On Monday, some of the local beat writers got Mike Brown to say that the door isn't completely shut with Shayne Graham; a position that special teams coach Darrin Simmons carefully took a month ago when Graham was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. Shayne Graham's agent David Dunn said on Monday:
”Shayne thinks the world of the Bengals and the Brown family and possibly something might happen,” Dunn said.
Alright. So the door isn't shut. We like Shayne as a person. He was awesome in the community. And typically as a place kicker, he's very good -- converting 85.2% of his kicks is, well, very good. On the other hand, it's not the kicks that he's necessarily making. It's the kicks that he's not making during clutch situations that's put a majority of Bengals fans in the position that we'd all rather move on.
One AFC North team has met with Graham. Jamison Hensley at the Baltimore Sun writes:
The Ravens have talked to free-agent kicker Shayne Graham, coach John Harbaugh said Monday.
The team could sign a kicker before the draft to compete with Billy Cundiff, according to Harbaugh.
"We like Shayne Graham a lot," Harbaugh said at the NFL owners meetings. "Shayne is a highly sought after guy, too. He’s a guy who’s had a lot of success. Obviously, they had some operation problems that hurt them a little bit. But he’s a hard worker and I think he’s determined to prove himself again. I know he’s knows what kind of kicker he is. It would be an interesting possibility. We'll see how it shakes out."
Aaron Wilson writes that the Ravens are definitely in the market for a place kicker to compete with Billy Cundiff, writing that the Ravens have already spoken with Neil Rackers. Not that any of you really care what the Ravens are planning these days.