Olindo Mare's future with the Carolina Panthers appears to be in doubt.
Coach Ron Rivera said that the team is considering bringing in kickers for workouts today after Mare, a veteran, missed another big field-goal attempt Sunday in Carolina's 31-23 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
With the Panthers trailing 24-23, Mare hooked a 36-yard kick wide left with 5:16 left in the game. Two plays later, Matt Ryan connected with rookie wide receiver Julio Jones on a 75-yard touchdown pass, and the Falcons went on to win after erasing a 16-point halftime deficit.
It was Mare's second big miss of the season.
He also missed a 31-yard attempt in the closing seconds against Minnesota that would have sent the game to overtime.
"The timing of the misses are about as bad as they get, obviously," Rivera said. "We've got to think this through and go through the process and make sure we make good decisions."
The Panthers (4-9) gave Mare a four-year, $12-million contract — including a guaranteed $4 million signing bonus — to replace veteran John Kasay, who had been with the team since its expansion season in 1995.
If the Panthers cut Mare, he would count for $3 million against next year's salary cap, the remaining portion of his prorated signing bonus.
At this point, it's unclear who will kick Sunday when the Panthers play the Houston Texans.
Among the more notable kickers available are Jeff Reed, a Charlotte native; and former Panthers Shayne Graham and Rhys Lloyd. The Panthers had undrafted rookie Adi Kunalic from Nebraska in training camp but cut him before the season.
The Panthers signed Mare to give them a kicker who could handle field goals and kickoffs — thus saving a roster spot. They didn't have that with Kasay, who only place-kicked.
Mare has done well on kickoffs and ranks second in the league with 44 touchbacks, but he's near the bottom of the league in field-goal accuracy converting 76 percent (16 of 25).
Kasay, who was signed by New Orleans after being released by Carolina, has converted 83.9 percent (26 of 31) of his field-goal attempts.
However, Rivera said Monday that he has no regrets about cutting Kasay, now 42.
"The reason we did it is we were looking for a two-for-one," Rivera said. "We wanted to have one guy that was going to help us the kick ball off and kick field goals, and gain that spot back on the roster. We also wondered how long (Kasay) would have played, how much further down the road would he have gone."
Rivera said that the Panthers thought about going after a younger kicker after deciding to release Kasay.
But at the time, he said, there weren't any good young kickers available.
"At some point, you'd like to believe it's going to get worked out, and he's going to kick them and make them," Rivera said. "That's what he was brought here to do. So hopefully we'll get that done."
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