Miami Dolphins Kicker Caleb Sturgis Injured
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins watched kicker Caleb Sturgis go down with an injury today at OTA’s. The injury is to his plant leg and is a quad injury that is being evaluated. Sturgis has missed time in the past with injury but those injuries where during training camp.
More from Dolphins News
- 4 offensive tackles Miami Dolphins could draft at 51
- Miami Dolphins don’t need CB help but these 5 could be available at 51
- 4 players that could replace Wilkins if Miami Dolphins don’t re-sign him
- Miami Dolphins have a starting point with Wilkins after Simmons deal
- The Miami Dolphins should not take a running back in the draft
Fans will likely find a few jokes to insert with the news today as many believe that Sturgis is a liability who is not consistent with his field goal attempts and even more so with his kick-offs, often failing to get the ball out of the end zone. Sturgis, a former 5th round pick of Jeff Ireland’s has been perfect inside the 30 but once outside he has missed three attempts in 20 tries, six attempts out of 20 from 40-49 yards and seven attempts of 13 from beyond the 50.
In 2014 Sturgis managed to sink Miami to a 25th rank in touchbacks kicking the ball out of the end zone 43% of the time. In 2013 he managed to get 50% out of the end zone. That’s not acceptable in a league that favors no kick-returns. The Dolphins are ranked 12th in the number of kick-offs per game with 5.3 kick-offs per game.
Source tells @NFLonFOX that @MiamiDolphins K @CalebSturgis1 suffered quadriceps injury to plant leg. Severity being evaluated. Not at OTAs
— Alex Marvez (@alexmarvez) June 1, 2015
Un-drafted rookie Andrew Franks of Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. is the only healthy kicker on the roster. It’s likely that Miami will take a wait and see approach before adding another kicker but they should have been looking for a camp competitor regardless. Over the last two seasons as noted, Sturgis has been below 80% which does not keep kickers employed long. Should the Dolphins opt to look towards the street, Shayne Graham and Jay Feely lead the available list which doesn’t promote excitement.
UPDATE: Head coach Joe Philbin announced that Sturgis will be out the remaining OTA practices. This will include mini-camps as well. The earliest he will be available is late July, according to Philbin.