Arizona Cardinals: Dawson kicks in experience

August 26, 2016; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers kicker Phil Dawson (4) kicks the football out of the hold by punter Bradley Pinion (5) during the third quarter against the Green Bay Packers at Levi’s Stadium. The Packers defeated the 49ers 21-10. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /

The Arizona Cardinals will have a new placekicker in Phil Dawson for the 2017 season

Clearly one of the issues the Arizona Cardinals had in 2017 was their kicking game. It wasn’t the end all to be all many made it out to be but it needed to be addressed.

In March, the Cardinals went out and signed free-agent kicker Phil Dawson. Dawson is entering his 19th NFL season in 2017. Is he the answer?

Dawson likely is the stop-gap answer given his age. At 42, he certainly can kick for two or three years but is that even likely? Everything points to the Cardinals moves being made to win now in 2017.

What’s interesting is Dawson didn’t kick much in 2016, at least not as much as his predecessor Chandler Catanzaro. Dawson was 18-21 last season with his longest being 53-yards.

Can Dawson still kick the long ones with any accuracy and consistency? Remember, Catanzaro hit a 60-yard field goal in Buffalo last year.

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The Cardinals had to address the kicking game, despite Catanzaro winning a couple on his leg in addition to losing a couple with it. Dawson brings in the experience they need at the position.

As of right now though, through two rounds of OTA’s, the Cardinals only have Dawson on the roster. I believed part of Catanzaro’s issues stemmed from lack of competition. He was never pushed in 2016.

Catanzaro was the only kicker in training camp in 2016. He likely never felt the pressure to perform, at least not as much as one that had to look over his shoulder at someone else trying to take his spot.

It would be nice to see the Cardinals create some competition for Dawson in camp. If it doesn’t come to fruition though, at least they are able to go out and say they tried to do something about the situation.

Let’s just hope when the game is on the line in 2017, and given the schedule some of them very well could come to the last kick of the game, that Dawson is ready and accurate enough to where we aren’t talking about the kicking game week in and week out.

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