Joey Slye missed a ‘routine’ game-winning kick. Can Panthers count on him in the clutch?

Before the Carolina Panthers’ 2020 training camp even began, a decision was made on special teams.

Long-time Panthers kicker Graham Gano was released and Joey Slye was in line for the job. A year earlier, he had been given the role by default after a solid preseason and injury issues for Gano.

In Slye’s rookie year, there were good moments — making 8 of 11 kicks from 50-plus yards, most in the NFL — and there were some missed point-after attempts and short kicks gone astray.

Now in his second season, Slye’s consistency issues have crept up yet again.

Ignoring two would-be record-long (from 65 and 67 yards) attempts at the end of games, he has gone 1 of 4 from 50-plus yards this year and has made 24 of 29 attempts, including a missed 54-yard kick that would have won the Panthers’ game vs. the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

Including those two historic kicks brings him down to 77.4% (25th).

“A 54-yarder is something that should be in my wheelhouse and should be somewhat of a kick that’s a higher percentage for not only myself but for the team to view,” Slye said. “For me not to do what they sent me out there to do and what I feel comfortable hitting is frustrating for me.”

But it’s not the longer kicks especially that have been a problem for Slye; his 24 made kicks overall are tied for the third-most in the league. Any analysis of Slye should keep into account that he is working with a rookie holder in punter Joe Charlton, who came in with limited experience. That’s a factor, too, but only this year.

Over the past two seasons, Slye has made 14 of 21 (66.7%) field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter. That’s tied for the third-worst percentage over that time frame (minimum four field goals made). No kicker has attempted as many fourth-quarter kicks as Slye. The next closest, Seattle Seahawks kicker Jason Myers and Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker, have made 16 of 17 and 17 of 17 kicks in the fourth quarter, respectively.

Slye’s accuracy is the same in third quarter over that stretch, making 8 of 12 attempts (66.7%). For comparison, in 2019 and 2020 he has made 90.9% of his tries in the first quarter and 89.5% in the second quarter.

His fourth-quarter woes have almost exclusively come from long distances, however, two of his six career missed PATs have come in the final quarter. In the last two years, Slye has made 3 of 6 attempts of 40-49 yards in the fourth quarter and is 1 of 4 from 50-plus in the final 15 minutes, including the two attempts from 65-plus yards that were just off or swayed due to dramatic wind.

Is part of that because in late-game situations teams tend to try more kicks of longer distances? Sure. It also shows a belief that both Ron Rivera and Matt Rhule have in Slye’s leg and his ability to accurately make long kicks. No one has come close to attempting more field goals in the fourth quarter. The Panthers have also been in plenty of tight games — 2-6 in games decided by one score this year.

This isn’t about the 65-yard attempts, though. It’s the makeable ones that the Panthers need to know they have someone who can reliably convert. Slye himself acknowledged that he’s “not elite in my position” when it came to missing the most recent late-game attempt, partly due to his foot hitting the turf on the “back end” of the kick.

There will be a long list of needs for the Panthers. this offseason. Sitting at 4-8 during a Week 13 bye week, kicker is far down the list of priorities. But Slye is coming off a missed 54-yard attempt that would have won the game for the Panthers and kept them in the playoff hunt.

“This one, at the end of the day, just like I said, we all take accountability, it’s 54-yarder, I mean that’s routine, that’s got to be a routine kick at the end of the game,” Rhule said. “I know he like everyone else would be the first to say that he feels like if he could go back, he should have made it.”

Slye is one of the lower-paid players on the team and was undrafted, which certainly contributed to the Panthers’ decision to move on from the much higher paid Gano. In 2018, the Panthers signed Gano to a four-year contract worth $17 million, including $9 million guaranteed. That contract was ended two years early (and included a 2019 season in which he didn’t play a single game).

Gano has made 25 of 26 attempts this year, including 4-5 from 50-plus yards.

The Panthers are paying Slye $675,000. He will become an exclusive rights free agent this offseason, which means if the Panthers offer him a one-year contract and the league minimum, he cannot negotiate with another team. And the Panthers will be able to bring him back for a relatively cheap price.

When asked Monday if the Panthers might consider bringing in other kickers to compete with Slye for the four remaining games, Rhule replied that he hadn’t yet met with general manager Marty Hurney. Kicker Taylor Bertolet has been signed weekly by the Panthers just prior to gameday Sunday as a backup COVID emergency kicker if something were to happen to Slye and then released the day after games, including this Tuesday.

“We’ll always look for every way in which to improve the team, we don’t ever want to be over emotional or over reactive to a game,” Rhule said “But we will always look for every way to improve.”

The coaching staff has shown trust in Slye. But consistency remains a priority.