Per John Murphy of Yahoo Sports, rating the Kickoff specialists in this year's draft. Emphasis mine:
His workouts were very impressive as he consistently banged through his longer field goal attempts and also drove the ball inside the goal-line on most kickoffs. He is not one to lose confidence, but he can frustrate a special teams coach because he appears to have a chip on his shoulder at times. However, that stems from his high confidence level.
He has the ability to be taken in the later rounds for a team that would develop him over the next few years, though he'll initially be used for kickoffs. He's a solid choice for playoff contenders like the New Orleans Saints or even a team like the Washington Redskins, who have run through veteran kickers at a rapid pace the past few seasons.
While the Redskins were dismal in average kickoffs -- 60.5 Average (30th in the league) and just 1 touchback (32nd in league) -- you can't blame that on Suisham. His 64.1 average kickoff as a Redskin (63.5 overall; he had 15 kickoffs for the Cowboys before joining us in week 13 against Atlanta) would have put him right in the middle of the league. He also had 4 touchbacks in Dallas, at least suggesting that he can get the ball to the endzone with some regularity.
I don't know if burning a draft pick on a kicking competition is the right idea here. Give Suisham a chance and an additional offseason of work (he's still a young guy at 25) to improve his kickoffs. By all indications he can drill the FGs; 8-9 as a Redskin only missing a 50 yarder. Lest you think that's out of his range he nailed a 52 yarder against St. Louis.
I think we voted on this exact matter and I claimed victory for Suisham, though maybe that was too soon. Reader(s), should we draft a strong-legged kid to improve our kickoffs?