Cleveland Browns: Which rookies will make the biggest impact?
By Randy Gurzi
2. Austin Seibert, K, Oklahoma
Coming in at No. 2, we have former Oklahoma kicker Austin Seibert. He was drafted in the fifth round, which is very early for this position and it should all but guarantee that he will be the starting placekicker when the 2019 season begins.
Last year, the Browns had their share of problems in this area as Zane Gonzalez had a comedy of errors in the first two weeks of the season. Cleveland moved on from him and went with undrafted rookie Greg Joseph, who was 17-of-20 on field goals and 25-of-29 on extra points. While he wasn’t terrible, there was little doubt competition was coming.
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As for Seibert, he impressed the team due to his competitive nature which should help him as he tries to unseat Joseph.
"“I think the three big things about him is that he had an extraordinary productive career, also has a huge leg and he is very, very competitive,” Browns scout Josh Cox said via Andrew Gribble of ClevelandBrowns.com. “It is a young career for me, but I haven’t seen a kicker as competitive as he is.”"
In his career, Seibert was 63-of-79 on field goals and was especially good as a senior, going 17-of-19 in that final year. He attempted a ridiculous 88 extra point attempts with just one miss in that campaign and was 310-of-315 in his career. He also handled punting duties for the Sooners, averaging 41.7 yards per pint on 179 career kicks. He isn’t a full-time player at this position but gives them an option in an emergency, which is always a good thing to have.