fine.

 

[gregorygrant83]

Potter makes his first two field goals and suddenly everyone yells he's so much better than Sturgis, forgetting Sturgis made his first 20+ field goals. Sturgis had a bad month of October, but outside of that he had good rookie season.

 

[datruth55]

This is one position I never thought I'd be worried about.

I began to worry about him last year when he shanked a FG attempt so bad he was about 10 yards to the left of the goal post. When he's healthy he's a good kicker...problem is he can't stay healthy. Last year when he had his slump he was playing nicked up...how does a kicker consistently get hurt? You would think he spends a lot of time stretching his leg muscles to keep limber and prevent injury but apparently not.

He's no good to us if he's hurt and he's been hurt more than any other kicker I know of.

 

[roy_miami]

Sturgis looked lights out the beginning of last season but unfortunately succumbed to the Carpenter affliction.. Just like with golf, when things go wrong, and negative expectations begin to creep in, it becomes mind over matter and difficult to right the ship mid-stream. He cost Tannehill at least one game, possibly more? Anyone have that handy? Potter looks fine; this week will be a litmus test since more is on the line with the starters. Still Sturgis has a little time in practice to show how he's overcome his yips, so hopefully Rizzi and Philbin can make an informed decision between the two of them. I'm not ready to either anoint Potter nor throw Sturgis into the recycle bin. Let's see how this week goes. But if last Saturday was any indication of what Potter can do on long FGs and kickoffs, then even if we deep six Sturgis, IMO, we'll be fine.

I don't think it was a mental thing. You can pinpoint the moment he went to **** and it was right after he was forced to make a tackle in the Ravens game (his very next kickoff went out of bounds). I'm pretty sure he re-injured the groin, or suffered some other injury on that play.

 

[jvw]

Remember the. situation: Everybody was yelling to get rid of Dan Carpenter... Miami had the second to last pick in the fifth round and didn't pick again until midway through the seventh round. There were only two kickers deemed draft worthy Dan Hopkins and Caleb Sturgis, Hopkins was drafted early in the sixth round, just a few picks after Miami drafted Sturgis. Had Miami tried to wait until the seventh round to select Sturgis they likely would have missed out on both kickers. And finally the best veteran free agent kicker last year was none other than Dan Carpenter, the player Dolphin fans didn't want.

All Dolphins fans didn't want to pick a kicker in the 5th rd, Carpenter had a bad stretch of games just like most kickers and bounced back and before his problems he was money....if the GM was worried about the kicker he should have brought in a UFA to compete with him don't forget Carp was a UFA when he signed with us.

 

[jvw]

Potter makes his first two field goals and suddenly everyone yells he's so much better than Sturgis, forgetting Sturgis made his first 20+ field goals. Sturgis had a bad month of October, but outside of that he had good rookie season.

True but he's always hurt....some fans are fickle its always what have you done for me yesterday and the other guy always looks better....all bets are off when you are dealing with kickers they will go through rough times, what you look for is how mentally tough are they and can you count on them kick their way out of it. If you're going to spend a 5th round pick on him you better give him a chance to be the long term answer at the position but it still doesn't excuse the boneheaded move to pick him to begin with

 

[miamiron]

Potter makes his first two field goals and suddenly everyone yells he's so much better than Sturgis, forgetting Sturgis made his first 20+ field goals. Sturgis had a bad month of October, but outside of that he had good rookie season.

Not sure where you got he made his first 20+ field goals
I take it you were counting last years pre-seaon because in regular season he hit on 7 in a row
when things counted.

He then went on to miss the next 4 out of 11 and missed 4 more for a total of 8 for the year
with a fg percentage of 76.5 he was one of the worst fg kickers in the NFL
only 2 starting kickers in the nfl missed more fgs than Sturgis

By the way Dan Carpenter missed only3 fgs last season with one of the highest fg
percentages in the NFL AT 91.7%...but we saved money by not resigning him