Dallas Cowboys: 3 Free agents that can replace kicker Brett Maher
By Randy Gurzi
3. Giorgio Tavecchio
Nicknamed ‘Italian Ice’, Giorgio Tavecchio is another player who had to wait a long time to get his shot with an NFL team. Undrafted out of Cal back in 2012, he tried to catch on with the San Francisco 49ers in 2012, Green Bay Packers in 2013, and Detroit Lions in 2014. He then joined the Oakland Raiders and was used for several seasons as a camp leg.
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During that stretch, his job was to keep Sebastian Janikowski fresh and allowed the Raiders to still keep things the same when it came to snapping the ball and holding it for the kicker as they were both southpaws.
In 2017, Tavecchio finally got his chance to play in the regular season as Janikowski was sent to IR with a back injury. Tavecchio had his moments but struggled overall as he was good on just 16-of-21 kicks (76.2 percent). He did enough to get another shot in 2018 as he replaced another injured veteran in Matt Bryant.
The Falcons replacement came in and was good on all five attempts, including one from 56 yards out. He wasn’t able to retain the job in 2019 though after going 4-of-9 in the preseason. That prompted Atlanta to bring back Matt Bryant and sent Tavecchio to the free agency line.
Surely, he seems like a long shot given his struggles in the exhibition games this year but his finish to 2018 was rather impressive. Bringing him in to see what he could do couldn’t hurt.