Michael Carrizosa will be our second kicker to leave the league in as many weeks, let's discuss that;
It seems as though the Panthers have moved on from their resident kicker/punter Michael Carrizosa after their devastating 26-25, week 4 loss to the Philadelphia Stars. This is confirmed on May 9th, 2022, through the team's roster list found here.
This news comes after Carrizosa put up a stat line of 1/2 on field goal tries and 0/1 on PAT's. While performing decently as a Punter for the Panthers, Carrizosa has definitely struggled through the first four weeks of the USFL Season. Michael missed each of his 2 field goal attempts and 1 PAT through weeks 1-3.
These statistics did not help Carrizosa, but the final nail in the coffin was when he lined up for a 21 yard field goal with 00:03 left in the game. The Michigan Panthers had just crushed Philadelphia's dreams of a Week 4 win, when they marched down the field and called a timeout with the score sitting at 26-25. He received a good snap and it looked like a decent hold as well, but ended up doinking the ball off of the left upright to lose the game in an embarrassing fashion. The Panthers seemed to release him shortly after that week 4 game.
Here's to you Michael, may you bounce back and get another shot at professional football soon.
So who is next to try their foot with the USFL? Meet Kicker Cole Murphy, out of Syracuse.
Through 4 seasons and 48 games, Murphy has played well for the Orange, making 59 of his 83 career field goal attempts (71%). This comes with a long of 53 yards when he played against Miami during a rain storm in 2017. Murphy also completed 118 of his 123 career PAT's. While I am excited to see how Cole will perform in the USFL, there is still a glaring need at the Punter position for the Michigan Panthers. Cole Murphy is not a punter... So why did the Panthers cut Carrizosa? If Jeff Fisher is worried about the 38-man active roster limit, it did not make sense to bring in a single specialist who cannot punt. It might have been easier to keep Carrizosa around and benefit from his 41 net yards per punt (4th best in the league).
We will have to wait and see if Michigan will make another roster move to address this hole in their roster before their week 5 game against the Tampa Bay Bandits.
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