The Tennessee Titans will be in the market for a new kicker this offseason after releasing veteran Randy Bullock in February. The good news is that Tennessee will have their fair share of options, both in the NFL Draft and the impending free agent class.

The Titans need to find a kicker that is more reliable from longer distances than Bullock. During his two seasons in Tennessee, Bullock was just 14 for 21 on kicks from 40-49 yards out and only attempted three kicks from 50+.

Because of Bullock’s limited range and inconsistencies, the Titans were frequently unable to get points out of stalled drives across midfield. Tennessee punted with the ball while across midfield 11 different times in 2022. That really hurt them in close games.

With this in mind, landing a free agent kicker with a demonstrated history of success would give the Titans an instant upgrade at a position of need, and Titans’ GM Ran Carthon could fall back on an old connection to do so.

Long-time Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers kicker Robbie Gould announced over the weekend that he would be openly testing the free agent waters in the coming days, and he should receive a lot of phone calls from interested teams.

Veteran kicker Robbie Gould said today that, as much as he enjoyed his last six seasons in San Francisco, he will test free agency later this month and be kicking elsewhere in 2023.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 4, 2023

Carthon worked as the Director of Pro Personnel and Director of Player Personnel in San Francisco from 2017-2022, the same years that Gould was a member of the 49ers. Carthon was in the front office that negotiated a contract extension and placed a franchise tag on Gould over his six seasons with the team.

Gould is the 10th-leading scorer in NFL history, and has told media that retirement is not an option at this stage in his career.

"I’m nowhere near retiring,” said Gould. "I've got a lot left to do from a career perspective, number one being winning a Super Bowl. I’m also pretty close to a lot of milestones I think would be pretty neat to be able to accomplish."

At 40 years old, Gould is still one of the most reliable kickers in the game, and he's far more consistent from deep than Bullock was as a Titan. In six years with the Niners, Gould connected on 55 of his 66 kicks in the 40-49 range (83.3 percent) and made 13 of 20 kicks from 50+.

It has been a revolving door at the kicker position for the Titans ever since Ryan Succop's injury plagued 2019 season.

Cody Parkey, Greg Joseph, Michael Badgley, Stephen Gostkowski, Sam Sloman, Josh Lambo, and the list goes on. Tennessee thought they had some stability in Bullock, which then clearly went sideways, and here we are again.

Bringing in a veteran of Gould's caliber would be the Titans' best chance of having a reliable kicker as they attempt to retool and compete in 2023. 

Image via Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports