While many continue to devalue the kicker in the lineups of their favorite teams, Dave Canales of the Carolina Panthers is pushing the envelope by bringing in another young kicker named Ryan Fitzgerald. Carolina will roll into training camp with 2 kickers now, deciding on if the new UDFA Fitzgerald can take over the spot held by Matthew Wright. Does Canales truly believe that he’s the Wright guy, or is there a chance that it’s just to ensure a more competitive room?
Place kicker Matthew Wright is heading into his 6th season in the NFL, having made stops at 6 different places, from Tennessee, Kansas City, Jacksonville, and now Carolina. The 29 year old kicker has a 87.3% career field goal percentage, along with a 95.3% extra point. Wright exemplifies that player that continues to grind it out, no matter the situation, yet now finds himself on a team where the average age has steadily creeped down. Does he now fit on this team?
Enter PK Ryan Fitzgerald, the Florida State kicker taken as an undrafted free agent in 2025 to the Carolina Panthers to challenge the journeyman Wright. Fitzgerald comes off a collegiate career across 5 years where he ended as the all time in PAT made (4th), points scored (5th), made field goals (7th), and 50-yard field goals (3rd) at the storied program. The former 5-star kicker and #14 prospect in the country by Kohl’s kicking has a chance now to make a roster at an age where he could be allowed to kick for a decade given the young talent in Carolina. Fitzgerald also appears to have impress early with a quote from the Herald Sun:
“Fitzgerald, in his one day kicking during minicamp, went 5 for 5 on the skinny practice posts (about half the width of normal goalposts) and hit from as deep as about 58 yards. Wright, in his turn, went 3 for 5, hitting from the deep 40s and missing wide right from 50-plus.”
With that in mind, I believe that Fitzgerald is the better option given the age, ability shown, as well as long-term ability. Wright is a fantastic kicker for a team which maybe had an aging kicker about to be phased out, but Carolina instead has a young UDFA kicker in Fitzgerald that can truly change things in Carolina for the team that’s just asking for consistency at the position.
Where do you land on the kicking battle happening in Carolina, and do you think that Canales should be setting his sights on Fitzgerald over Wright?
