The Jacksonville Jaguars are heading into the 2022 NFL season hoping to reverse years of disastrous results. Unfortunately for rookie kicker Andrew Mevis, that meant his NFL career potentially coming to an end rather quickly.
Mevis, a standout at Fordham and then Iowa State, arrived for training camp hoping to prove himself worthy of a starting job. While rebuilding teams typically try to exercise a little patience with young players, Jacksonville couldn’t wait any longer after an awful start by Mevis.
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Things went south quickly in just a matter of days for the rookie kicker. According to the AP’s Mark Long, Mevis was often erratic with his kicks as they often sent balls far away from the uprights. One kick sent a group of players off to the side scattering for cover, another nearly hit Jaguars reporter Ashlyn Sullivan.
Most embarrassingly, per ESPN, Mevis was responsible for kicking the ball that drilled former Dallas Cowboys coach Dave Campo in the head while he was talking to a Jaguars staffer. In every instance, the ball never came close to going through the posts.
Joining one of the worst teams in the NFL is usually the best way for an undrafted free agent to make a 53-man roster. Mevis showed tremendous accuracy at Iowa State, drilling all 32 extra-point attempts and converting 87% of his field-goal attempts. For whatever reason, he just couldn’t kick the football even within proximity of the posts this summer.
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In a corresponding move, the Jaguars signed kicker Elliott Fry. The 27-year-old has played for three teams in the past two seasons, converting five-of-six attempts, but he has just a 71.4% conversion rate on extra-point attempts. He will challenge Ryan Santoso for the starting job with Santoso the favorite to win.