The Jacksonville Jaguars hit it out of the ballpark when they used a sixth-round pick on kicker Cam Little. Right off the bat, the former Arkansas Razorback brought the stability that they had sorely needed at the position. However, things haven't been as smooth in his sophomore campaign.
After nailing a 70-yard field goal in the preseason, it looked like Little was going to pick up where he left off last year. Unfortunately, he's not been able to build consistency in games that count in the standings. The Moore, Oklahoma native missed a field goal against the Houston Texans in Week 2 and another one against the San Francisco 49ers the following game.
When Little made his attempt against the Kansas City Chiefs, it looked like he had put his woes behind him. But the Jags needed him to come through against the Seattle Seahawks, and he failed to come through.
The Jaguars suddenly have a Cam Little issue
Cam Little failed his first extra-point attempt of his career against the Seahawks. He then failed a field goal that would've drawn Jacksonville within 10-9. Not surprisingly, head coach Liam Coen chose to go for two points after Tim Patrick scored to make it 20-12.
Following the game, Coen said that Liam must do his job, adding that he hasn't lost confidence in the second-year kicker.
"Nah, I think the one on the extra point, I don't know exactly what quite happened on that. The field goal, we didn't help him," Coen said about whether he's concerned about Little (8:26 mark). "We took a sack on the prior play that knocked him back about either eight or nine yards. He knows he's gotta make kicks. He's as hard on himself as anybody. I've got a ton of trust and confidence in Cam."
For his part, Little says that this is a good test for him, noting that he can't dwell on his mistakes and must turn the page.
"This is a good battle of adversity for me, and my career," Little said via Ryan O'Halloran of The Florida Times-Union. "You obviously have to move on from mistakes and learn how to make kicks after missing. This will be a test for me, bouncing back and being strong mentally."
Little is now 10-of-13 this season. He already has more misses than last year, when he went 27-of-29. The Jags may not be ready to press the panic button but are most definitely concerned about their kicking woes.
What should the Jaguars do about their Cam Little issue?
Players go through rough stretches all the time, and there's a chance Cam Little will indeed bounce back and perform like he did in his rookie campaign. That said, the Jaguars cannot rest on their laurels and hope everything will be fine. The team's brass should strongly consider bringing in competition to push their kicker.
The issue with that approach is that Jacksonville is flying to London to play the Los Angeles Rams the day after the loss to the Seahawks, so the logistics of trying out a kicker may not be nearly as simple as if the game weren't abroad.
The bottom line is that the Jaguars suddenly have an issue at kicker, and they must quickly find a solution if they don't want it to linger the remainder of the season.