BEREA, Ohio — Over the first week of training camp, the Cleveland Browns’ kickers struggled to convert field goal attempts in 11-on-11 team periods, and earlier this week, Greg Joseph and Austin Seibert combined to go just one of four in potential game-winning situations.
However, the misses have not created any concern among the coaches, at least not yet.
“They are both young,” special-teams coordinator Mike Priefer said. “They both have hit the ball pretty well in our separate field goal period. Then, they come to the team periods -- they have each I think only had three opportunities -- and we haven’t done as well. That was in July. We just turned the page. We turned the calendar. We are in August now.”
Browns coach Freddie Kitchens is looking for more competition out of the special-teams periods in practice, and a few more kick attempts that result in points.
“I would like to see the kicks go through the uprights, and I would like that done consistently,” Kitchens said. “I am pretty sure if you asked them that they would like the same thing. Now, we just need to get to the point where we are doing it.
“The only thing I know is to continue to put them in those situations, and hopefully, they get more and more comfortable doing it because the situations will not change. They are always going to be in there. Every time they are kicking, they are going to have a situation where they have to put it through the uprights. That situation is not going to change because it is not going to change through the course of the year.”
Over 54 games in four years with the University of Oklahoma Sooners, Seibert converted 310 of his 315 extra-point tries (98.4 percent) and 63 of his 79 field goals (79.7 percent) for a career total of 499 points.
Seibert is the all-time leading scorer in both Oklahoma and Big 12 Conference history and ranks first among kickers in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) in career points, passing the old mark set by former Browns kicker Zane Gonzalez while he was at Arizona State (2013-2016). Additionally, Seibert had the most career extra points attempted (315) and made (310) among all kickers in FBS history.
Joseph was signed in the early part of the 2018 season after Gonzalez missed four kicks in a one-score loss at the New Orleans Saints in Week 2.
In 14 games with the Browns last season, Joseph converted 17 of his 20 field goal attempts (85 percent), with all three of his misses coming at distances over 40 yards. Also, Joseph made 25 of his 29 point-after tries (86.2 percent).
“They are both really strong,” Priefer said. “They are both really confident. They both can do a good job if they hit their end-over-end ball to cut it through the wind. They both belong in this division. They both can play in this division, in my opinion, with their strengths.”
As the second week of training camp rolls on, the Browns will spend Saturday afternoon at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland for the annual Orange and Brown Scrimmage, and it is expected that special teams will be a big point of emphasis during the intra-squad game.
“We are going to be in situations that Freddie is going to put us in that puts some pressure on these guys,” Priefer said.
“We will see how they respond. Am I concerned right now? No…We will see how they do Saturday night.”
