Daniel Carlson locked in as the Oakland Raiders kicker

Daniel Carlson exceeded all expectations when he joined the Oakland Raiders early in the 2018 season, and he will once again be their kicker in 2019.

The Oakland Raiders went into the 2018 NFL season with big question marks at the kicker position. During the preseason, undrafted free agent rookie Eddy Pineiro had looked so good, and the plan was to have the two Florida teammates, he and Johnny Townsend handle the kicking, and punting duties.

However, Pineiro would see an injury end his season before it even started, as the team went into the 2018 campaign with veteran Mike Nugent as their kicker. That did not last long, as Nugent landed on IR late in September, and Matt McCrane took over the kicking duties.

It was not until the team signed Daniel Carlson in October that the team finally found their answer at kicker. Carlson, a fifth round draft pick for the Minnesota Vikings that April, struggled early on in his rookie season with the team, but he really came on once he put on the Silver and Black.

With the Raiders, Carlson put together the most accurate season for a kicker in team history, making 16-of-17 field goal attempts. In fact, he missed only one kick the whole year, as he was perfect with his point after attempts as well.

Despite this, the thought was he would battle with Pineiro for the kicker spot for the Raiders this Summer, but that noise came to an end on Monday. Oakland traded Pineiro to the Chicago Bears for a 2021 conditional seventh-round pick, ending his career with the Raiders before he ever kicked in a regular season game.

The move on Monday was a smart one, as Carlson absolutely earned this job, and should go into the summer concentrating on getting better in year two. For the Raiders, the entire roster has been upgraded on both sides of the ball, but when it came to the kicker, they certainly found their guy last year.