Syndication: HawkCentral
Barring a move in the near future, there will be no competition at long snapper, as Cox is the only player at his position on the current roster.
And, while there are a punter and a kicker to challenge Kern and Bullock, we feel both are safe. If we were to pick a potential upset among the specialists, though, it would come at kicker.
While Bullock was solid overall for Tennessee last season, he did struggle with kicks of 40-49 yards, making just 61.5 percent of them. He also didn’t show much with longer kicks, attempting (and making) just one of 50 or more yards.
Shudak, who has a pretty big leg despite his small stature (he made 4-of-6 field goal attempts from 50-plus yards in 2021) was very impressive during rookie minicamp, making 12 of his 13 kicks.
But his momentum was slowed due to an unspecified leg injury at mandatory camp, and with zero updates on him since, his status is up in the air for training camp.
While there is a chance Shudak can beat out Bullock for the job, it’s going to be very difficult for an unproven and undrafted free agent to unseat a veteran starter who was recently re-signed. Bullock would really have to screw up.
As for Kern and Stonehouse, there’s no shot the latter beats out the former. This will be Kern’s job once again, although his future beyond 2022 is certainly murky. More on that shortly.
