Release Came at a Bad Time for Connor Barth

by Joel Thorman on Jul 28, 2009 9:08 PM CDT in 2009 Kansas City Chiefs Offseason

Consider this an overflow thread...

Connor Barth was packing up his belongings at his parents house in Wilmington, North Carolina and headed out the door to catch a flight back to Kansas City to make the plane ride up to River Falls, Wisconsin with the rest of his teammates when the phone rang.

It was Chiefs head coach Todd Haley informing him that his time with the Chiefs has come to an end. The Chiefs waived Barth on Tuesday night.

Haley cited new kicker Ryan Succop's development as a reason for Barth's departure. The team wants to get a good look at Succop in camp and didn't think Barth's presence would help his development.

"I was shocked," Barth said according to ~~Keith~~ Kevin Hull (Sorry, Kevin!) of WECT-6 in Wilmington.

For now, he's got nowhere to go. His agent has already made a few calls to various teams who might be looking to add some competition at the kicker position in training camp.

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Barth will be fine...

There are always teams looking for a decent kicker.

by Chiefsfan1970 on Jul 28, 2009 9:09 PM CDT reply actions

Here is what Gretz

reported during OTA’s and Mini Camp

OTA Update 6/1
June 1, 2009
– The kickers were very active on field goals throughout the practice and while we couldn’t chart every kick, rookie Ryan Succop looked like he was having a good day. He was six-for-six from 43 yards away with a nice cross breeze coming from his right to left. He then hit a 51-yarder. Connor Barth hit an upright from close in on one of his FG attempts and went three of four from 43 yards, missing wide right.

Mini-Camp Update 6/5 P.M.
June 5, 2009
– The Chiefs worked on field goals during their special teams work. Second-year man Connor Barth hit five of six, while rookie Ryan Succop was seven for seven. The kicks were between 28 and 36 yards.

Mini-Camp Update 6/6 P.M.
June 6, 2009
– Kickers Connor Barth and Ryan Succop were both four-for-four on FGs from 32, 39, 43 and 45 yards. That was a pretty good effort given that there was a strong wind out of the southeast blowing into the practice fields. It was at the kickers back, but blowing from left to right.

by markc on Jul 28, 2009 9:32 PM CDT reply actions 2 recs

nice find

Herm is gone things are better with that one move!!

by bringbacktheglory on Jul 28, 2009 9:35 PM CDT up reply actions

I think

That this is the stats that UC needs to look at as to why they made the cut…not the college stats. This is work after he has had a chance to be with a real ST coach.

Chiefs go 9-7. LJ makes 1400 yards. DBowe makes 1200 yards. Defense #18.

by Zodeman on Jul 28, 2009 9:54 PM CDT up reply actions

Actually

It sounds like the release came at a good time. He was just packing to go. If he was already on the way to KC it would have been a bad time.

Chiefs go 9-7. LJ makes 1400 yards. DBowe makes 1200 yards. Defense #18.

by Zodeman on Jul 28, 2009 9:35 PM CDT reply actions

or as he steps off the plane in KCI

ohai, we maded u a contract but we ated it.

Blame my wife!
Waiting until August!

by sir eccles on Jul 28, 2009 10:19 PM CDT up reply actions

Ha

by KansasCityShuffle on Jul 29, 2009 1:03 AM CDT up reply actions

i hope those tickets

were refundable

by dgoddard on Jul 29, 2009 4:06 AM CDT up reply actions

Barth can has cheezburger?

by Tadpui on Jul 29, 2009 10:17 AM CDT up reply actions

That was great

Made me almost choke on my agry chicken sandwich from burger king. Something about picturing Pioli with a puppy dog look on his face makes me gigle like a schoolgirl.

Herm Edwards: "There's FOUR quarters in football?!"

by IISaiNtII on Jul 29, 2009 11:34 AM CDT up reply actions

Haha overflow thread about a kicker getting cut

This place is rediculous. GET A LIFE YOU GUYS :) JK

Happiness is a long walk with a putter in your hand.

by craig in calgary on Jul 28, 2009 9:45 PM CDT reply actions

Nice to see you Again Craig :)

Ryan Succop will Kick the Game winner 4 times this season with at least Two being clutch kicks that will directly affect W-L of Said game.
August 14th Baby! Can't wait! 3 Fridays away!
Rule 49. " Think and talk positive football off the field." Hank Stram
Let's Kick some ASS in 09 or Die trying

by Steve_Chiefs on Jul 28, 2009 10:08 PM CDT up reply actions

This is from the

Chiefs site

Strong-legged kicker joined the Chiefs as the third of the club’s three picks in the seventh round (256th overall) of the 2009 NFL Draft … Was the final pick of the draft, earning him the distinction of being named t"Mr. Irrelevant" … Played in 50 games at South Carolina … Hit 49 of 69 field goals (71.0%) with a career long of 55 yards … Converted 104 of 106 PATs and racked up a total of 251 points, the second-highest total in school history … Spent his sophomore and junior seasons handling both the kicking and punting duties … Had 85 punts for 3,597 yards (42.3 gross, 34.9 net) with 21 kicks inside the 20 and three touchbacks … Had 69 touchbacks on 192 kickoffs.

by markc on Jul 28, 2009 9:48 PM CDT reply actions

So cliche

1. but competition is good at any level and any position

2. whats with the whole distance thing on Barth?—he had plenty on the 50 yd. just little to the left. And he was good from 40-49 in college

3. will people stop asking why were talking about kickers. Its our football team we need to care about EVERY part of it, and I for one would love to finally have some stability at kicker……ok it is kinda sick were talking this much about a kicker lol but still IT MATTERS

4. Did everyone forget that we brought inFealy or Feeley or Feely( I dont know how to spell his damn name) In camp last year and Barth wasnt rattled and out kicked him in camp. ( im going to try and find the Bob Gretz article that post their day to day kicking stats from last year)

5. I think Stats are just about the only you can look at when you judge a kicker. ITs only them and the ball

6. UC thank you for fighting the good fight on this one lol : )

Great players dont win championships.....Great TEAMS win championships

by DT58forever on Jul 28, 2009 9:49 PM CDT reply actions 3 recs

Wasn't Barth a mid season pickup last year?

Herm is gone things are better with that one move!!

by bringbacktheglory on Jul 28, 2009 10:02 PM CDT up reply actions

Yes

but he was in camp

Great players dont win championships.....Great TEAMS win championships

by DT58forever on Jul 28, 2009 10:06 PM CDT up reply actions

no...

Barth was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2008. He failed to beat out Nick Novak for the team’s placekicking job and was waived by the Chiefs on August 29.

Barth was re-signed by the team on October 21 after Novak was released, becoming the seventh kicker on the Chiefs roster in 2 years.3 In his first NFL game, Barth went 1-for-1 on field goal attempts and 3-for-3 on extra points, and has remained perfect through his first six games, going 8/8 on field goal attempts.4 He remained perfect up until a week 15 game (going in he was 9 for 9) where he missed 2 field goal attempts, including what would have been a game winning 50 yarder as time expired.

by kc571 on Jul 29, 2009 12:24 AM CDT up reply actions

Rec to you and UC

by Steve_Chiefs on Jul 28, 2009 10:12 PM CDT up reply actions

I don't see the problem here.

If Succop doesn’t work out, Barth will just have to quite his job at McDonald’s and come back just like he did last year.

Herm is gone things are better with that one move!!

by bringbacktheglory on Jul 28, 2009 10:17 PM CDT reply actions

This is really pretty hilarious

Every time another team releases a player all I hear is people wanting us to go out and grab him. That can’t be done without making roster space. Then when they make roster space, all anyone can say is why the hell did they do that. Let the men do their jobs.

Chiefs go 9-7. LJ makes 1400 yards. DBowe makes 1200 yards. Defense #18.

by Zodeman on Jul 28, 2009 10:36 PM CDT reply actions 2 recs

It just sucks losin' your job.

What would SUCK is if Barth had to buy the plane tickets.

Strong kickoff. Reasonable accuracy. That’s all I care about.

I know NE made their bones on their SB runs with some improbable Vinatieri kicks, but I’ll go for actual players on offense and defense, every time. And the 40+ yard field goals seem to be dwindling. More and more, it seems, coaches will go for it on 4th from the 30- or 35-yard line.

by hmills110 on Jul 28, 2009 11:27 PM CDT reply actions

Do we not ever learn from our own mistakes?

Herm Edwards did this too… drafted a kicker and got rid of the one we had. Then what happened? The kicker we drafted was terrible. Why would you not want competition? Horrible move IMO.

by Vince D on Jul 28, 2009 11:59 PM CDT reply actions

+1 yup

i feel you there. bad move indeed.

Braccae illae virides cum subucula rosea et tunica Caledonia-quam elenganter concinnatur!

by Buck'O on Jul 29, 2009 12:05 AM CDT up reply actions

It's not like we jettisoned Janikowski

we’re talking about Connor Barth, dude. I like him too but lets get real. Kickers in the NFL have to be able to actually put in the end zone on kickoffs. Barth was an UDFA for a reason and kickers like him come out every year. Of all positions on this team, he certainly was one of the most replaceable

by KansasCityShuffle on Jul 29, 2009 1:13 AM CDT up reply actions

"Our" mistakes?

Who here was responsible for that situation?

Is Scott Pioli supposed to read a recap of every screw-up ever made during the Carl era, and then make sure he always does the total opposite? Even though he’s an entirely different person with an entirely different coach evaluating entirely different players?

Where does it stop? Carl once traded up in the draft and took Ryan Sims. Boy, that was a mistake. I sure hope Pioli never trades up to draft somebody. Didn’t he learn?

by SlipperyPete on Jul 29, 2009 4:50 AM CDT up reply actions

You should be a GM

I think you figured out the secret formula for success: Do exactly the opposite of what CP would do ;)

Herm Edwards: "There's FOUR quarters in football?!"

by IISaiNtII on Jul 29, 2009 11:39 AM CDT up reply actions

The Don

Is no Carl Peterson or Herm Edwards. I trust he picked the best player between the two.

by Spiderwomn69 on Jul 29, 2009 3:05 PM CDT up reply actions

Barth's numbers last year were terrible

Barth’s FG % last year was 82% (10/12) but look at where they came from

6/6 20-29 yds (100 %)
3/4 30-39 yds (75 %)
1/1 40-49 yds (100 %)
0/1 50+ yds (0 %)

So… 4/6 (66%) on FGs over 29 yds and not many attempts over 40 yds so that tells me that Herm wasn’t very confident in his ability to make anything over 40 yds and “give up” field position to the other team. Then look at Barth’s kick-off numbers… he was ranked 46th in the league, 58.6 yds. No one with over 3 kickoffs had a worse average, which means they were emergency kicks due to losing the primary kicker, or the HC realized they needed to bring in a kick-off specialist. John Carney’s average was 60.4 yds! Gostkowski’s kick avg was 64 yds and FG% led the league at 90% and was a Pioli draft pick. Succop’s kicks will help special teams and will be more accurate on FGs outside of 30 yds than Barth.

As for kicker competition in training camp, I think Succop is more mentally tough than Medlock was. I had a draft magazine the year Medlock was drafted and both Folk and Crosby were ranked ahead of Medlock. The magazine even said that Medlock had character concerns so I don’t kow how Carl and Herm coudn’t have seen that.

by Chiefs_KC on Jul 29, 2009 1:33 AM CDT reply actions 5 recs

Medlock's character concerns

He’d gotten a DUI in college.

by SlipperyPete on Jul 29, 2009 4:41 AM CDT up reply actions

+1

NOW THOSE ARE ### NUMBERS ###

by dinomight on Jul 29, 2009 7:59 AM CDT up reply actions

How can you say

those are terrible? he only kicked 12 times!
Theres really not enough looks/data to make that kind of judgement.
Im not saying he is the kicking God or anything but we dont have enough substance to say otherwise

Shaq shot 8/12 from the free throw line tonite….man he looks great…….the rest of the season he shoots 56%…………my attempt at humor

Great players dont win championships.....Great TEAMS win championships

by DT58forever on Jul 29, 2009 12:51 PM CDT up reply actions

Don't you feel it was the safe bet to clear a roster spot?

They still want to see the other players on the field, while he keeps kicking on some high school field in Wilmington in case Succop can’t handle it.

by Helmets on Jul 29, 2009 8:05 AM CDT reply actions

Bullseye

Any Herm legacies will be wearing gold caps on their helmets, so that when the cuts come in camp, they can be easily identified.

by HowSweetItIs on Jul 29, 2009 9:22 AM CDT reply actions

I wouldn’t close the book on Barth in KC. If Succup struggles with accuracy, he’ll be kept as the Kick Off guy, and Barth, or some other weak legged, but accurate kicker, can be signed, if barth is gone. Barth can kick in the NFL, but not kickoff.

by dablueguy on Jul 29, 2009 10:26 AM CDT reply actions

I want to see TDs, not FGs.

I honestly would rather have a kicker who is more field position than a guy who can hit one from 60 yards sometimes.
I think this team will be able to score TDs effectively so, maybe we won’t have to worry about kicking FGs as much as we have in the not so distant past.

Obviously, I am more concerned about our defense than I am our offense at this stage.

by Chiefsfan1970 on Jul 29, 2009 11:49 AM CDT reply actions