Why hasn’t an NFL team signed Austin MacGinnis?

Kentucky fans know just how much of an asset former Wildcat Austin MacGinnis can be on the football field.

During his career in Lexington, MacGinnis was arguably the best kicker to wear a Wildcats uniform. He is the school’s all-time leading scorer, finished his career with a field goal percentage of 79.7 percent, one of the best in SEC history. In terms of extra points, MacGinnis connected on 143/145 in his Kentucky career.

So in a season in which NFL teams have struggled mightily to find solid consistency from their kickers, it remains a mystery why MacGinnis has yet to be signed by a team looking to find someone to come in and provide some consistency in the kicking game or someone who isn’t fazed by the big moment.

MacGinnis received a camp invite with the Bears, but was in a difficult situation from the start after the Bears signed K Cody Parkey in the offseason on a four-year deal with $9 million guaranteed.

While Parkey has been solid this year, the same can’t be said for his kicking colleagues across the league. Field goal percentages across the league are down to their lowest in nearly a decade and it seems like each week we see a kicker in the league have an atrocious outing that ultimately costs their team. Zane Gonzalez, Daniel Carlson, Mason Crosby, the list goes on.

The kicker carousel is a real thing in the NFL this year, and it is surprising to me that MacGinnis has not yet been invited along for the ride.

Through it all, MacGinnis is staying prepared in case a team comes calling, and at the rate it is going, that call (hopefully) comes sooner rather than later for the beloved former Wildcat.

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