The Redskins during previous years generally would bring in a veteran kicker to compete with the incumbent during the offseason. But this year, Jay Gruden used a seventh-round pick to draft Arkansas’s Zach Hocker, who ranked among the league leaders on kickoffs. Hocker during offseason practices also has done well on field-goal attempts, putting more pressure on Kai Forbath.
The two will continue to compete throughout training camp, but the true test will come during the four preseason games.
Forbath would seem to have the edge because of his experience, and Gruden acknowledged that it’s rare for a rookie kicker to encounter much success.
However, the Redskins thought enough of Hocker to draft him rather than trying to sign him as an undrafted free agent, where they could have risked losing out on him to another team.
Just passing this along to let readers know that Forbath is not the safest pick at this point in the offseason. He's likely to win the job, but it's worrisome that the team used a draft pick on a kicker.
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