NFL Should Consider Adding Extra Roster Spot for Reserve Specialist

After watching Mike Nugent and Josh Scobee both miss potential game-winning field goals (Scobee's kick was blocked) in Week 6, one simple question came to my mind: Would it really hurt the NFL to designate an additional roster spot for a second specialist (kicker/punter)?

Out of the 34 kickers who have attempted field goals thus far in 2014, a surprising 13 kickers have a field-goal percentage of less than 85 percent. Numerous teams have had their fair share of kicking problems in 2014; Cincinnati's Mike Nugent has missed an NFL-high six field goals in just five games, two kickers have missed field goals inside the 30-yard line and Detroit's three kickers have gone a horrendous 5-15 this season.

Although five kickers still remain perfect through Week 6, the five kickers have combined for only four attempts of 50 or more yards, with four of those five kickers making a field goal from at least 50 yards out. Once these kickers are challenged with more long field-goal attempts, expect most of those kickers to miss a few attempts (stats per ESPN.com).

With 125 FBS college football teams that all hold multiple kickers, in addition to the hundreds of college football teams from lesser divisions that also boast strong kickers, the abundance of available specialists is not in question.

The NFL absolutely needs to add an additional roster spot strictly for teams to host an additional kicker or punter. This addition will give more unsigned kickers and punters an opportunity to play at a professional level, it will emphasize the importance of specialists in the NFL and it is financially and logistically feasible.

Creating an additional roster spot specifically designated for a third specialist would give dozens of successful kickers the opportunity to play at a professional level. Teams with struggling kickers would not be forced to cut those respective players. Rather, those teams could sit their starter for a couple of weeks, allowing him to mentally recover from his struggles while the team is able to sign a new kicker and see that new kicker's potential to succeed at a professional level.

When former Broncos kicker Matt Prater was handed a four-game suspension for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy, the Broncos had to make the decision of whether to retain Prater. Had the Broncos been able to retain Matt Prater without dropping a positional player, the team would have definitely kept him on the roster, as Prater has proved to be one of the NFL's most consistent and accurate kickers.

By dropping Prater, who posted a league-leading 96.2 field-goal percentage in 2013, Denver acknowledged that NFL teams value depth on defense and offense more than they value specialists' value.

Creating this additional position specifically designated for a specialist, the Broncos would have been able to retain Prater and see how well rookie Brandon McManus was able to perform in Prater's absence. Instead, the Broncos were forced to release their longest-tenured player.

Although Prater's release from the Broncos could be attributed to his large salary and violation of league policy, it is hard to see Denver releasing such a talented player if the Broncos were somehow able to retain him. Many players have been handed down suspensions this season, but their respective teams would never imagine cutting those players.

The Browns held onto Josh Gordon despite the possibility that he would have to miss the entire 2014 season, and the Vikings have yet to release Adrian Peterson despite the media circus of negative attention that Peterson's unresolved situations have brought the team. The only notable cut of 2014 was the Ravens' release of Ray Rice, and if Baltimore chose to retain Rice, the team could have lost thousands of fans.

With these teams' loyalty to players who will likely sit on the sidelines for the entire 2014 season over the hundreds of available kickers and punters who would do anything and everything possible just to prove that they deserve a single shot at going pro, the NFL has shown that specialists have considerably limited value.

Teams' higher placement of value on reserve offensive and defensive players over the value of their respective starting specialists seems unfair, and it is. NFL teams have shown that they would rather have an insurance policy if their starters go down than a reliable kicker, and NFL teams have consistently shown their willingness to boot quality specialists to the curb if those specialists sustain serious injuries.

Because of this, kickers and punters in the NFL have extremely low job security. Missing one important field goal can put a kicker out of work for weeks and could even cost that respective kicker his career if the kick is important enough. Likewise, an injury to a kicker or a punter that sidelines that player for more than two or three weeks could cost that player his job, especially if his replacement does well enough.

Having the opportunity to add a reserve specialist would even challenge teams' respective incumbent kickers, thus potentially improving the league's field-goal percentage. Many teams around the NFL, such as the Oakland Raiders, are too reserved and unwilling to take risks to replace their current kickers.

Oakland's kicker, Sebastian Janikowski, has been the Raiders' starting kicker since 2000. Although he was statistically the NFL's worst kicker in 2013, the Raiders chose to retain Janikowski due to the slight chance that his replacement could be a downgrade. Adding a reserve specialist would give teams like the Raiders a chance to actually take a chance and see if adding a new kicker could be an upgrade.

Teams could also field a power kicker for kickoffs and long field goals beside a kicker better suited for field goals shorter than 50 yards. This way, talented kickers who do not have leg power on the level of others still have the opportunity to play if they prove to be accurate and consistent.

Sure, teams have offseason kicking competitions, but a large portion of those competitions seem to lack competition and favor the incumbent. Giving reserve kickers a chance to prove themselves in the regular season would be a great chance for teams to find a stud who perhaps wouldn't have had that chance if not for this additional roster spot or to specialize kickers.

Finally, designating an additional roster spot for a kicker/punter would be logistically and financially feasible. With the fair amount of kicker and punter injuries that occur on a week-to-week basis, the NFL could give teams an additional position on the starting roster for that new designated specialist in case of injury.

With this position, kickers would not be forced to punt for injured punters and punters would not be forced to kick field goals if their team's kicker sustains an injury.

Financially speaking, this additional player would cost teams almost nothing in comparison to the teams' salary cap space. The NFL's median kicker salary is $925,000 in 2014 (per Spotrac.com), meaning that teams would likely pay less than a million dollars per year to retain this additional specialist in comparison to league's $113 million salary cap.

With all of the missed field goals, bad punts and sustained injuries that teams are forced to deal with, adding an additional roster spot designated for a specialist would be feasible and beneficial.

If implemented, the addition of one simple roster spot could give numerous college kickers and punters an opportunity to play in the NFL, an opportunity that many of them would never have if not for the reserve specialist position's implementation.