Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht says his decision to release kicker Roberto Aguayo on Saturday was his way of owning up to the mistake he made in drafting Aguayo, but that won’t stop him from making bold moves in the future.
Suddenly flung into a kicking competition with newly-acquired Roberto Aguayo, Connor Barth responded by making all of his kicks Monday.
In a few games he was all they had, but other times kicker Roberto Aguayo made it harder for the Bucs to win and mount a run at the playoffs.
Roberto Aguayo will once again compete with Connor Barth for kicking duties — only this time in Chicago.
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“I’m owning up to it,” he told The MMQB.com. “I’m owning up to it by releasing him. It was a bold move, and it didn’t work out. I don’t know what else to say. I know I have the support of my coach and my ownership.
“At the time, I was bound and determined to get the best kicker we possibly could. I thought Roberto had the chance to be a special kicker in the league for a long time. That’s a position that had been a rough spot for us.
“What did I learn from this? I’ve said this before, but when we took him, we essentially anointed him. If I could do it again, I would have gone back and brought in competition to challenge him. I look back on that a lot. Roberto is a great kid, but the magnitude of that position, and the pressure on a 21-year-old — his performance is affecting the lives of men who have families to support. That got tough.”
The Buccaneers’ move to trade into the second round of the 2016 draft to select Aguayo drew scrutiny from the start. Aguayo then scuffled in his rookie year, making just 71 percent (22-for-31) of his field goal attempts. He continued to struggle in training camp. The final straw came Friday night, when he missed an extra point and then missed wide right on a 47-yard field goal attempt against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Licht vowed in his interview with The MMQB.com that the experience with Aguayo would not make him “afraid of making bold moves” in the future.
“You can’t make decisions, or not make them, based on fear. I will say that you have to learn from things that didn’t work out. Whatever that is in this case, we’ll figure it out,” he told the website.
The Chicago Bears claimed Aguayo off waivers on Sunday, and he will compete with veteran Connor Barth for the team’s starting job. Barth was released by the Buccaneers after they selected Aguayo in 2016.
Aguayo on Monday called his struggles with the Buccaneers “unfortunate.”
“What we both wanted, it just never flourished. I’m excited to be here with the Bears, and I’m excited for this fresh opportunity and a new start,” he said.
ESPN’s Jeff Dickerson contributed to this report.
