Tampa Bay Buccaneers News & Rumors

The Buccaneers will work out kicker Nick Rose on Friday, Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. Rose could be competition for Chandler Catanzaro, who had an iffy night on Thursday. 

In the Bucs’ preseason opener against the Dolphins, Catanzaro missed an extra point attempt and a 53-yard field goal try. That may have been cause for concern for the Bucs after they signed him to a three-year, $9.75MM deal this offseason.

Rose sank 10-of-11 field goals and 18-of-20 extra points in eight games for the Redskins last year before he was dropped for the returning Dustin Hopkins. Later, Rose hooked on with the Chargers, where he went 1-for-3 on field goal tries and made 5-of-6 extra points in two games. In total, Rose made 78.6% of his field goal attempts. Catanzaro, meanwhile, converted 25-of-30 field goal tries (83.3%) and converted on all of his XPs for the Jets.

The decision to try out Rose after one so-so preseason game from Catanzaro may seem like an overreaction, but the Bucs are paying special attention to the place kicker position because of their history. Over the last two years, Roberto Aguayo, Nick Folk, and Patrick Murray all struggled to hold down the role. Football Outsiders ranked the Bucs 30th in the NFL last year with -13.2 points created on field goals and extra points.