Do people actually view Gostkowski as a stupid and wasteful pick?
The idea that having a good kicker, or that good kickers are easily available/obtainable, is a luxury not worth drafting is bizarre to me. I can see the argument more with a punter. But the vast majority of 4th-7th round picks are short time backups, special teams guys and guys who never do anything. But that’s also the range where you can usually land the best available young kicker
If you need a kicker, drafting one in the 4th-7th makes more sense than hoping some street free agent will work out
of course the question should really be was Folk shaky enough with kickoffs and long field goals to warrant replacing given his accuracy on shorter attempts.
I don't think anyone in hindsight thinks Ghost was a wasteful pick. I think the issue now is that you can get away with tinkering on the margins when you already have a roster full of HOF'ers and the best QB to ever put on a helmet. Using picks on guys like Rohrwasser and Bailey when you have so many glaring holes on the roster is wasting picks.
@BaseballJones posted this a few pages back. UDFA's at the kicking positions hit far, far more often than they do at other positions:
In fact... 2023 NFL top ten leaders in FG %:
1. Aubrey, Dal - 100.0% - UDFA
2. Butker, KC - 100.0% - 7th round (#233)
3. Zuerlein, NYJ - 95.7% - 6th round (#171)
4. Folk, Ten - 95.5% - 6th round (#178)
5. Koo, Atl - 95.5% - UDFA
6. Santos, Chi - 95.0% - UDFA
7. Boswell, Pit - 94.7% - UDFA
8. Fairbairn, Hou - 94.7% - UDFA
9. Dicker, LAC - 94.1% - UDFA
10. Lutz, Den - 91.7% - UDFA
So 7 of the top 10 kickers in the NFL this year (by FG%) were UDFAs, and the three that were picked were 6th and 7th rounders.
Punting - 2023 NFL top ten leaders in net yards per punt:
1. Cole, LV - 46.9 - UDFA
2. Anger, Dal - 46.1 - 3rd round (#70)
3. Stonehouse, Ten, 43.9 - UDFA
4. Cooke, Jax - 43.8 - 7th round (#247)
5. Dickson, Sea - 43.7 - 5th round (#149)
6. Gillan, NYG - 43.6 - UDFA
7. Hekker, Car - 43.2 - UDFA
8. Johnston, Hou - 42.6 - UDFA
9. Wishnowsky, SF - 42.5 - 4th round (#110)
10. Bojourquez, Cle - 42.4 - UDFA
So 6 of the top 10 punters in the NFL this year were UDFAs, and two of the guys picked were by Jacksonville.
Long story short, you can pretty easily find a quality K or P as an UDFA. So WHY IN THE WORLD use a draft pick to secure one, especially when you have a bunch of other holes on the roster?