Younghoe Koo's 2025 season picked up where he left off last time around. After struggling all of 2024, the veteran kicker had a costly miss in the final seconds of the Atlanta Falcons that would have tied the game in the season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. What Raheem Morris and his coaching staff will choose to do at kicker has been one of the biggest topics of conversation in Atlanta ever since.
The Falcons responded by signing John Parker Romo after holding workouts with several free agent kickers, including Zane Gonzalez, Michael Badgley, and Ben Sauls. Romo is now the third kicker on the Falcons' roster, along with Lenny Krieg on the practice squad. It turns out, however, he wasn't Atlanta's top choice.
Eddy Piñeiro Turned Down the Falcons to Sign with SF
Eddy Piñeiro, who signed with the San Francisco 49ers on Tuesday, revealed that he was choosing between Atlanta and SF, and decided to sign with the Niners instead, per NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Maiocco.
One factor in this decision may have been that Piñeiro has a clearer path to starting in San Francisco. The veteran kicker would have been in competition with Koo in Atlanta. With the 49ers, however, he is in line to start immediately in Week 2 after they parted ways with Jake Moody after Week 1. Moody had an even worse struggle than Koo in the season opener, missing a 27-yard and a 36-yard field goal attempt, following his disastrous 2024 campaign.
Such is the life of an NFL kicker. One day, you are one of the best kicker prospects of all-time, like Moody, or one of the most accurate kickers ever, like Koo, and the next day, you may be unemployed with an uncertain future.
Morris said that the team is trying "to create high-level competition" and that they will continue to "bring people in to figure out what's going to happen and how you're going to go about your business," referring to the kicking competition, per Falcons insider Orlando Ledbetter. He didn't disclose any more details, leaving fans guessing as to who will be kicking for the Falcons on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. A poor kicking performance resulting in Atlanta getting off to a 0-2 start would be a disastrous scenario for this team.
Regardless of who is kicking, let's hope that they don't end up regretting not being able to sign Piñeiro.