How free agent Joey Slye rose from an NFL ‘camp leg’ to Panthers’ go-to placekicker
Carolina Panthers placekicker Joey Slye planned to escape football Friday, as the Carolina Panthers decided his fate, with a round of golf with his dad.
“Play a nice little 18, and probably hack up the (course),” Slye said Thursday night. “That will take me down a little bit from the day I had.”
What a day, what a preseason. The free agent from Virginia Tech, initially brought in to give veteran Graham Gano relief while he heals from injury, went 7-of-8 on field goals in four preseason games. That included a 59-yarder he nailed Thursday with several yards to spare in the Panthers’ 25-19 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Friday, the Panthers placed Gano on injured reserve, which ends his 2019 season. That makes Slye their placekicker when the regular season commences Sept. 8 against the Los Angeles Rams.
Slye signed with the Panthers as a ‘camp leg,’ essentially a temp to handle Gano’s duties until the injury to his plant leg healed. Gano never recovered -- every time he tested his leg, he had a setback -- and Slye raised his standing with each of four preseason-game appearances.
“Do my job and give them a really hard decision to either keep me or get rid of me,” Slye summed up of the last month.
Slye had a tryout a year ago with the New York Giants. He understood Graham’s resume (a Pro Bowl appearance in 2017, for instance) meant this probably wouldn’t resemble an open competition. However, Slye was being advised by another former Virginia Tech kicker, Shane Graham, and was ready for take the long view:
It might take years, ex-Panther Graham said, before Slye latched on, so be patient. Graham bounced around the fringes of the NFL for three years before playing 14 seasons for 10 teams.
“Shane traveled around with a suitcase in the back of his truck, because he didn’t know when he would get another call,” Slye said. “I had all that information coming out of college.”
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The key, Slye kept hearing, was getting to the preseason somewhere so he’d at least have a track record other teams could track.
“A lot of the coaches think if you don’t have game experience, you’re not going to be ready. To get any type of film in the league is currency,” Slye described.
“If you have any kind of game film, you’re able to go places.”
Or in this case, stay places. It was clear the direction this was headed Thursday night when Panthers coach Ron Rivera said it’d be “real tough” to justify Slye not making the 53-man roster.
Regardless of his inexperience beyond college, Slye has a wealth of confidence. He says he nailed a 66-yard field goal in his initial tryout for the Panthers and has made kicks of up to 73 yards several times while working out.
So in near-perfiect kicking conditions Thursday — virtually no wind and warm enough for the ball to travel well — Slye’s answer to the coaches about lining up for a 59-yarder was “Of course!”
“We’re a little bit ego-driven.” Slye said. “We want to hit a big ball and show what we can do.”
This story was originally published August 30, 2019 at 12:21 AM.