General Manager Adam Peters certainly hopes Austin Seibert, the team’s fifth kicker in the past four months, can rescue the Washington Commanders from this nightmarish carousel.
By Sam Fortier
“We have really high standards,” Coach Dan Quinn said. “We’re still going to keep competing to find that [kicker]. … Adam and I visited last night and again today and decided that [releasing York] was the best thing for the team at this time, and so we’ll keep attacking.”
York was cut quickly because Washington acquired him from the Cleveland Browns for a conditional seventh-round draft pick. The condition was that York had to be on the roster for two games; by moving on now, the Commanders don’t have to forfeit any draft capital.
Washington brought in Seibert, whom Cleveland drafted out of Oklahoma in the fifth round in 2019. He had a strong rookie season but was cut early in his second year and has since played for the Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions and New York Jets.
In his career, he has made 45 of 56 field goal attempts (80.4 percent) and 56 of 62 extra-point attempts (90.3 percent). He doesn’t seem to have great range; only six of his attempts have come from beyond 50 yards, and he has made just two of them. His career long is 53 yards, made during his rookie season in 2019.
Washington is still reeling from its release of Brandon McManus, an offseason signing, after two women accused him of sexually assaulting them on a team flight while McManus played for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Last week, a judge dismissed the women’s complaint because the case did not meet Florida court rules for anonymity, but on Friday they filed an amended complaint in Duval County (Fla.) Civil Circuit Court with their names and additional allegations about McManus’s behavior on the flight.
Washington has rotated through a cast of castoffs. Ramiz Ahmed, Riley Patterson and York were on the roster. Lucas Havrisik came in for a tryout. The team lost out on Jake Bates, who made two field goals and two extra points in Detroit’s overtime win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night.
The Commanders saw Seibert, who kicked for the Jets this summer, during their joint practice in the first week of preseason games. In the game against Washington, Seibert made a 37-yard field goal and an extra point, and the next week, he hit four field goals — including a 52-yarder.
“I’m disappointed that [the trade for York] didn’t go like we had hoped it would,” said Quinn, who spoke with media members Monday before news of the Seibert deal emerged. “But at the same time, we owe it to everybody that’s part of the organization to keep digging … and so that’s what we’ll do.”
